dwatsonbirder
Well-known member
Mabamba Swamp
And so it was, that at 6am on our last full day in the country, we were cramming into the back of an old toyota corolla with two men we’d met the previous evening, and a guide called Peter.
We drove through the grey pre-dawn streets of Entebbe until we reached a dock on the edge of the city. It had been raining since we had awoken, and now even though the light was increasing, it seemed there was no break in the dark clouds. I wasn’t feeling particularly optimistic.
After waiting for 10 minutes for our boatman to arrive, we began to clamber into the leaky longboat, when a huge bolt of lightning shot directly into Lake Victoria. Our guide looked across the empty water and said rather sagely “perhaps it is not best to be the highest point in the lake in this weather” an excellent choice.
We waited for a further hour before the weather began to ease a little.
Along the shore a juvenile Wood sandpiper was pecking at the water's edge. It was incredible to think that here was a bird that had probably hatched out of an egg up in Scandinavia or Russian a few months ago, and had traversed all of Europe, the Mediterranean, the Sahara and a half of Africa to arrive at this very spot, before leaving sometime next year to do the same journey in reverse. There were other Palearctic migrants that had made the same journey too; White winged and Whiskered terns, Common sandpipers, European swift and Barn swallow all hawked over the water and reminded me that there are so many levels on which one can appreciate the world’s birds. I was here to try to see something a little less mobile, and considerably more sought after than all of these species however.
As we made our way across the lake a couple of new birds were noted, with Red knobbed coot and Yellow billed duck sitting on the surface. After a brief respite, the rain again arrived, and within 5 minutes I was soaked right through to my underpants.
We drew closer to the swamp, and we changed into a smaller boat with no outboard motor - we were going in. There were few birds about in the rain, but we did get good views of African and European Marsh harriers, Long toed lapwing, Blue headed coucal and Northern Brown throated weaver. Moving silently through the marshes, there was a strange ethereal feel, with constant drizzle, occasional patches of mist, and the throngs of papyrus waving as we went by.
Our guide perched at the front of the boat suddenly stood up and made a subtle hand gesture to the left. The boat moved silently towards a gap in the vegetation, and there stood a creature that seemed so perfect for this strange water world; Shoebill. This was a truly magical moment, and despite the fact that the bird stood motionless with its insanely glaring eyes and eponymous bill, it certainly ranks in my top 5 birding moments. We took the bird in for about 5 minutes until it silently opened it massive wings and lifted off a short distance across the swamp. Over the course of the next hour we encountered another 3 individuals, and had astonishing views of one bird as it lunged for something unseen below the surface.
I noted a couple of other birds as we drifted back, with a Black shouldered kite perched in the same clump of bushes as several Broad billed roller, and we had good views of Black egret, White faced whistling duck and Purple swamphen. There was a commotion near the front of the boat as our guide suddenly stood up again, but I couldn’t see what he and one of the other guests were looking at. Whatever it was scuttled into some reeds, and I was a bit annoyed to learn it was a Lesser jacana but as I’d seen Shoebill, I didn’t let it bother me too much.
We spent the afternoon having a relaxing wander around the Botanical gardens, which I must admit offered some excellent birding. We saw many of the species that had been observed during the trip extremely well, and I would strongly recommend this as a good introduction to the country when you arrive. I counted some 48 species in the afternoon, not bad at all, and the final addition to the triplist was a bird that I had expected to see fairly widely - African openbill - yet strangely this was the first one that I had registered during our travels.
It had been an incredible trip and a wonderful experience. The warmth of the people, stunning and varied landscapes and spectacular landscapes far exceeded my expectations. I had seen a good number of my target birds, and had ticked off another 3 species from my bucket list - Martial eagle, Carmine bee-eater and Shoebill. In total I recorded 317 species in 14 days, and considering that I only used a guide on 3 occasions and we had spent a lot of time driving between sites, I was pretty astonished at this total.
I cannot recommend a trip to Uganda highly enough to anybody with a keen interest in birds and the natural world, and I hope to return again in the future.
And so it was, that at 6am on our last full day in the country, we were cramming into the back of an old toyota corolla with two men we’d met the previous evening, and a guide called Peter.
We drove through the grey pre-dawn streets of Entebbe until we reached a dock on the edge of the city. It had been raining since we had awoken, and now even though the light was increasing, it seemed there was no break in the dark clouds. I wasn’t feeling particularly optimistic.
After waiting for 10 minutes for our boatman to arrive, we began to clamber into the leaky longboat, when a huge bolt of lightning shot directly into Lake Victoria. Our guide looked across the empty water and said rather sagely “perhaps it is not best to be the highest point in the lake in this weather” an excellent choice.
We waited for a further hour before the weather began to ease a little.
Along the shore a juvenile Wood sandpiper was pecking at the water's edge. It was incredible to think that here was a bird that had probably hatched out of an egg up in Scandinavia or Russian a few months ago, and had traversed all of Europe, the Mediterranean, the Sahara and a half of Africa to arrive at this very spot, before leaving sometime next year to do the same journey in reverse. There were other Palearctic migrants that had made the same journey too; White winged and Whiskered terns, Common sandpipers, European swift and Barn swallow all hawked over the water and reminded me that there are so many levels on which one can appreciate the world’s birds. I was here to try to see something a little less mobile, and considerably more sought after than all of these species however.
As we made our way across the lake a couple of new birds were noted, with Red knobbed coot and Yellow billed duck sitting on the surface. After a brief respite, the rain again arrived, and within 5 minutes I was soaked right through to my underpants.
We drew closer to the swamp, and we changed into a smaller boat with no outboard motor - we were going in. There were few birds about in the rain, but we did get good views of African and European Marsh harriers, Long toed lapwing, Blue headed coucal and Northern Brown throated weaver. Moving silently through the marshes, there was a strange ethereal feel, with constant drizzle, occasional patches of mist, and the throngs of papyrus waving as we went by.
Our guide perched at the front of the boat suddenly stood up and made a subtle hand gesture to the left. The boat moved silently towards a gap in the vegetation, and there stood a creature that seemed so perfect for this strange water world; Shoebill. This was a truly magical moment, and despite the fact that the bird stood motionless with its insanely glaring eyes and eponymous bill, it certainly ranks in my top 5 birding moments. We took the bird in for about 5 minutes until it silently opened it massive wings and lifted off a short distance across the swamp. Over the course of the next hour we encountered another 3 individuals, and had astonishing views of one bird as it lunged for something unseen below the surface.
I noted a couple of other birds as we drifted back, with a Black shouldered kite perched in the same clump of bushes as several Broad billed roller, and we had good views of Black egret, White faced whistling duck and Purple swamphen. There was a commotion near the front of the boat as our guide suddenly stood up again, but I couldn’t see what he and one of the other guests were looking at. Whatever it was scuttled into some reeds, and I was a bit annoyed to learn it was a Lesser jacana but as I’d seen Shoebill, I didn’t let it bother me too much.
We spent the afternoon having a relaxing wander around the Botanical gardens, which I must admit offered some excellent birding. We saw many of the species that had been observed during the trip extremely well, and I would strongly recommend this as a good introduction to the country when you arrive. I counted some 48 species in the afternoon, not bad at all, and the final addition to the triplist was a bird that I had expected to see fairly widely - African openbill - yet strangely this was the first one that I had registered during our travels.
It had been an incredible trip and a wonderful experience. The warmth of the people, stunning and varied landscapes and spectacular landscapes far exceeded my expectations. I had seen a good number of my target birds, and had ticked off another 3 species from my bucket list - Martial eagle, Carmine bee-eater and Shoebill. In total I recorded 317 species in 14 days, and considering that I only used a guide on 3 occasions and we had spent a lot of time driving between sites, I was pretty astonished at this total.
I cannot recommend a trip to Uganda highly enough to anybody with a keen interest in birds and the natural world, and I hope to return again in the future.