20th June – We loaded our stuff into the van and were off by 0630 and 2hrs later we entered the vast (2000km2!) Queen Elizabeth NP. If we had more time it would’ve been great to spend a couple of days in here but all we could do today was drive through it. We still saw some good birds like Southern Red Bishop, Bare-faced Go-away-bird, Common Scimitarbill, Arrow-marked Babbler, Red-necked Spurfowl, Trilling Cisticola, Grassland Pipit, Water Stone-Curlew, Greater Painted-Snipe, African Gos, Martial Eagle, Brown Snake-Eagle, White-winged Widowbird, Cardinal Wood, Greater Honeyguide and White-browed Coucal whilst a stop for water in one of the villages gave us breeding Lesser Masked-Weavers and 3 Diederik Cuckoos. The animals were very much in evidence too with Ugandan Kob, Bushbuck, Defassa Waterbuck, Topi, Olive Baboon and Tantalus Monkeys seen although we saw no sign of the only tree-climbing lions in the world here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many butterflies either- the grasslands were absolutely covered with small white ones in their thousands.
We stopped for lunch at the swish Savannah Hotel before continuing with our journey up into the mountains towards Bwindi. The road was pretty crap in places and very dusty – reminded of the Gibb River in Oz! We had a couple of fine Grey Crowned-Cranes by the roadside and finally reached ‘The Neck’ by mid-afternoon and started to bird from the road. Top place must go to the 3 stunning Black Bee-eaters that we watched perched on dead branches, the combination of black, red and electric blue just gorgeous.
View attachment beeeater black (2).BMP
The supporting cast was pretty impressive too, including African Crowned Eagle, Augur Buzzard, Crested Guineafowl, Grey Apalis, Pink-footed Puffback, Lead-coloured Tit-Fly, Yellow-throated Leaflove, Speckled Tinkerbird, Red-tailed Greenbul, Yellow-spotted Barbet and 2 fine male Petit’s Cuckooshrikes. We stopped further along the road near some agriculture and had Yellow-bellied Waxbill, Chubb’s Cisticola, Black Saw-wing, a female African Stonechat, MacKinnon’s Fiscal, Red-throated Rock Martins and Yellow-crowned Canary.
We then drove into the tiny village of Ruhija and pulled into our accommodation for the next three nights – the Gorilla Friends Resort Campsite. We were staying in fixed ‘safari-style’ tents built on the sheer valley-side with absolutely fantastic views from the veranda which was the place’s only saving grace as the facilities here are very basic – the toilet was literally a hole in the floorboards covered by a plank of wood with a broom handle on it....even worse than Indian toilets (and that’s saying something!!!) as at least they have a place to put your feet so you know where your loaf’s gonna drop....here you had to kinda keep watching where it was going...nice! Ewan’s response to this was to take a few Imodiums..! There is also no electricity but the mobile-phone recharging shop in the village has a generator and would charge things up for a minimal price which was handy.
After dropping off our gear we drove 5mins up the road and birded the forest edge along the road to the school. Lots of mountain goodies were here, including Chestnut-throated Apalis with their telephone-ringing calls, Mountain Masked-Apalis, smart Red-faced Woodland-Warblers, Rwenzori Hill-Babbler, gorgeous Regal and Northern Double-collared Sunbirds, Grey Cuckooshrike, Stripe-breasted Tit, lively White-tailed Blue-Flys, several Mountain Yellow-Warblers, Northern Puffback, Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, Slender-billed Starling, Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater and Red-bellied Paradise-Fly with Carruther’s Squirrel being a new addition to the mammal list.
Upon our return to the camp and over a warm beer we learned some more bad news concerning our hosts – there was no food!! Chris’ face was a picture! Luckily for us, a not-too-impressed Herbert made a couple of calls and took us up the road to a little covered eatery in what looked like the middle of nowhere. I think this was the back of a posh place but the cooks there whipped us up an amazing soup and steak ‘n’ chips! Result, even the beer was cold! The weather up here was very windy and quite cold too – glad I brought a fleece with me now!
21st June – Up early today as today was gorilla day! We left by 0730 and were ready at the gates by 0800 and waited for the rest of our group to turn up, seeing a fine pair of Golden-breasted Buntings collecting food around the buildings, Chubb’s Cisticolas, Stuhlmann’s Weaver and a Thick-billed Seedeater also. The other 5 guys turned up and then we met our guide for the day, Obed, a really nice young guy who was all smiles, and had our briefing about what to do and what to expect. Some of the group opted to hire porters so once it was all sorted we were back in the cars by 0900 as a flock of 60+ Chestnut-winged Starlings zoomed by and driven up the road for a bit to the trail head. We set off down the very steep and slippery track, through the thick undergrowth, holding onto vines and dodging spiky branches. Obed got a call from the trackers informing him the gorillas were only about 30mins away! What a bonus as you can have to walk for anything up to 5hrs to find them! This cheered everyone up and as we began to climb up the opposite valley we found the trackers who indicated a black shape hunkered up in a tree – a huge Mountain Gorilla!! Unbelievable! We dropped off our packs and left them with the porters as we followed Obed and the trackers through the thick undergrowth.
As they hacked through the sinewy tangles with their machetes they suddenly drew up and called us closer – there, up ahead on an indistinct trail, was a huge silverback happily munching away! He soon moved off and we followed, albeit a hell of a lot slower and noisier! We finally got into a small ditch and watched in amazement as one, then two, silverbacks walked within 5ft of us and sat down, pulling leaves down and eating them. We moved further ahead and in a small clearing we found the rest of the group and spent the next hour sitting quietly with them and the swarms of flies they attract! This habituated group, the Bitukura family, consists of 4 silverbacks, 2 blackbacks (younger males), 3 females and their 2 infants and a juvenile. The second silverback, Rukumu, has an old wound to his middle finger so that it continually sticks up and looks like he’s always giving you the finger which makes him very popular with the photographers! We watched in contemplative awe as they lolled around, eating, sleeping, farting....what a life! We watched one of the infants climb up a tree and fall off...and, almost embarrassed, he never showed his little face again! How can anyone kill these amazing creatures that not just look back at you but actually
watch you? A real life-changing moment and one that will live with me forever...I felt humbled and privileged by this experience and it is hard to put into words the feelings it gave me.
All too quickly our time with these gentle giants was up so we began the slog back up the valley to the road where we decided to walk back to the HQ, reaching it by 1130. We had a little ceremony where we all given certificates and bought obligatory t-shirts then went back to the camp where we did not a lot until 1600....again, reading trip reports people went birding in the park during this time....not impressed. We went back to the same road as yesterday and added quite a few new birds like the subtly-marked Grauer’s Warbler which showed exceptionally well, Ludher’s Bushshrike, Rwenzori Batis, Rwenzori Apalis, Yellow-streaked Greenbul, Rwenzori Double-collared Sunbird, Strange Weaver, Streaky Seedeater and Mountain (split from Olive) Thrush.
We then drove into the park and birded various areas along the road and saw a few new ones – Olive-throated (split form Mountain) Greenbul, Dusky Crimsonwing, White-starred Robin, Waller’s, Sharpe’s and Stuhlmann’s Starlings, Rameron Pigeons, Kandt’s Waxbill, Western Green Tinkerbird and White-eyed Slaty-Fly. An Archer’s Robin-Chat refused to come up and show itself but as we drove back after dusk we came across 2 excellent Rwenzori Nightjars on the road, giving brilliant views.
We got back to the camp after enjoying a great day and went back to the same place as yesterday for another top meal and some celebratory beers!