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zambia, uganda or namibia (inc caprivi)...or kenya??! (1 Viewer)

Tony Knight

Tony Knight

Well-known member
United Kingdom
Really struggling to make a decision ! I want to do all 4 ultimately...but which first? Love Africa and recently been to Tanzania, Sth Africa (kruger), Egypt, the gambia. I should add this will not just be a birding trip...my wife loves the mammals and mildly interested in the birds, I love the birds and also very interested in the mammals. The way I see it;

Uganda (Murchison, kibale, QElizabeth, bwindi)
Pros - direct flight, gorillas, chimps, many new beeaters (black, swallow tail, olive, white throated etc)
Cons - no vic falls,

Zambia (sth Luangwa + vic falls)
pros - full nesting colonies of carmine BEs, great for leopards, Vic falls
cons - messy flights (probably via SA, plus 3 internal - my wife hates flying!), cost

Namibia (windhoek to vic falls)
pros - variety (etosha, caprivi, okavango...), carmine BEs in caprivi/okavango?, vic falls
cons - mostly self drive,

kenya
pros - cheaper, direct flight
cons - similar species to Tanzania, no vic falls

Help !!!

thanks
Tony
 
Last edited:
Steve Babbs said:
I'd describe the fact that Namibia is mostly self-drive as a big advantage.
Click to expand...

I'd heard that etosha can resemble a traffic jam due to the volume of self drives at some of the waterholes ? Plus I am hopeless at spotting my own birds and driving at the same time, much prefer a guide taking me to the places he knows we'll see the specials....however i guess the freedom to go exactly where and when you want to go can be a plus...and was fine at kruger...
 
Hi Tony,
I was in Uganda in January and loved it. The birding is sensational and easy. You mention bee eaters and they are aboundant there. In entebbe, white throated bee eaters are easily seen in the botanical gardens, and at Murchison falls red throated are very easily seen at point blank range on the spectacular boat trip to the falls. In the delta area both swallow tailed and northern carmine were seen on numerous occasions, often using buffalo as mobile hunting posts.
Mammals are aboundant in the delta, and tourists are rare. The only group of vehicles we saw was when some lions were found. The rest of the time it felt like we had the place to ourselves. The falls themselves are amazing ( you can sit on the rocks just yards from them), there are giant crocs and hippos all over the place. The Ugandan people are very friendly and there are no shortage of specialist birdtour operaters locally. Any questions just pm me. Cheers, Mark
 
Tony Knight said:
Namibia (windhoek to vic falls)
pros - variety (etosha, caprivi, okavango...), carmine BEs in caprivi/okavango?, vic falls
cons - mostly self drive,
Click to expand...

I like this one. I've been to the Okavango and Vic Falls. Loved the Okavango, IMHO Vic Falls is a "do once." There lots of carmine BEs in the Okavango, but not sure how close or into you can get self-driving; we flew in from Maun. We stayed at two camps run by Desert & Delta Safaris: Camp Okavango on a small island and Camp Moremi. I recommend the latter. Both are high-end camps with en-suite tents on raised platforms.
 
forthbirder said:
Hi Tony,
I was in Uganda in January and loved it. The birding is sensational and easy. You mention bee eaters and they are aboundant there. In entebbe, white throated bee eaters are easily seen in the botanical gardens, and at Murchison falls red throated are very easily seen at point blank range on the spectacular boat trip to the falls. In the delta area both swallow tailed and northern carmine were seen on numerous occasions, often using buffalo as mobile hunting posts.
Mammals are aboundant in the delta, and tourists are rare. The only group of vehicles we saw was when some lions were found. The rest of the time it felt like we had the place to ourselves. The falls themselves are amazing ( you can sit on the rocks just yards from them), there are giant crocs and hippos all over the place. The Ugandan people are very friendly and there are no shortage of specialist birdtour operaters locally. Any questions just pm me. Cheers, Mark
Click to expand...

Mark

sounds great ! When you say "the delta area" where is this? anywhere near kibale, QE or bwindi where i'd be going ?? Did you see black beeaters too? Which mammals - are there cheetahs and leopards in addition to the lions?

Tony
 
MariettaBirder said:
I like this one. I've been to the Okavango and Vic Falls. Loved the Okavango, IMHO Vic Falls is a "do once." There lots of carmine BEs in the Okavango, but not sure how close or into you can get self-driving; we flew in from Maun. We stayed at two camps run by Desert & Delta Safaris: Camp Okavango on a small island and Camp Moremi. I recommend the latter. Both are high-end camps with en-suite tents on raised platforms.
Click to expand...

okavango would suit me down to the ground ....but the small light aircraft landing on small airstrips would be a no-go for Mrs K!! If we went on this tour we'd need to flirt with the very edge of the delta by car on the way to vic falls rather than fly into the centre....

Tony
 
Tony Knight said:
I'd heard that etosha can resemble a traffic jam due to the volume of self drives at some of the waterholes ? Plus I am hopeless at spotting my own birds and driving at the same time, much prefer a guide taking me to the places he knows we'll see the specials....however i guess the freedom to go exactly where and when you want to go can be a plus...and was fine at kruger...
Click to expand...

Etosha probably less crowded than Kruger. Another possibility would be fly to Cape Town and do SW South Africa, including Kgalagadi NP.
 
Ive been to Etosha,wasnt that busy certainly no traffic jams,Kruger was very busy though when I went their,Walvis bay is superb,for excellent views of waders incl good numbers of Chestnutbanded plovers one of the best sites for this declining species,also great for larks on outskirts of town,incl Dune lark,just a great place to bird,make a visit to Andoni plain (Cheetah)
 
Birding uganda

Hi Tony

You may consider doing Bwindi ( both south and north) for the albertine and highlan endemics. You may need 5 days there. Queen Elizabeth National Park is wonderful. Of course Murchison Falls is very rich with Nothern species. Budongo Forest is one of the best birding spots in Uganda.

For any further qns you can contact me. director 'AT' birduganda.com
 
I was in Zambia last September, in S. Luangwa which was fabulous but also Kafue NP, went with Busanga Safaris who run the Plains camp and the bird life was fantastic, clocked up 98 bird species in 3 days and 13 species of antelope plus loads more. Well worth considering and you can fly direct to Lusaka overnight which is a plus...
 
I was in Uganda last Oct/Nov. It was terrific. Didn't worry about gorillas, just birds. 10 species of bee-eater, hornbills, rollers, shoebill, green broady, the list goes on and on. Kibale was probably the quietest location we visited but we did find a pair of pittas. We visited Mabira, Mburo, Bwindi, Q.E., Kibale, Semliki N.P., Semuliki W.R., Budongngo, Murchison and Kidepo. Hired a car and driver and used mostly national park guides. Seeking out mammals would give you a much greater list than we had, but leopards are not commonly seen. We did see several monkeys including chimps which walked past us on the forest floor at Kibale. Can't recommend it highly enough. P.M. for any info if you want.
Adam.
 
ugandanbirder said:
Hi Tony

You may consider doing Bwindi ( both south and north) for the albertine and highlan endemics. You may need 5 days there. Queen Elizabeth National Park is wonderful. Of course Murchison Falls is very rich with Nothern species. Budongo Forest is one of the best birding spots in Uganda.

For any further qns you can contact me. [email protected]
Click to expand...

Hi

I have emailed and sent PM but no reply so i guess you are away at the moment.

Tony
 
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