AttractionsMarch 25, 2019December 1, 2023 By Yakub Birungi

Uganda the Pearl of Africa should be on your Travel list

Uganda the Pearl of Africa

Sir Winston Churchill, nicknamed it the Pearl of Africa.

The world over is full of adventures. Not all are the same. Discover the snow-capped Rwenzori Mountain, Lake Victoria and its abundant wildlife. Murchison Falls National Park in the northwest is known for its 43m-tall waterfall and wildlife such as hippos. Queen Elizabeth National Park is known for its boat cruises and Lake Mburo National Park for the rare Elands and birds. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a renowned mountain gorilla habitat.

It is not surprising that one of the great statesmen of Great Britain; Sir Winston Churchill nicknamed Uganda the Pearl of Africa. In his book My African Journey 1908 he pronounced these words:

“The kingdom of Uganda is a fairy-tale. You climb up … and at the end there is a wonderful new world.

The scenery is different, the vegetation is different, the climate is different, and, most of all, the people are different from anything elsewhere to be seen in the whole range of Africa. I say: ‘Concentrate on Uganda’. For magnificence, for variety of form and colour, for profusion of brilliant life – bird, insect, reptile, beast – for vast scale — Uganda is truly the pearl of Africa.”

A trip to Uganda will enable you to explore the community, culture and wildlife touristic areas, making the trip a fully packed adventure.

A Variety of Wildlife

Uganda is Gifted by Nature. It is a home to half of the world population’s of Gorillas is in Uganda.Meet the gentle giants face to face.Such a memorable experience. Other Primates include Chimpanzees, monkeys, baboons.Other wildlife include hippos,elephants,Lions.

Adventurous

Uganda is full of a variety of adventurous activities like Whitewater rafting, bungee jumping, jet boating and river surfing on the Source of the Nile near Bujagali Falls in Jinja. It is an opportunity for the brave ones.

water-rafting-jinja — White water rafting – Jinja

Culture and heritage diversity

Get the chance to visit the African villages.It is a true authentic cultural experience. Tourists coming to Uganda will meet its beautiful people, its beautiful culture, the dances, the different tribes and the diversity that cannot be found anywhere else.

With a varied rich culture, of over 56 tribes, and each one has their own dress, their own language, their own food.

Memorable experiences

Ugandans welcome you with an open heart and a good mind.The people are generous, very friendly, giving you a relaxed stay in Uganda the Pearl of Africa.

Lake tours

Uganda is home to the largest fresh water lake in Africa. Lake Victoria covers Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. You can go for a lake tour on Lake Victoria as you Travel to Ngamba Island, Bulago Island, Ssese Islands and refreshing beaches. Uganda is gifted with Crater lakes that offer exciting canoe rides.

Family Adventures

Looking for a family day out? Uganda offers exciting destinations for a family tour. You can visit the wildlife centre at Entebbe locally known as the Zoo. It offers one day – volunteer animal keeping excursions which the children can enjoy with you. Go horse riding in the wild at Lake Mburo. Enjoy Nature walks and hiking around crater lakes near Kibale Forest National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park. Climb to the Top of the falls in Murchison falls National Park. Go for boat safaris that offer great scenes of Hippos, Elephants, crocodiles and buffaloes. A visit to Ziwa Rhino sanctuary is recommended for Rhino tracking.

Enjoy home and village stays and learn the true African way of living. This is a true cross-cultural learning experience for a family day out.

Birdwatching

Uganda is a Birders’ Paradise. With over 1000 bird species, Uganda is a darling for birders. Just remember to pack your binoculars. You can visit Mabamba and other destinations for the elusive Shoebill; Murchison falls with over 460 bird species. The birds include the African Darter, Goliath Heron, yellow-billed Stork, Abdim’s Stork, Shoebill and White- faced Whistling Duck.

Photo:Shoe bill bird

Explore the National Parks

At Lake Mburo 317 species have been recorded. Birds to watch for include the African Fin Foot, African fish eagle, red faced barbet.

Bwindi Impenetrable Elevation which is at 1190 – 2607m above sea level is habitat to Albertine endemics. Bird species recorded: 357 species. This evergreen moist, montane forest is home to the African Green Broadbill, Chapin’s Flycatcher and Shelley’s Crimson-wing.

Queen Elizabeth is a habitat to over 600 bird species. The African Skimmer is common bird. Other bird species at Queen Elizabeth include Grey, Purple and Goliath Herons, Saddle-billed and Yellow-billed Storks, Sacred and Glossy Ibises, African Spoonbill, Egyptian Goose, Black Crake, African Jacana, Black-winged Stilt, Water Thick-knee, Spur-winged.

Photo: African Skimmer

Kibale National Park is home to 325 species. Commonly seen black capped Apalis, blue headed sunbird, collared Apalis, dusky crimson wing, purple breasted sunbird and red faced woodland warbler. If you are lucky you will see the African pitta.

Kidepo Valley National Park the hidden Gem (CNN) is home to the Secretary bird, Karamoja Apalis ,Golden Pipit, Ring-necked Spurfowl, Taita Fiscal, RufousChatterer, Fox’s Cisticola, Yellow and red spotted Barbet, Fox’s Weaver, Lesser Kestrel, Pallid Harrier, Black-winged Pranticole, White-crested, Hartlaub’s Turaccos, Dusky-turtle Dove.

Lake Bunyonyi – A place of many little birds is a stunning beautiful water body in south western Uganda. Its formation was a result of volcanic activity several years ago. It is an ideal place to relax and chill out after a safari or on holiday.

Eco tourism tour at Budongo Forest

Budongo Forest

Budongo forest est.825 sq.km is in the northwest of Uganda near Masindi town. It’s located in the Albertine Rift valley. It was home to mostly the mahogany trees which were planted for purposes of supplying timber for construction,furniture, flooring and boat building. It was also favoured because it was resistant to borers and termites. Currently it has a mixture of other trees like the fig tree, iron wood and other species. The mahogany is listed as a vulnerable tree species by the IUCN. The forest too is threatened by encroachment and illegal pit sawing.

It is also a birding paradise with about 360 bird species, 290 butterflies species,130 moths species,465 tree species and 24 mammals ,nine of which are primates. A visit to the place can be combined with a safari to Murchison falls National Park and Ziwa Sanctuary home to the Rhinos.

On this adventure I also found myself immersed in the bird watching activity.Being a tour organizer and guide, such places are visited frequently to check on their availability to tourists and also refresh the birding skills with friends.

We made a stopover briefly at Kakonge swamp to do some birding. Birds seen in this area include singing cisticola, Cooper sunbird. We later on continued to Masindi town.

Kakonge swamp

We arrived late due to a tyre puncture. Overnight was at Masindi Hotel built in 1923 by the Riftvalley railways and harbours.

Car Tyre Puncture

Royal mile

This spectacular wide forest avenue was first enjoyed by King Kabalega of Bunyoro earning its name ‘The Royal Mile’. It is a 15 km drive from the eco-tourism site and visitors must pay a forest entry fee before entering the forest reserve. On an early morning visit visitors cannot fail to see some spectacular forest birds such as the Chocolate Backed Kingfisher and Paradise Flycatcher.

Royal mile is a popular birding destination in Budongo forest for both local and international bird watching enthusiasts. Royal mile avenue was once a historical hunting ground for King Kabalega, the nationalist ruler of Bunyoro Kingdom before he was exiled to Seychelles. During his reign he used it as an escape route too. He was later captured by the British Colonialists at Dokolo.

Nyabigoma trading centre

Along the way, Nyabigoma trading centre is named after a big celebration that took place during the reign of King Kabalega that involved drumming by his subjects. A drum in Runyoro is known as E’ngoma. and ‘Beating the drum’ is “Okutera ebigoma”.

The King a revered hunter, killed a leopard that crossed his path during his hunting expeditions.At this point, his subjects did a lot of drumming as a sign of victory for their king and a lot of merry making after hearing the good news that their King had successfully wrestled a Leopard. He always enjoyed hunting alone. He later stopped going for solo expeditions when his throne was threatened by the British colonialists.

Royal mile birding

On the next day we embarked on our trip to Royal Mile.On our way we were able to see sugar plantations owned by Kinyara Sugar works.This route too before Royal mile was rewarding with bird species that included the Pin tailed whydah,speckled mouse bird,woodland king fisher,great blue eared starling.

Birding along the Royal mile brought to our attention birds that we considered lifers (i.e birds seen for the first time by a birder). Some of the Birds seen by our team for the first time included the blue breasted Kingfisher, Chocolate backed King fisher, Ituri Batis,White thighed Horn bill. Non lifers included Narina Trogon, Spotted green bull, Dwarf kingfisher and its nest, Collard sunbird, Woodland King fisher, Western Nicator.

Primates seen included the Blue monkeys, Red tailed monkeys, Olive Baboons and black and white Colobus monkeys.

Forest stories

Raymond the site guide was full of stories. He told us a story of how elephants previously crossed to the forest from the nearby Murchison Falls National Park. They ate leaves of certain tree and got drunk .They rioted and caused a lot of destruction in the forest. You can imagine how they enjoyed themselves to the fullest. To control the elephant riots, the trees were cut down and replaced with other tree species like the fig,mahogany and iron wood trees.

“Strangling Fig trees”

Our guide also informed us of how strangling fig trees are ‘expert stranglers’ of host trees.It is interesting if two different species of strangling trees met on a host tree they will “connive” to strangle the host tree at root level as they grow in opposite directions.

Busingiro Ecotourism centre

The site is located in Budongo Forest, Masindi District.It was a common Royal “relaxation place” for King Kabalega. Busingiro means “relaxation place”. It is about 4-5 hours drive from Kampala City.
The Eco Tourism Centre is part of the Budongo Forest Ecotourism Project with the aim of conserving the forest by working closely with the communities residing near the forest. This provides local employment and sustainable income for local communities.

The area is famous for chimpanzee viewing, nature and primate walks and bird watching among others.It is also a famous habitat for butterflies.

Busingiro Trail butter flies

Polish refugee church at Nyabyeya

This former camp was built in 1942 for the Polish World War II refugees who had fled Germany due to prosecution.The Camp at the time consisted of 6 small villages and hosted about 3,635 Polish.The Polish refugees belonged to the Catholic faith.A church was later built between 1943 and 1945 which is still existence till today.There is also a cemetery with 60 graves of Polish Nationals who died between 1945 and 1948.After the World War II ended most of the Polish refugees were resettled in England, Canada, Australia.The graveyard and church are maintained by the Catholic community in Nyabyeya .

History of the Polish migration to Africa

The first group of exiles arrived in Africa in late 1942-44. Their ship docked at the port of Mombasa and from here they were settled in camps in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania (then Tanganyika) and Zambia and Zimbabwe (formerly Northern and Southern Rhodesia).

The two refugee camps in Uganda were built at Koja, on the shores of Lake Victoria and Nyabyeya, Budongo Forest Reserve in Masindi district in northwestern Uganda.

The campsite at Nyabyeya, some 30 kilometres east of Lake Albert, was uninhabitated. No towns or villages were in existence.A small piece of land was demarcated for them which was previously covered by the lush tropical forest.More land was cleared to enable the construction of mud and thatch huts.

As they settled in,they utilised the fertile land in the area to grow crops like pineapples, maize, tomatoes, sunflowers and also kept livestock to supplement their diet and keep them busy.

The Cultural king at the time,Omukama Sir Tito Gafabusa Winyi IV of Bunyoro frequently paid occasional visits to the camp.

Photos:Polish Church,Graves and Catholic faithful

Bunyoro Kingdom Anthem

After birding we were entertained by the village kids who sang the Bunyoro Anthem.Our hearts were touched by the confidence and singing. We gave them tips.

In Picture: Team leader Arshley Brian..giving tips to the youngsters

Culture Norms

Every society has its norms.In Bunyoro a praise or pet name (Empako) is recommended. It is common to use the Empako for greetings when you interact with the locals.It is a form of respect.The use of formal names is sometimes considered “disrespectful”. The locals will always address you by it in subsequent interactions.
The pet names given to ordinary people are Apuuli,Akiiki,Amooti,Abooki,Araali, and Adyeri. Okali is a reserved for only the king and Bala is for chiefs.

In Toro too,a breakaway kingdom from Bunyoro in the 1830s also adopted the empako names and dance traditions.

Courtship in Bunyoro

In Bunyoro, a courtship dance is performed by young men to choose a partner for marriage.The dance was named after the “ebinyege” rattles that are usually tied on the boys’ legs to produce percussion rhythms that blend well with the drum beats and songs.

How to get there: You can use private transport and public transport (to Masindi and Budongo separately) or you can use the services of tour operators to the destination.

Best time of the year: All year round but best between November to April and June to September.

Age group restrictions:None

Possible Tour extensions

Murchison Falls National Park-Game drives, boat cruises,hiking to the top of the falls.
Budongo Eco tourism site-Nature walks and chimpanzee tracking.
Rhino Sanctuary: Home of rhinos
Boomu Women Group: True African experience in the village
Kaniyo Pabidi tourist site in Budongo forest:Chimpanzee tracking
Hoima town (57 kms away from Masindi): Palace and Royal Tombs

How many days do you need for the tour: 2 days (Budongo& Busingiro only), extensions 9days . Total 11 days with extensions.

Birding Eco tourism SliderFebruary 9, 2017November 27, 2023 By Yakub Birungi

Birding with BBC World at Mabamba

Mabamba Swamp

Behind every successful man there is a woman and in my opinion the reverse is true. Women empowerment movements today may think otherwise. Well, I believe that the ladies just want to express their natural power and intelligence that existed behind the scenes for a longtime. True on this day January 15 2017, the birding ladies’ prowess was finally recognized by BBC World in Uganda. BBC World on this maiden trip chose the Uganda Women Birders Club a ladies birding division of Uganda Safari Guides Association (USAGA).

It is also a Ramsar Site since 2006 due to its importance as a habitat for the globally endangered species like the Shoebill and a stopover for migratory birds. It supports over 300 species of birds, community livelihoods through eco-tourism, fishing, agriculture and other activities.It is an ideal place for a one day trip or an add-on to other safaris in Uganda.

Meeting point was at Uganda House on Kampala road the tradition meeting point for USAGA FAM trips. That morning the ladies managed to keep time to make the trip. The team leader was Judith Mirembe the Chairperson. For the gentlemen like me and others we also managed to join the ladies because…behind every successful woman there is a man too. I know the readers of this blog post will agree or disagree with what makes a man or woman successful but that can be a story for another day.

mabamba-2017-with-bbc-copy — This is Catherine Byaruhanga reporting for the BBC

Birding at Mabamba

Mabamba marsh land is an Important Bird Area for the Shoe bill and other bird species .It is a popular destination for birding. Birding is done by boat with the guidance of the community site guides.When we arrived at the site, we did not waste time on pleasantries. Boats were organized and each of us was allocated a boat in groups of 5-7 individuals with the assistance of Herbert Byaruhanga a renown birding enthusiast and also the Chairman of Uganda Safari Guides Association.

The search for the shoebill

At Mabamba, we glided through the water channels bordered by papyrus plants. The bird search started immediately. Although our mission was to spot the Shoebill, normal birding activity involves the identification other water birds. The search continued to trace the Shoe Bill. I was lucky to be on the leading boat with the site guide Ismail who was very knowledgeable about the birds. He managed to identify several birds along the way before he sighted one Shoe bill in flight after about 1 hour and twenty minutes of searching.

We thought it will land on the marshes but it just continued farther up in the sky. We thought our chances for seeing it had run out. Our eagle eyed guide,asked his colleague to move the boat ahead for another chance in the marshes. To him it was good signal for another one nearby. Indeed he applied the “Never give up” expression. The search continued and a few minutes later he spotted one in the marshland.

dsc07887_renamed_16586 — Our guide Ismail seems to ask “Where are you Shoebill?”

Some birds seen on that day included the Purple Heron, Black Crake, Hammerkop, African Jacana, Lesser Jacana, Long toed lapwing, Blue-breasted Bee eater, Malachite Kingfisher, African pygmy Goose, Angola swallows, Pied Kingfisher, Winding Cisticola, Fan tailed widow bird and Yellow billed duck.

hamerkorp-2 — “Fake Mounting” by the Hammerkop bird

Celebrations

There were quiet celebrations on our boat since we were the first to see it. We were joined by other boats,tourists and BBC crew who were making their first excursion to the site. We positioned ourselves to have a clear glimpse of this iconic bird with our binoculars. We did not want to get close for fear of scaring it away except for the BBC team that moved a little closer to have a clear view for their story that was aired on Focus on Africa on the 23^rd January 2017.. Uganda: The rise in bird watching tourists http://bbc.in/2kGXjDj

This bird is known to stay in one place for long hours as it waits for its prey which may be fish or frogs. Indeed on that day it stayed in one place until we started our journey back to the landing site. Even if you are not a birder or birding enthusiast, the tour of this renowned Shoebill habitat is always an exhilarating experience not to be missed on your itinerary.

It can be combined with other safaris such as gorilla trekking at Bwindi impenetrable national park,Chimp trekking at Kibale National National park and boat rides along Kazinga channel at Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Blog

VisitUganda