On December 7th 2025 we headed from Kibale towards Queen Elizabeth NP. En route we stopped at a few places, including a lunch stop at Chimpanzee Forest Lodge. I ate very quickly to leave time for a little bit of birding before heading off. The lodge grounds held excellent birds, including Great Blue Turacos, Green-headed and Olive-bellied Sunbirds, and more (eBird checklist here).
Black-crowned Waxbill
Brimstone Canary
We also did a mandatory stop at the equator crossing spot - thanks Yani for the snap.
We arrived at Queen Elizabeth NP in the afternoon.
We stayed in the national park for two nights (until December 9th). After a few days of neck-wrecking forest birding, it was good to bird in open country again. The beautiful savanna habitat of Queen Elizabeth held so many birds and mammals. Every safari drive was packed with quality birds and offered surprises.
One of the hugest bull Elephants we met
Defasa Waterbuck
Wattled Lapwing looking smart
Senegal Lapwing looking elegant
Black-bellied Bustard looking a bit silly
Small Buttonquail looking weird
Harlequin Quail looking shocked (encountered during a night drive)
The undoubted birding highlight of our stay in QENP was a boat trip along Kazinga Channel. Similar to the boat trip we did in Murchinson Falls NP, this boat trip should not be missed. Despite the midday heat and harsh light, it was fabulous (eBird checklist here).
Woodland Kingfisher
Can you pot the male Greater Painted-Snipe? Here with Spur-winged Lapwing, Common Ringed-Plover, and Wood Sandpiper:
Goliath Heron
Plenty of gulls and terns along the channel, including good numbers of African Skimmers, this is a recently-fledged young, already looking sharp:
Lesser Black-backed Gull of some sort, maybe heuglini? Head is a bit too streaked IMO but mantle isn't jet black enough for fuscus:
Gray-hooded Gulls
There were many mammals by the water, mainly Buffalos, and literally tons and tons of Elephants. Mammals = Yellow-billed Oxpeckers:
We had fantastic luck with cats in QENP. One evening we encountered not one but two Leopards, just before dusk. Super animals.
That pattern
The big surprise happened after dusk, when we spotted a mindblowing SERVAL hiding in tall grass. What an incredible animal and we had fantastic views. Despite many previous visits to Kenya and Tanzania, this was my bimbo Serval. Wow.
Our accommodation in Queen Elizabeth National Park was at Buffalo Safari Lodge. It was wonderful there, the rooms and facilities, and the birding. The only issue was that after dusk walking around is not advised without armed escort. Because of these guys.
As mentioned above, birding was excellent at Buffalo Safari Lodge.
One can never have enough of Black-headed Gonoleks, even when they behave like House Sparrows:
Can you see me?
Nubian Woodpecker
Chasing off an opponent
Swamp Flycatchers were feeding a young just by the restaurant
Our next leg of the Uganda FAM tour took us to Kibale National Park. It was a long drive on December 5th 2025, through spectacular landscape. It was very interesting to watch the habitats change while we climbed up the mountains of the Albertine Rift. There were many birds to be seen en route so we made several birding stops. A stop at Fort Portal wetlands (eBird checklist here) was productive, with several cool weavers seen. Northern Masked-Weaver has a highly restricted range in Uganda, this is the prime location to see it:
Black-headed Weaver
Northern Brown-throated Weaver
A pair of White-collared Olivebacks whizzed through very quickly - too quick for my camera (or for the camera operator) to focus, but such great wee birds:
We arrived to our wonderful accommodation at Guereze Canopy Lodge in the afternoon. It was a pleasure to stay at this beautiful lodge, established and operated by the Ugandan female birding legend Harriet Kimigasha. Soon after our arrival we headed out birding in the lodge grounds and environs. It was spectacular, so many excellent birds just there. Highlights included the rare and patchily-distributed Masked Apalis, that showed pretty well while singing:
Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird and White-breasted Nigrita in the background:
Wait until the end to see how this male Klaas's Cuckoo stretches his neck while singing:
This stunning Snowy-crowned Robin-Chat was bathing in the lodge garden:
Not a bad way to end the day, with a bottle of Nile. Eric is so huge!
At night, Red-chested Owlet, African Wood-Owl and Fiery-necked Nightjar were calling in the garden.
The main course was on December 6th, our first encounter with great apes. We met up with our guides and armed escorts from Uganda Wildlife Authority, and set off on Robin Hill trail to search for Chimpanzee family groups. It was a nice, long walk through beautiful forest.
We listened out for Chimpanzees, and before not too long heard one family group, high up in trees. Our excitement was peaking, being so close to these incredible animals. But we couldn't see them! We walked around in the forest, trying to locate them, without luck at first. After a good search and bush whacking through the dense undergrowth we finally spotted them, sitting high up in a tall tree. Wow. They stayed high up, hiding in the trees, but eventually we got good views. Admittedly, I failed miserably to photograph them. This is the only half-decent photo I got of a powerful, large male jumping down from a large tree to check us out, so quickly I couldn't get a photo when it was close:
My digiscoping efforts paid off a bit more than my DSLR efforts, I think. Honestly, it was a bit of a schlep to carry my scope everywhere. However, when digiscoping opportunities materialized, my Swarovski ATX85 proved to be so sharp and good and I don't regret carrying it around.
While admiring this Chimpanzee family, another family approached from the forest. The vocal interaction between the two groups is amazing - turn your volume up!
The Chimpanzee experience was outstanding and thrilling. Birding was tough, as it is normally in jungles. We heard lots of birds, and got mainly fleeting views of silhouettes in the canopy, or back sides of shapes flying away... Still, lots of quality in that forest (eBird checklist here), including Blue-breasted Kingfisher, Narina Trogon, White-tailed and Red-tailed Ant-Thrushes. A pair of obliging and beautiful Blue-breasted Rollers waited for us by our vehicles when we returned to the road.
That afternoon we took the Bigodi Community Walk, where we experienced local village life, crafts and coffee making, while enjoying excellent countryside birding (eBird checklist here). I love African countryside birding. Often, on normal bird tours in East Africa, there isn't enough time to appreciate the diversity and quality of birding in typical countryside habitat with heterogenous, extensive cultivation in small plots, rich hedges, and forest patches and edges. Therefore, our time birding in Bigodi village was hugely appreciated, and photo opps were plenty, as birds are very used to human activity.
Human activity
This child was crawling through a wall of skirts during a dance show
Lesser Striped Swallow
Angola Swallow
White-chinned Prinia is an attractive little bird
Brown-throated Wattle-eye is common and stunning.
I love it when bird names are given according to the female plumage - check that beautiful brown throat!
Those red wattles
We obtained better views of African Blue Flycatchers - that little crest is gorgeous:
The cherry on top was a Red-headed Bluebill - super bird!
After dinner we went to Bigodi swamp for a night walk. We saw a few night mammals, including Demidoff's Dwarf Galago and East African Potto, two cool small primates, check their links in iNaturalist. We had good views of them but I failed to get any photos. Luckily Yousif did:
With the use of a thermal we spotted a few night-roosting common birds, including sleepy Collared Sunbirds, and a Green-backed Camaroptera all tucked in, looking like an alien.
