East Africa - Day 12

Uganda 30 July 2015

I have not been able to upload photographs to my blog without wifi or decent band width but will add my photographs to my blog post as soon as I can.

We are having the most brilliant time in Uganda with everything being great. Our trip was organised by our local ground agents Avian Watch Uganda.  Everything is going really well with Robert, our fantastic guide (who knows all the sites and calls and can whistle birds in) and Paul, our driver and fixer, for who nothing was too much.

This morning was another start, getting up at 5.00 am, breakfast at 5.30 am and heading out at 6.00 am to drive to Budongo Forest where we would be birding the stretch called ‘The Royal Mile’.

When we arrived at the forest gate, we knew that there might be an issue about getting in and technically we need a permit to go in.  Pau said that in the past Robert has been aloowed to go in with birders and Paul had bought the permits when the office opened at 8.00 am.  Last night, when Paul had phoned, he was told that were not allowed inside with first buying the permit.  After a bit of sweet talking, we were allowed in on the basis that Paul went to buy the permits as soon as the office opened.

It was a pristine bit of forest and we were hopeful for our days birding. Then after only an hour, it started raining heavily.  We took shelter outside a little building whilst Digby carried on birding in the rain, trying to prove his point, that you should bird in rain, even if it’s heavily.  He saw three birds that were Uganda ticks for him (but not us) which he thought was great, but we saw within about half an hour of the rain stopping.

We had a really good day’s birding, staying at the site all day.  One of the highlights was Nahan’s Francolin, which we saw but Digby missed, which didn’t help things.

Other good birds for the day were Rufous-crowned Eremomola, Dwarf and Chocolate-backed Kingfisher, Ducky Long-tailed Cuckoo, Ugandan Woodland warbler and White-thighed Hornbill.

Trip list – My trip list up to the end of day 12 is 383 with 171 lifers.

About the Writer

 

Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly

Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig 

Mya-Rose Craig is a 12 year old young birder, conservationist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She is looking forward to going Mountain Gorilla Trekking in East Africa and watching Penguins in Antarctica in December 2015, which will be her 7th continent. She has recently been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter