Agandi Uganda - a whirlwind tour!

[Atravelynn]

Still getting a lot of doubles in the bird species.  Twice as nice.

 

Maybe your burn injury had something to do with the illness the last day.  How awful and you must have been concerned about making the flight out.  Still you photographed the barbet, plus everything else.  Now that is determination!  Thanks for the Uzuri recommendation!

 

Overall, Success!

[Kitsafari]

On 4/28/2022 at 2:51 AM, michael-ibk said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So love this shot - it resonates with me. That's me pondering about life, food and what birds can i get next. 

In fact, love all the shots of the gorillas.

 

So admire your perseverance in getting deep into impenetrable elephant-dominated swamps but I'm with @AndMicand  @TonyQ  i'd wait on that bench for you. 

 

so sorry to hear about that awful hotwater bag and yet another horrible bout of food poisoning. 

 

thanks for finishing up the TR - i took a while to get all caught up. 

Edited May 23, 2022 by Kitsafari

[pedro maia]

Great report Michael, it´s a pity your final  momments there were somehow spoilt but overall it´s clear that you had a great time in Uganda.

[ELIL]

Great report with excellent pictures. Good to hear it went fell for you despite some hicups. Reading through your report brought back some nice memories from our last safari before the pandemic.Uganda is indeed a place for more than one visit.

[michael-ibk]

Thanks @Atravelynn, @Kitsafari, @pedro maiaand @ELIL!

 

On 5/22/2022 at 3:56 AM, Atravelynn said:

Maybe your burn injury had something to do with the illness the last day. 

 

I think it must have, since Andreas and Emma were absolutely fine eating the very same dinner - which was actually pretty good.

 

6 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

In fact, love all the shots of the gorillas.

 

Join us for the next one then Kit.

 

1 hour ago, pedro maia said:

 it´s a pity your final  momments there were somehow spoilt but overall it´s clear that you had a great time in Uganda.

 

Absolutely, what´s a little sickness against Gorillas, Shoebills and general awesomeness? Nothing!

 

43 minutes ago, ELIL said:

Uganda is indeed a place for more than one visit.

 

I´m already thinking about possible future itineraries.

[dlo]

4 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

I´m already thinking about possible future itineraries.

Will there by chance be birds involved😜

[Kitsafari]

8 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

Thanks @Atravelynn, @Kitsafari, @pedro maiaand @ELIL!

 

 

 

 

Join us for the next one then Kit.

 

 

let me know early! i'll have to get into intensive training for it!

[Zim Girl]

Beautiful set of pictures to end your report with.  Shame about feeling so sick at the end but the whole safari looked pretty successful to me.

[michael-ibk]

Thanks Angie - it was!

[michael-ibk]

23 hours ago, dlo said:

Will there by chance be birds involved😜

Why would you think that? 

[Zubbie15]

Great trip report @michael-ibk, thanks so much for sharing. I really need to move Uganda up on my list of countries to visit. Really unfortunate that you got sick at the end, but better than in the middle! 

[Soukous]

It certainly looks as though you had a super trip, apart from the last 24 hours.

By coincidence, my son just spent 3 weeks in Uganda and loved it, until he got very sick. Bilharzia and a bacterial infection combined.  

He's not a birder, not a photographer either, but he thought it was great and would go back again - and be a bit more careful.

[jeremie]

On 3/27/2022 at 8:32 PM, michael-ibk said:

 

The drive back was beautiful - pretty nice light. Which was scarce during our time in Uganda as you might have noticed by now. Emma said it´s often quite grey and dull towards the end of the dry season, according to him the "best" months are Dec, Jan, June and July.

 

 

 

Unfortunately the beauty of Murchison Falls NP is about to be seriously scarced. Right now they are building an enormously broad road right through the park which will be paved soon. Heavy vehicles will cross then. The reason is oil of course. Murchison Falls sits on top of some vast oil reserves and if the companies get their way a pipeline will be built all the way down to Tanzania. TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are the major foreign investors. The two projects are "expected to start producing oil in 2025 and reach a peak production of 230,000 barrels per day, which will rank the Lake Albert oil fields as one of Africa’s top 10 oil projects". It seems the project still has to face some obstacles, there seems to be heavy and determined resistance by locals and NGOs, and - probably more important - financing issues. Read here. Let´s just hope this oil field will not spell disaster for Murchison.

 

 

 

Time to showcase Oribi which behave like Impala here. I mostly know them as pretty shy and relatively scarce animals. Here they are abundant, and almost tame.

 

 

Next morning the weather was back to dull, grey and flat light.

 

 

 

We did not see too many Elephants in Murchison, and this was the only calf. Mum was very protective.

 

 

A good way to counter weather like this is doing close-ups. This Abyssinian Hornbill was a very cooperative subject.

 

We had a long day of driving ahead but still wanted to get a better look at the falls so Emma took a detour there first. With some good raptor sightings on the way:

 

 

African Cuckoo-Hawk is quite a rare bird - in fact I have ever seen it once before (last November in Kenya actually).

 

 

Grasshopper Buzzard - looking exceptionally cool in flight IMO.

 

 

Look at those splendid wings!

 

 

The falls are a very cool and powerful place to be. Actually enjoyed them much more from up here than from the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

Down there you can see the Darter rock - this is how far the boats go.

 

 

 

Emma and @AndMicbraving the elements.

 

A bird species has (quite absdurdly if you ask me) decided that these rocks are a perfect place for hanging out and breeding - they are sitting on the rock on the bottom right:

 

 

 

Rock Pratincoles! I had read they were here, and was delighted to find a pair eventually. They blend in really well.

 

 

 

Time to go now - 330 km to go until our next destination!

 

I have just found your wonderful TR... I have been in Murchison Falls twice: in September 2018 and this April 2022. I am very disappointed and upset about this oil issue. The road is awful. It's a huge scar inside the park, and it's not the only one. They will of course make more like these to reach every single oil well, including in the core Delta area of the park. I don't know what was really your opinion about it but it's clear for me that the park is doomed to die with this oil development. How tourists will simply want to visit a park full of oil wells? The design of this huge road is also the be blamed. It's like a new Entebbe Kampala Express Way (the largest motorway of the country). I was really sad to see the progress of the Tilenga project there.

 

This new road will unable UWA to check any thing at the park gates, which means that as traffic will increase between Masindi and Pakwach, poaching will do the same.

The oil development and production will increase the number of people inside the park, who will clearly poach the animals.

The tourist will leave the park with those oil infrastructure located in the best touristic area of the park, which will cut all revenues for the park.

Park rangers will get very under motivated with no tourists there, and their low salaries in comparison with the oil workers will increase the lack of motivation...

 

I have been talking a lot of this issue with local rangers, lodge owners and all the people in Uganda are very disappointed. As it's the personal interest of the President, they know that there is simply nothing they can do about it. They all told me: "they have spoiled the park"...

 

But the truth is that it's just the beginning, and the future of this park which is in my opinion just below the Serengeti ecosystem in terms of wildlife abundance, is about to die forever.

The park is still home to 100.000 ugandan kobs... But with no tourists, poaching will increase and those numbers might just be memories of the past by 2030...

 

Quote

Murchison Falls was once the most visited park in Africa and home to the highest megaherbivore biomass on that continent. During the late 1970s to the year 2000, the park suffered extreme poaching, with elephant numbers dropping from 16,000 to under 500. The impact of poaching on other herbivores and the carnivores was just as dramatic – a complete collapse. 

Source: https://globalconservation.org/news/murchison-falls-2019-2020-progress-report/

Edited May 31, 2022 by jeremie

[xelas]

Excellent trip report, as expected from Michael and Andreas. Filled with great info and even greater photos. You are both very hardcore travellers. A "simple" stomach problem ... you just brushed it away. Or it was throw it away?!

The last reply by @jeremie made me thinking of returning to Uganda sooner then I have planned.

[shazdwn]

A thoroughly enjoyable trip report with excellent photos - even with food poisoning. 
 

I am actually a huge fan of street food and have eaten it all over the world with minimal nasty experiences. In fact the worst food poisoning I ever had was from eating at Singapore airport, which you would think would be safe. 

[Kitsafari]

On 6/8/2022 at 4:29 PM, shazdwn said:

A thoroughly enjoyable trip report with excellent photos - even with food poisoning. 
 

I am actually a huge fan of street food and have eaten it all over the world with minimal nasty experiences. In fact the worst food poisoning I ever had was from eating at Singapore airport, which you would think would be safe. 

 

 

Arrggghhhh, and i so apologise on behalf of the airport

[shazdwn]

2 hours ago, Kitsafari said:

 

 

Arrggghhhh, and i so apologise on behalf of the airport

 

 - was a dodgy scallop dim sum, just one scallop though as I shared the dish with a friend and she didn't get sick.  

[johnweir]

@michael-ibkI have only just managed to read your Uganda report in detail, I have been rather tied up with my Sri Lanka Trip report of late. Your report is excellent and is peppered with some outstanding images. Anyone planning to visit Uganda should read your report to influence their planning. As I think I have mentioned before we visited Uganda about 4 weeks after you visiting many of the locations you visited and probably photographed some of the same animals and birds that feature in your report. I was sorry to hear you had a couple unpleasant incidents, but feel sure it won't have put you off a return visit, we will certainly go back. The fusion of East and Central African species is amazing. Our trip had a slightly different emphasis to yours as we were trying for a Golden Cat sighting, so it involved a lot of night drives. Whilst we were unsuccessful we did get to see several nocturnal mammals, including some Forest Elephants in the heart of Kibale N.P., not for the faint-hearted particularly at night.

Some of our group visited Bwindi again on a birding trip in July before they left the UK we held a collection, I am sure you will be pleased to learn that Gordon now has a good pair of binoculars fit for purpose. I wish I had been there to see his face when he received them.

 I would add the following location to your itinerary. For those Primate enthusiasts planning to visit Uganda I would recommend Manwa Forest which is a 2 hour drive SW of Entebbe en-route to Mburo N.P. sightings of Ruwenzori Angola Colobus are virtually guaranteed! This is a relatively new location for Primate observation.

 

RWENZORI ANGOLA COLOBUS. Colobus angolensis ruwenzorii, possibly easier to see at Manwa Forest than elsewhere.

 

Thank you again for a wonderful trip report.

 

[michael-ibk]

Thanks for the kind words @johnweir, back at you, loved what I have seen from your Sri Lanka report. Have yet to finish it - I have been tied up wading through my photos from a recent Ecuador trip. You´re absolutely right, my minor mishaps are already fading in my memory. My love for Uganda and its wonderful people is not, and I certainly will return. Again and again I hope. Oh, lovely to hear that about Gordon, I can just see his face right now. 

[johnweir]

@michael-ibk

 

 

Best I can do. Image heavily cropped for obvious reasons. GORDON WITH HIS NEW BINOCULARS.

Yes outside his shop, I am fairly sure Wise Birding supplied the boots as well!

Edited September 4, 2022 by johnweir

[michael-ibk]

Cool.  Is that in front of his shop? 

[CaroleE]

@michael-ibkThorughly enjoyed this TR. What a time you had in Uganda.

I had so much fun recognising places, even after approx 15 years. Uganda was my first ever safari and is the source of my addiction

So pleased you found so many of your target birds. What an amazing bird the shoebill is.

I completely agree about Ishasha. We only had one night there as well but fell in love with the place and would gladly return. The Kazinga Channel boat trip was a highlight - ridiculous numbers of birds (and buffalo and hippo I seem to remember.) The gorilla trecking will always remain a highlight of all my safaris, despite the very steep and muddy/marshy bits!

''As a very superficial birder I like my birds flashy and pretty.''

I very well may steal this description, as it fits me to a T as well

Many thanks for the time and effort in putting the TR together.

 

[michael-ibk]

You're welcome @CaroleE, glad you enjoyed it. 🙂