Mabamba Swamp is Africa’s most reliable site for the Shoebill. Spend a quiet morning gliding through papyrus channels by dugout canoe, ideal as an introduction to Uganda birding or a rewarding free day near Entebbe or Kampala.
A half-day on the water at the best time for the Shoebill, with hotel or airport pickup and drop-off. It works well on arrival day, before a longer safari, or on the last day before an evening flight.
Your day begins at 5am with pickup from your hotel in Entebbe or Kampala. You drive about 45 minutes to Mabamba Bay, on the northern edge of Lake Victoria, arriving just as the swamp wakes up.
You board a dugout canoe with a local poler and your guide and slip quietly into the papyrus channels. The Shoebill hunts in the shallows during the first hours after sunrise. Along the way look for African Jacana, Malachite Kingfisher, Papyrus Gonolek and, with luck, a Sitatunga moving through the reeds.
After about three hours on the water you return to the landing site for tea and a light breakfast. Time permitting, you can stop at the Entebbe Botanical Gardens or the lakeshore before drop-off at your hotel or the airport by early afternoon.
Pickup is around 5am from Entebbe (a little earlier from Kampala) so you are on the water at sunrise, the best time for the Shoebill.
Yes. You are back by early afternoon, which works well with evening flights from Entebbe.
Yes. There is no minimum age, though children must be able to sit still in a canoe for about three hours. Life jackets are available.
Binoculars, a camera with a zoom lens, a hat, sunscreen and a light rain jacket.
Wildlife 7 daysTwo of Uganda’s greatest wildernesses in one journey: the thundering Nile at Murchison Falls, then the wide, wild plains of Kidepo Valley in the far north-east.
Short break 4 daysRhinos on foot, chimpanzees in a mahogany forest, the most powerful waterfall on the Nile and the big game of Uganda’s largest park, in four unhurried days from Kampala.
Honeymoon 12 daysAdventure and romance: fly in to trek gorillas in Bwindi, see tree-climbing lions and the Kazinga Channel, then fly to Zanzibar for Stone Town and six nights on the beach.
Change the dates, add a night, upgrade a lodge or combine it with Rwanda or Kenya. Tell us what you have in mind and we’ll send a revised plan and price.
