Mabamba swamp is one of the best places in Uganda to spot the highly sought-after shoebill in its natural habitat.

Regularly featured on tourism brochures, these appealingly grotesque birds look like they have crawled straight out of the swamp (which they literary have), with out-of-proportion features and a massive dirty-yellow bill that resembles an old battered clog. Birdwatching is mostly via canoe, where you will navigate waterways comprising lily pads and papyrus swamp.

Among the 260 species in the region that can be sighted on a safari in Uganda, other notable birds include Papyrus Gonolek, Mosque Swallow, Weyn’s Weaver, House Sparrow, Sand Martin, White-shouldered Tit, Brown Snake-Eagle, Eurasian Hobby, Grosbeak Weaver, Blue-headed Coucal, Fork-tailed Drongo, Orange Weaver, Feral Pigeon, Long-Crested Eagle, Flappet Lark, Stripped Kingfisher, Great Blue Turaco, Common Stonechat, Common Greenshank, Whinchat, Little bee-eater, Grey Wagtail, Northern Brown-throated Weaver, Grassland Pipit, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Slender-billed Weaver, Black-headed weaver, Yellow-backed Weaver, Ruppell’s Long-tailed Sterling, Black Headed Gonolek, Grey-Headed Sparrow, Yellow Wagtail, Spur-winged Lapwing, African Pied Wagtail, Pied King Fisher, Yellow Billed Stork, Grey-headed Kingfisher, Tawny Eagle, Olivaceous Warbler, Carruther’s Cisticola, Fan-tailed Widowbird, Ross’s Turaco, Ashy Flycatcher, Yellow-throated Greenbul, Rufous-napped Lark, Common Squacco Heron, Fulvous Whistling-duck, White-faced Whistling-duck, Slender-billed Gull, Goliath Heron, Violet-backed Sterling, Spur-winged Goose, African Marsh Harrier, Long-toed Lapwing, White-browed Coucal among others that combine to attract counts of world birders to undertake birding safaris to Uganda.

The wetland is closer to the Entebbe International Airport presenting opportunities for travelers to do an excursion in the morning and then catch up with the fight in the afternoon. Mabamba is part of the broader Uganda ecosystem that supports 1,057 bird Species of birds which constitute the 50% of the African Bird Species and the 11% of the global scale. Uganda is known worldwide as the birding destination and the birders who undertake birding safaris and tours in Uganda have not regretted.

Contact us to customize your safari to Uganda via info@travel256.com or call us on +256 701 367970.