Uganda Wildlife Diary

By Srinivasa Shenoy Uganda 0 Comments

Uganda – the Pearl of Africa, has been on my bucket list for quite some time now! I have been long fascinated by the lure of pristine wildlife areas and of course, the star attractions: the Mountain Gorillas and Chimpanzees in the tropical rain forests!

For magnificence, for variety of form and colour, for profusion of brilliant life… Uganda is truly the Pearl of Africa.

Winston ChurchillMy African Journey, 1908

This quote by Winston Churchill, after his visit to Uganda in 1906, is one of the most evocative statements for Uganda (and duly appropriated by the Tourism department) and the inspiration for many travellers to visit this remote and not so ‘frequented’ wildlife destination.

In today’s day and age, where almost all wildlife areas are been pushed aside in the name of development, the first thought is whether the above statement still holds good a 100 years later? A few facts:

Located at the point where the East African savannah meets the Central African rainforest, Uganda is one of the world’s top bio-diverse countries and the most bio-diverse in Africa.
Mammals & Primates – Uganda has some 345 species of mammals of which 20 are of the primate order – including Gorillas, Chimpanzee and Monkeys. This is 8% of the Global Mammal diversity! Nearly 50% of the world’s population of Mountain Gorillas (of a total of nearly 1,100 individuals in the world)

Birdlife & Butterflies

Uganda has more avian species per sq kilometer than anywhere else in the world!

With approximately 1060 species – which is nearly 11% of all the bird species in the world, Uganda has nearly half of the species found in Africa.

Contrast this with diverse India, which has 1,266 species of birds. To give it perspective – Uganda is merely 7% of the landmass of India – but has almost the same number of species of birds!

Uganda also has 1,242 species of butterflies – 8% of the world’s species and nearly 50% of Africa’s bird and butterfly species!
Lastly, Uganda has 142 species of reptile, (14% of Africa), 86 species of amphibians (19% of Africa) and 501 species of fish.

I suppose the above puts to rest debates about the biodiversity and the rich wildlife treasure that is Uganda! While the ‘productivity’ of mammal sightings (including the famous Big 5) in Uganda cannot be compared with the Savannahs of Masai Mara, Serengeti and other parks of East Africa, the sheer variety and diversity (fighting ‘development’ as it is!) in Uganda will never cease to amaze – especially the birds.

But the highlight of the trip to Uganda has to be the ‘Primate encounters’ – especially the endangered ‘fearsome’ looking Mountain Gorillas and the Chimpanzees – which cannot be done anywhere else in the world except for neighbouring Rwanda and Congo.

In my 22 days trip across Uganda, I visited nearly 12 wildlife areas including the remote and fascinating Kidepo and Mt. Elgon National parks. Being on a country familiarization trip (as a travel advisor), the trip was very hectic and not a normal leisure wildlife trip. Inspecting hotels and visiting all the sights possible leaves very little time for safaris and wildlife walks – which require ‘patience’. A birding enthusiast, I genuinely believe that looking for and identifying birds indelibly adds to the excitement of a safari and of course, to our appreciation of the treasures of nature.

While the wildlife adventure whizzed by; a laborious and careful summary post the trip revealed a lot of pleasant surprises! I managed to see and identify nearly 224 species of birds (20% of all the bird species in the country!) and nearly 40 species of mammals!

Of the bird sightings – nearly 99 species were lifers for me – meaning I have seen them for the first time in my life!

For a hectic trip – not necessarily devoted only to wildlife sightings, this is stupendous, and I suppose it proves the wealth of wildlife this small land locked country has to offer! Of course, a wildlife focused trip would have turned up even more observations – but then that is for some other day!

List of observations with some photographs! Hope you enjoy going through it!