Birding In Lake Mburo National Park
Planing a birding Safari in Uganda? Lake Mburo national park is located in the western part of Uganda in Kiruhura district, 30 kilometers east of the largest city of the sub-region Mbarara. Lake Mburo national park was gazette as a national park in 1983 after being used as a hunting ground and later as a grazing field for the Bahima.
Currently it is the smallest savannah conservation area in Uganda, meaning it is the smallest park in Uganda covering an estimated area of 260 square kilometers but with some outstanding attributes that are so unique from other destinations in Uganda.
Lake Mburo national park is well known for its unique mammals like the zebras, impala, elands, leopards, buffaloes, warthogs, jackals and others. Though this amazing national park is known for its zebras but it is also one of the incredible birding destinations of Uganda, harboring over 310 bird species that has been sighted in this small but interesting savannah park. The lake Mburo national park will always leave you with need for more stay in this destination because of its scenic free standing acacia trees, with the dwelling birds not forgetting the forest species that are commonly seen in the Rubanga forest.
One other unique attribute of Lake Mburo national park is the presence of the swamps of course with its amazing and spectacular six papyrus endemic birds including the Papyrus gonolek and the blue-headed coucal ,don’t also forget that lake Mburo national park is a place that one can get the southern species in the northern limit of their range ,clear experience can be seen from the black-collared barbet and the ground hornbill and of course this same national park has the migratory birds that are commonly seen in the park during months of November to April.
One destination that any birder shouldn’t miss is Lake Mburo national park just for some of its notable species that are endemic to Uganda. Some of the key endemic species include; the shoebill with its attribute of inhabiting swamps and been a quiet , gentle and standing in the side point, and for long described as a statue- like bird species, the Abyssinian ground hornbill is an occasional bird, attributed to be one of the most endemic and migratory bird species in the park, the greater painted snipe is one of the most sought after bird species with its characters being as not a vocal bird, enjoys staying in reed beds but along water shorelines of marshes, swamps, streams, and ponds. There are many endemic bird species but to mention are these few.
The notable common species are; the African wattled lapwing, black-bellied bustard, and saddle billed stork, Brown-chested lapwing, bare-face go-away bird, African scops owl, blue-headed coucal, etc.
Birding in Lake Mburo national park is a year round activity that is done in the interior of the national park, with May, June and July comprised of less rain fall, then Jan, February, march and April having heavy rain, but interesting months are from November to April, where you can sight the migratory birds.
