Are you a birder and willing to do birding in the lush Mabira forest? Worry no more, we organize birding safaris with experienced bird guides in Uganda and East Africa at large.
Conveniently perched near Uganda’s capital Kampala, Mabira forest is located in Buikwe District and as you head to Jinja (Uganda’s adventure capital) from Kampala, you are likely to taste a bit of its beauty. It’s among many other forest reserves in Uganda, sitting on 74,000 acres of land and covers an area of 300 square kilometers. It became a fully-fledged forest reserve in 1932, due to a huge number of wildlife including primates and birds inhabited here.
Mabira forest is under the management of National Forestry Authority as an eco-tourism site. The forest has perfect eco-friendly accommodation facilities and there is another part set for adventurous activities like zip-lining. The main activities that take place in this forest are nature walks, bird watching and biking.
The forest has different rivers and one of them form the Griffin falls that offer great scenery to visitors of this forest. Mabira forests homes over 315 bird species and these can be spotted through bird watching and nature walk expeditions. Of these species, some are rare ones such as yellow and blue long bill, purple throated cuckoo strike, Johnson’s wattle eye, Tit Hylia among others. Other birds in Mabira include; Black-necked weaver, Red-headed Malimbe, White-breasted Negrofince, Fan-tailed widow bird, Redhead blue bill among others.
Interestingly, Mabira is near the capital of Kampala and it’s known to be the nearest forest for visitors who have limited time and want to go birding in the rainforest to discover unique species of birds. The trails in this forest take birders to the best spotting points and while trekking along the trails, you’ll get chances to view red-tailed monkey, buttress and Turacos trails.
These trails lead birders to spot birds like Black-shouldered Nightjar, Sabine’s Spine tail, Cassin’s Spine tail, Blue-throated Roller, African Dwarf-kingfisher, White-bellied Kingfisher, Forest Wood hoopoe, African Pied Hornbill, Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill, Speckled Tinker bird and Yellow-throated Tinker bird.
The management (NFA) has trained a good number of local guides and has full knowledge and experience about Mabira forest with its inhabitants and connecting trails. Therefore for the birding day in Mabira, be sure that these expert bird guides know the best spots for birding in this great natural forest.
The main birding spot in Mabira forest is Najjembe village. The place is situated just 56 kilometers away from the capital city of Uganda and just 300m off the Kampala-Jinja highway. This is where the Visitors’ Information Centre is located and birding starts at this real point. While heading to this point to start your birding day, you can’t get lost since there is a road side market for the locals selling roasted meat and other foodstuff and that’s where you can locate the signpost directing you to the site.
For the morning hours, you can spend a good time here at the information Centre birding before you even go far. As you bird through the forest, feel the cool breeze from the natural forest as well as spotting some primates while along the trail.
Another birding spot in Mabira is Buwoola which is located near Najjembe, about 5 minutes’ drive from this point. Then you will find a dirt road that leads to the forest. This is a public road and it is used by the locals, heading to the village of Buwoola, so you are advised to start birding early enough before the road is full of traffic mainly motorists who inconvenience you undertake the experience.
For travelers who are willing to bird in Mabira Forest, they are advised to book the safari with us to make your dream come true.
