Mabamba Swamp – Home of the elusive Shoebill Stork
Mabamba Swamp –Wetlands– An amazing Birding Experience
Best Place in Uganda for Shoebill Stork Viewing – A Waterbird Paradise
Visiting the Gorillas of Uganda – the Chimpanzees – means driving some distance through Uganda – yet one of the most reliable places where you can sight the most sought after Bird in Africa – the
ancient looking Shoebill Stork. Mabamba Swamp Wetlands is the perfect place for a one day outing from Kampala or an add on to a safari that includes Western Uganda such as Lake Mburo National Park. Pack a nice lunch – take some bottled water take along a good, Binoculars are a must, hat, sun protection, insect repellent, light rain jacket, a backpack for lunch and bottled water, long sleeved shirt, and long trousers.
Mabamba Swamp is a large tract of marshlands with various channels through it and it provides the perfect habitat for countless of water-birds besides the Shoebill Stork such as Swamp Flycatcher, Winding Cisticola, Malachite Kingfisher, Black-headed Weavers, Yellow-billed Duck, Long-toed Lapwing, African Jacana and Blue-headed Coucal, Banded Martin, Grey-rumped and Angola Swallows, Intermediate Egret, Swamp Flycatcher, African Purple Swamp-hen, African Water Rail, Common Moorhen, Lesser Jacana, African Jacana, African Pygmy Goose, White-faced Whistling-duck, Squacco, Rufous-bellied and Purple Heron, Blue-breasted Bee-eater, Winding Cisticola, Goliath Heron, Black Crake, African Marsh Harrier, Hamerkop, Malachite and Pied Kingfishers, Common Waxbill, Yellow-billed Duck, Blue-headed Cuckoo, Fan-tailed Widowbird, Intermediate Egret, Osprey, Long-toed Lapwing, African Pied Wagtail, and Red-billed Fire-finch.
Keep your eyes open not only not only for the Shoebill Stork but for web toed Sitatunga Antelopes – which can be as elusive as the Shoebill Storks. Mabamba Swamp is a most intriguing Wetland Sanctuary, one wishes every creature within it was safe from harm – at one time the Shoebill Storks were being killed by superstitious fisherman who saw their sighting as a bad omen – meaning no successful fishing, not only is Mabamba Swamp visited by Birding Enthusiasts but by poachers who come to steal Shoebill Storks eggs and sell them to illegal wildlife traders and even the shoebill storks themselves – two were rescued at Entebbe airport –all this resulting in fewer and fewer Shoebill Storks in Uganda and in Africa as a whole.
Thank goodness many a fisherman that might have considered killing shoebill storks upon seeing them (bad omen when you are fishing) nowadays is paddling the canoe in search of the Shoebill Storks and other Bird Species along the Channels of Mabamba Swamp Wetlands.
Mabamba Swamp provides the setting for a perfect birding day in Uganda - it also provides an income to those who own a boat and the guides that point out birds and other wildlife, plants and flowers to you. There is a bit of mystery, a bit intrigue, adventure, not knowing what the next turn of the channel will unfold before your eyes. There is no sound but the paddle dipping into the water, the sound of birds, of rustling swamp grass and reeds – it is another experience in Uganda not to be missed even if you are not a birder or birding enthusiast – experiencing an African Swamp in the Pearl of Africa is simply amazing and seeing the Shoebill Stork in its habitat and natural environment is simply amazing.
All this within easy reach of Kampala – the perfect day trip to a most unique African Swamp – Mabamba – put it on your list of places not to miss when visiting Uganda…from Kampala…jon
“If I have ever seen magic, it has been in Africa.” John Hemingway, African Journeys
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