Rwanda Birding and safari trip report (June 2024)
Summary:
The tour’s main objective was birding Rwanda’s various ecosystems. Our targets were birds of the savannah, papyrus-specialist birds, and the endemic species of the Albertine Rift, in addition to large African mammals including Giraffe, Buffalo, and Elephant.
Four locations were visited. The wetlands of Gashora in the Bugesera district, which is one of the last papyrus-covered wetlands and home to Carruther’s Cisticola and Papyrus Gonolek, two papyrus specialist birds. Nestled within Kigali city, about 5km from the airport, Nyandungu Urban Wetland Eco-tourism Park is home to over 100 bird species, including the rare White-collared Oliveback. Over 300 bird species, including 29 indigenous to the Albertine Rift, and 13 kinds of primates can be found in the mountainous woodland of Nyungwe National Park. The Akagera National Park features a range of habitats, such as lakes, wetlands, savannah grasslands, and the river Akagera. Today, Akagera is home to 500 different bird species, including those that are region-restricted, such as the Miombo Wren-Warbler and the Red-faced Barbet. The African Big 5 are among the many mammals that call the park home.
Day 1: Birding in Bugesera and around Kigali
The tour started on the morning of the 15th, when we met the client at the airport, who arrived at 6am with Rwandair from Dubai. After breakfast, we made our way to Bugesera to target the papyrus and wetland specialist birds. We took a 45-minute drive from Kigali to the first stop at Gashora Marsh.
We quickly spotted Papyrus gonolek and Carruther’s Cisticola at this location, and we also heard the Papyrus Canary. We saw a large number of White-faced Whistling Duck (over 300), Blue-billed Teal (Hottentot Teal), African Swamphen, Black Crake, African Jacana, Long-toed and Spur-winged Lapwing as the wetland was still flooded as it was the end of the rainy season.
We took a quick break for a hot coffee in Nyamata town before returning to Kigali at 11 a.m. Following a lunch break in Kigali, we spent an hour at the hotel Chez Lando (Our overnight accommodation), and at 4 p.m., we headed to the Nyandungu Urban Wetland Eco-tourism Park to begin birding.
Our first goal was to locate the White-collared Oliveback, but sadly, the heat prevented us from doing so (better in the morning). On the other hand, we saw some excellent birds such as the African Palm Swift, Black-headed Gonolek, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Chubb’s Cisticola, Yellow-throated Greenbul, and White-browed Coucal.
We ended birding at 6 p.m. and drove to the hotel to have dinner and make plans for the tour’s remaining days.
Day 2: Driving to Nyungwe and afternoon birding in a mountain Forest
We had an early breakfast, departed the hotel at 7 am, and travelled for 6 hours to reach Nyungwe National Park, a mountain forest in Rwanda’s southwest. We stopped briefly for coffee in Nyanza on the way, and arrived to Nyungwe National Park at 1 pm.
We registered at the park headquarters after lunch so that we could go birding along the Ndamabarare trail and at the park reception. The Albertine Rift Endemics and other altitudinal birds were the target at Nyungwe. We saw several of the endemic species on this trail, including Albertine Boubou, Rwenzori Batis, Rwenzori Turaco, and Willard’s Sooty Boubou. Black-billed Turaco, African Green Pigeon, Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo, Doherty’s Bushshrike, White-headed Woodhoopoe, are some of the other species seen.
Our day came to an end at 5:30 p.m. when we headed to our hotel (Nyungwe Top View Hill) for dinner and to make plans for the following day.
Day 3: A full day birding in the forest
Today we set off to Uwinka, located in the middle of Nyungwe National Park. The Irebero is an easy walking trail that begins at the reception. Among the endemic birds we saw are the Blue-headed Sunbird, Purple-breasted Sunbird, Regal Sunbird, Dusky Crimsonwing, Albertine Boubou, Rwenzori Hill Babbler, Yellow-eyed Black-Flycatcher and Strange Weaver.
Other notable birds include the Great Blue Turaco, Lühder’s Bushshrike, Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, and Forest Weaver. We had lunch at the park’s coffee shop, which is in the centre of the lush forest. We visited the Pindura trail after lunch, where we were fortunate to see a rare Red-collared Mountain-Babbler, Cassin’s Hawk-Eagle, Mountain Yellow-Warbler, and Rwenzori Hill Babbler. At 5 o’clock in the evening, we finished birding for the day and made our way to the hotel for dinner and our overnight stay.
Day 4: A second full day birding in Nyungwe National Park
Following breakfast, we departed the hotel at 7 a.m. and headed to the Karamba trail, which is 5 kilometers from the park’s west exit. The trail is in natural forest and easy to walk.
Today, we added some Albertine Rift Endemics to our list on the Karamba trail, mainly Dusky Crimsonwing, Rwenzori Hill Babbler, Black-faced Apalis and Kungwe Apalis. We added new species on our list for the tour, among other Montane Nightjar, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Chestnut-throated Apalis, Black-throated Apalis, Banded Prinia, Black Sawwing, 4 Yellow-streaked Greenbul, Green White-eye, Abyssinian Thrush, White-eyed Slaty-Flycatcher, White-bellied Robin-Chat. After a 15-minute drive to the hotel, where our lunch had been arranged, we had a quick rest.
We left for Nyungwe National Park’s largest wetland, Kamiranzovu, at 3 p.m. Finding new endemics and other charismatic birds was the target.
This was a productive afternoon, we added new endemics on our list among others Grauer’s Swamp Warbler, Grauer’s Warbler, Purple-breasted Sunbird and Stuhlmann’s Sunbird. We also saw new species like Cinnamon Bracken-Warbler, Mountain Illadopsis, Archer’s Robin-Chat, and Chestnut-throated Apalis. We reconnected with the following birds: Black-billed Turaco, Rwenzori Turaco, Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo, Bar-tailed Trogon, Black-tailed Oriole, Albertine Boubou, Black-throated Apalis, Black-faced Apalis, Kungwe Apalis, Red-faced Woodland-Warbler, Neumann’s Warbler, Blue-headed Sunbird, Northern Double-collared Sunbird and Regal Sunbird. At 5:30 pm, we concluded our birding for the day and made our way to the Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel for lodging and dinner.
Day 5: Banda and Nyungwe House trails
After an early breakfast at 6:30am, we left at 7 am. We visited Banda Road today and were fortunate to spot Red-faced Woodland-Warbler and the Many-colored Bushshrike in the forest. We were also lucky enough to spot the Great Blue, Black-billed, and Rwenzori Turacos on the same trail.
We had sightings of the following endemics: Rwenzori and Kungwe Apalis, Grauer’s Warbler, Neumann’s Warbler, Blue-headed Sunbird, Purple-breasted Sunbird, Stuhlmann’s Sunbird and Regal Sunbird. Many species of Apalis were also encountered, among them: Black-throated Apalis, Black-faced Apalis and Chestnut-throated Apalis. These birds were also added to our list: Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo, 2 Bar-tailed Trogon, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, Black-tailed Oriole and Albertine Boubou, Mountain Illadopsis, Northern Double-collared Sunbird, Archer’s Robin-Chat and Cinnamon Bracken-Warbler. At 12pm, we went back to the hotel for lunch and break.
We resumed our birding at 3pm around Nyungwe House (west of the forest) adding these new birds to the list: Blue Malkoha, Grey-headed Nigrita, Fine-banded Woodpecker, Black-faced Rufous-Warbler, White-chinned Prinia, White-bellied Crested Flycatcher, White-tailed Blue Flycatcher, Thick-billed Seed-eater and Grey-chested Babbler, African Paradise-Flycatcher, Black-throated Apalis, Cinnamon Bracken-Warbler, Eastern Mountain Greenbul, Yellow-whiskered Greenbul, Red-faced Woodland-Warbler, Strange Weaver, Regal Sunbird, etc.
Day 6: Bigugu and driving to Kigali
This was our last day in Nyungwe we decided to do the Bigugu trail. This is one of the harder trails in Nyungwe National Park, but offers the best chance to see birds on the trail, primarily the Red-collared Mountain Babbler.
This charismatic bird, quasi endemic to Nyungwe National Park, was seen after one hour of hiking. Other birds seen on the trail worth a mention were Mountain Illadopsis, and Archer’s Robin-Chat. After having lunch at Uwinka reception, we drove to Kigali to be at Chez Lando Hotel at 7pm.
Day 7: A morning birding and safari in Akagera NP
We left the hotel at 5.30am and had our breakfast en route at Imigongo in Kayonza; we reached the park at 8am and after the registration, we continued with birding. The day was really productive with a good sighting of a couple of Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl. The other notable species of the day were Tabora and Stout Cisticolas, Purple-crested Turaco, Rüppell’s and Violet-backed Starlings, Spot-flanked Barbet, Chin-spot Batis, and Bateleur. We had good sightings of Giraffe, Buffalo, Zebra and Impala. At about 1pm we ended our birding, continuing our journey to Akagera Game Lodge for check in and lunch and an afternoon rest
Day 8: Akagera and night flight
This was our last day of the tour and we decided to take a long drive from south to exit from the north. Following an early breakfast, at 6am, we left at 7am via the Lake Circuit.
Along the way we saw these interesting species: White-headed Barbet, Coqui Francolin and Temminck’s Courser. As we drove north, we went along the lakeside and our birding was done in a combination of habitats, them being: lake shores, surrounding wetland and savannah. Sightings included birds like Sooty Chat, Brown Snake Eagle, Gabar Goshawk, Common Scimitarbill, White-winged Kite, Croaking and Trilling Cisticolas, Lilac-breasted Roller, Orange-breasted Bushshrike, Red-necked spurfowl, Helmeted Guineafowl, Tawny-flanked Prinia, Flappet Lark, Rufous-naped Lark, Black-bellied Bustard, Black-headed Gonolek, and Black-headed Oriole. The lakes and shores produced waterbirds and wetland specialists like African Jacana, Spur-winged Lapwing, Grey-crowned Crane, Saddle-billed Stork, Goliath and Purple Herons, Long-toed and Wattled Lapwing, Little Grebe Spur-winged and Egyptian Goose, Grey and Black-headed Herons, White-faced Whistling Duck, Pied and Malachite Kingfishers, African Darter, African Fish Eagle and Palm-nut Vulture, and Long-tailed Cormorant. Mammal sightings included Topi and Baboon.
Our lunch was arranged at Mihindi picnic area where we enjoyed a hot lunch facing hills of Tanzania. At 2pm, we resumed our birding towards Kilala, the famous plain where big mammals can be seen easily. We were lucky to see 3 Lions on the way to the plain. We also had sightings of birds like Striped Kingfisher, Red-faced Crombec, Long-crested Eagle, Plain-backed Pipit, Bare-faced Go-away-bird, and Meyer’s Parrot.
At 4pm, we exited the park and we drove to Kigali where we arrived at 7pm. We had a shower and dinner before we dropped the client at the airport for the evening flight.
