Bird Watching in Mgahinga National Park

Mgahinga Gorilla National park is the smallest park in the country and was gazette for purposes of mountain gorilla conservation in 1991. It is also part of the popular Virunga conservation area that is shared by Rwanda, Congo and Uganda and it is probably Uganda’s most scenic compared to all other national park as it lies at a high altitude, really high in the clouds at between 2,227m-4127m.

This park occupies an area of 33.7 sq. km which is partly covered by forested slopes while the other part is occupied by the extinct volcanoes thus giving it quite a scenic view. The vegetation cover is basically the afro montane vegetation and its survival has been supported by the existing cool climate. Other vegetation types in the park include the bamboo and that covers 60%, there is also the lobelia, among other vegetation types.

This kind of vegetation cover creates a perfect home for so many and different wildlife species and the commonest and very special species being the mountain gorillas. According research done, this Virunga conservation area is a home to more than half of the world’s gorillas thus making it a great place for gorilla tracking adventure. This park is not only very famous for the mountain gorillas but also other tourism activities like golden monkey trek and habituation as well as bird watching.

Maghinga national park is a home to about 115 different bird species out of the 250 species that are found in the whole of Virunga conservation area. This huge population makes bird watching in Mgahinga a lot more interesting and many of these species are actually endemic species to our albertine Rift Mountains. You can go for birding any time of the year although the very best time would be from a round April to Mid-May, and then from October to November since around November there are various migratory birds that come into the park up to around April.

There are various really notable species that you should look out for the moment you enter Mgahinga for bird watching.

• Ibis,
• White-necked raven
• Double-collared sunbird
• Paradise flycatcher
• Black kite
• Speckled mouse bird
• Pin-tailed whydah
• Waxbills,
• Archer’s robin-chat
• Speckled Mouse birds,
• Grey Capped Warbler,
• Whydah,
• Dusky crimson wing
• Yellow-Vented Bulbul.
• Alpine chat
• Blue-headed coucal
• Fire Finch Stonechat,
• Olive pigeon
• Ruwenzori batis
• Ruwenzori turaco
• Ruwenzori nightjar
• Kivu ground-thrush
• Alpine, among so many others.

All bird watchers from all over the world can expect a very amazing birding adventure any time but it would be better during the time when the migratory birds have come in too as this means you can expect more birds than the usual number. November to April is therefore the best time.

Birding watching activity is a steadily growing tourism activity and so there is a steady increase in the number of tourists that are more interested in Uganda bird watching safari. This is growth is probably as a result of the fact that Uganda has got so many bird watching hotspots across the nation and Mgahinga national park is just one of the many. These sites include;

• Kibale National Park  and in Bigodi Wetland especially
• Royal Mile & Budongo Forest
• Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
• In Mabira forest
• Semuliki National Park
• Murchison Falls National Park
• Queen Elizabeth National Park
• Also in Echuya Forest
• Along the Nile River and all around Jinja
• Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary forest.
• In Mabamba swamp in Entebbe
• Mpanga forest, among so many other places.

In addition to the birds and the primate, there are also animals like bushbucks, the elephants, the buffaloes and many more therefore game viewing in this park is very possible too.

For more information about bird watching in Rwanda, visit gorillasafarirwanda.com