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AVIAN SAFARIS Seven Day Rwanda Birding and Nature Tour- Customized February 18 to 24, 2018 Tour Leader: Crammy Wanyama Trip Report and Photos By Crammy Wanyama Red-throated ALethe – One of The Albertine Rift Endemics Seen Rwanda, a very small country located in the heart of Africa, has become a darling to many world travellers in a very shot time. The reasons for this quick development will be noticed without a single explanation! A beautiful country gifted in several aspects; very welcoming people with some of the most honest smiles you can imagine, panoramic views of impressive mountain ranges and water bodies some of which earn her, her popular identity as “The Land of a Thousand Hills”, this is also one of the only three homes of Mountain Gorillas and the actual place where the famous Dian Fossey based her studies that attracted the world’s Avian Safaris: Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.aviansafaris.com AVIAN SAFARIS attention to these endangered apes. Rwanda is a birder’s heaven, the diversity of habitats here host some of the most sought after birds on the continent, a prime example are the albertine rift ranges which harbor several of the regional endemics and yet the local authority does good maintenance of designated trails that make it easy to find them. Ian and myself had the pleasure to enjoy this country, from Kigali its very beautiful and 3rd world most green city in the world, to Akagera National Park the jewel of the east and Nyungwe forest the incomparable home to the Albertine Rift endemics. The checklists at the end of the notes list 282 birds, 20 mammals and 4 reptiles during the trip that we encountered during the tour. LiLac-breasted RolLer – Seen among other beauties at Akagera Nat Park Day 1 - February 18, 2018: Birding to Akagera National Park A nice Sunday morning, with amaZing weather is a good way to start a birding trip. I met Ian at his Kigali Hotel and together we drove through the spotless clean streets of Kigali to find our way to the country’s only Avian Safaris: Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.aviansafaris.com AVIAN SAFARIS Game drive National Park. Exiting Kigali was a little bit of work; several streets were closed to favour the locals who were practicing for the 2018 Rwanda Peace Marathon. After exiting the streets, we started enjoying the swamps, which have been and are still being turned into farmlands. There is definitely need for food to cater for fast growing population in this beautiful country. Habitat management has not gone to the worst in these farms, thanks to the good agricultural methods. At the few stops we did, we manage to get ourselves very good looks and flying African SpoonbiLLs, YeLLow- biLLed Stork, Marsh Sandpiper, Black Crake, the very secretive LittLe Rush Warbler, Fan-taiLed Widowbird, BLack-headed, ViLLage & Grosbeak Weavers, Common WaxbiLL, a few raptors like the eye-catching Long- crested Eagle, Augur Buzzard, a hunting African Hobby, Kingfishers like MaLachite and Pied, name it. We planed on getting to the Hotel at Akagera in good time for Lunch and yes we made it yet with the Skulky Slate-CoLored Boubou, Buff-beLLied WarbLer, SaddLe-biLLed Stork, African OpenbiLL, Blue-cheeked, and European Bee-eaters in our pocked as the first Birds of Akagera. Bird turn up was amazing despite the dry conditions of the surrounding, February is at the end of the dry season but a very good birding time in the country, many migrants are still here. After lunch we did an afternoon birding game drive along the scenic Lake Ihema, and treated us to a huge collection of thickets, woodland and shower birds of this wildlife endowed park. Day 2 – February 19, 2018: Birding Akagera National Park We chose an early morning start and started driving through the well- maintained trucks of the park. The weather was simply very good for birding, presenting a very pleasant morning and the rest of the day for excellent views of a collection of thickets and scrub species. We got Avian Safaris: Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.aviansafaris.com AVIAN SAFARIS better views of HiLdebrandt’s Francolin, some very nice looking Barbets; Crested and Spot-flanked, two very attractive LiLac-breasted RolLers, a nice set of Bearded Woodpeckers, some Palearctic migrants among which was the nice looking Icterine Warbler and Spotted Flycatcher. After a good morning birding session we decided to head back to the lodge for lunch, adding distant but very good views of a MartiaL EagLe carrying nesting material by its talons. An afternoon boat cruise on the peaceful Lake Ihema was a success after the one and a half hour period it went for; White-faced WhistLing Duck, Swamp Flycatcher, lots of Spur-winged Geese and several other classic African water birds. Ian spotted a very cool Bush Hyrax as it tried to cover from us, good looks at Giraffe, a few Plains Zebra, Bohor Reedbuck among others, these kept our mammal list growing from the previous day. White-taiLed BLue Flycatcher was observed TaiL Fanning and Feeding Day 3 – February 20, 2018: Birding to Kigali Avian Safaris: Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.aviansafaris.com AVIAN SAFARIS Ian had a meeting in Kigali at noon so we did a straight drive to Kigali. A few birds showed up, and we were very nice to pick them up. Five individuals of Green Wood-hoopoe, Horus and White-rumped Swifts, and few more were added on during a no birding concentration drive. Day 4 – February 21, 2018: Birding to Nyungwe Forest National Park This morning we made an hour’s visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum; a little drive of thirty minutes with traffic and drive time is all it took us to get there from our Hotel. The 1994 Genocide is by far one of the top scenarios that will come to one’s mind when Rwanda is mentioned to them, so it is always worth doing a visit to some of the museums, to get a more detailed picture of what happened on the ground, and Ian was happy to try this out. After the visit to Museum we continued to Huye, driving through very beautiful green and wealthy countryside, sugar cane plantations and rice fields which presented a few birds, some of which we had seen earlier. A soring WahLberg’s EagLe was a nice one to add on our trip list during this drive. We enjoyed a warm lunch at Huye and proceeding to Nyungwe Forest. We did not do the usual birding stops after lunch, because we planned on getting to the park quarters in good time for our next day’s birding. Excitement and good feeling rose as we started the drive through Nyungwe Forest and even more after we added the Handsome Francolin our first endemic bird, Carruther’s Mountain Squirrel and L’Hoest’s Monkey. White-taiLed BLue FLycatcher, Brown-throated WattLe-Eye, White-necked Raven, Abyssinian Thrush, Northern DoubLe–colLared Sunbird, Streaky and Thick-biLLed Seed-eaters were among the many added to our list with in the park’s surroundings after a rainy late afternoon. Avian Safaris: Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.aviansafaris.com AVIAN SAFARIS Day 5 – February 22, 2018: Birding Nyungwe Forest Rwenzori Turaco – Good Looks at Nyungwe Forest Nyungwe a montane tropical rain forest is not only among the biggest protected natural forests in the region but also one of the birdy. This is an approximately 1000 square kilometers forest, which protects an impressive number of birds, a good record of primates and lots of other wildlife. Our early start got us to birding some of its very productive trails in search for the highly sought after albertine rift endemics. Things went well; including cooperative weather, several endemics and range- restricted specialties were pocketed. We enjoyed a warm lunch while the birds where also enjoying a little mid afternoon roost before taking on Umuyove trail which paid up highly with a lot more good birds including WiLLard’s Sooty Boubou which is the most recently described Albertine Rift Endemic, Kungwe Apalis, uncommon Madagascar Cuckoo, Olive and TuLlberg’s Woodpeckers. Avian Safaris: Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.aviansafaris.com AVIAN SAFARIS RegaL Sunbird another Albertine Rift Endemic seen at Nyungwe Forest Day 6 – February 23, 2018: Birding Nyungwe Forest Again This morning we headed to the popular Kamiranzovu trail, to try our luck with a few more endemics and a whole experience of a nature walk in a mountain rain forest. This trail drops to 1900 into the marsh from about 2100 meters above seal level, this kind of Marsh, is the only habitat for endangered Grauer’s Swamp WarbLer. Walking our way down, we managed to get looks at the almost invisible moving birds like the Mountain ILLadopsis. Illadopsis are typical undergrowth and vine dwelling birds, brownish backed which makes it even harder to be picked out especially when the forest is a bit dark. We also tried out the Neumann’s Warbler that we could here but never showed up, a YeLLow- eyed BLack Flycatcher which we worked very hard for and only managed to get a fly-off view, exceptional looks at the nice looking Kandt’s Avian Safaris: Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.aviansafaris.com AVIAN SAFARIS WaxbiLL, Gray ApaLis, Mackinnon’s Shrike, Lagden’s Bush-shrike and the Near-threatened Crowned EagLe with prey in the talons. Our views of the Grauer’s Swamp WarbLer without a single hustle were as incredible as were for the related Cinnamon Bracken WarbLer.
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