Mabamba Swamp - Searching for the Shoebill

Shoebill - One of the most unusual birds to be seen

The search for the shoebill was aroused by its strange appearance more than anything else. We first became aware of the bird once we got to Tanzania and got our edition of the Birds of East Africa which claims that its stronghold in the region is the Moyowosi – Kigozi wetland complex in Western Tanzania. This is pretty much the wild west of Tanzania located in no man’s land between Kigoma and Tabora and not a place to be messing about in, as not even tour operators venturing into the area.

Named after its huge and distinctive bill

Inquiries from the birding experts in Tanzania revealed there were sightings at Lake Rukwa but this again is in a remote area in SW Tanzania, difficult to reach and very little details on how to explore.

The most reliable sightings were from Entebbe, Uganda on Lake Victoria and Western Ugandan sites on Lake Albert from Murchison’s NP and the Semuliki wildlife refuge. There are claims of sightings in Rwanda but we only know of 1 sighting deep in the swamps found during a game count a few years back.

Black and white casqued hornbills

On our previous trip to Uganda while living in Rwanda, we ran out of time to fit in the shoebill and so put it on the list for the next trip which unfortunately never took place before we left Rwanda. 

Some non-avian wildlife at the lodge

When we were planning to leave Rwanda, we even considered jumping on a place from Kigali to Entebbe just to chase the bird but never got down to it and it appeared as though we would be leaving East Africa without seeing this prehistoric bird. However, an unexpected delay in obtaining permits to our new destination saw us marking time in Kampala and so our first target was the shoebill. 

Eastern grey plantain-eater

The Mabamba swamp is the premier location for the shoebill with the most reliable sightings in East Africa and the bonus is that it’s near to the international airport, or only 60 kms from Kampala, 40 of which is on the main tarmac road to Masaka.

Nkima Forest Lodge - great location

From Kampala you turn left at Mpigi to Lulongo on the Kasanje road and look for the right turn 3 kms from Kasanje town to the Mabamba landing site which is where the boats will leave in search of the shoebill. You can also get there from Entebbe town via ferry, but we opted for the road trip as we were staying near to the landing site at Nkima Forest Lodge.

Black-necked weaver

We left early in the morning to beat the horrible Kampala traffic and about 2 hours later we arrived at the lodge.  The place is highly recommended, not just for its close proximity to the Mabamba landing site (about 10 minutes drive), but also its high bird count as it's situated in a small patch of untouched forest.

Red-tailed monkey

The lodge is home to red tailed monkeys from which the lodge derives its name, as well as Great blue turacos and Black & white casque hornbills. The lodge has a campsite but is poorly located next to the staff quarters and exposed to the nearby village with not much shade; the secluded safari tents are a much better option, set inside the forest with good facilities and a viewing deck for each tent.  We got there in a sedan in the dry but the last section could be a challenge in the wet without a 4WD.

Crowned hornbill

The reason the shoebill is still present in Mabamba is that the local clan treats the favorite food source of the bird, the lung fish, as sacred and thus do not catch them. The relative abundance of lungfish is thought to support a breeding colony of shoebills - although they are estimated at only around 9-14 birds in the whole swamp complex.

The stunning - and surprisingly common - Great blue turaco around the lodge

It costs around $35 for a motorized dugout boat for two hours with a guide. Each extra hour is charged at around $15 per hour (all in local currency so take shillings).  Mabamba is a busy landing with local folks crossing over to the adjoining districts using the watercourse.

Klaas's cuckoo

After an early breakfast, we headed to the swamps to be there by 7.30 am and met up with our guide before doing all the paperwork.  Shakul (+256 784 751 923) came highly recommended by both the lodge and a friend and he did not disappoint.  He knows his birds, is a local authority that can put you in touch with other birding experts in Uganda as well as organize other birding expeditions for you.

The Mabamba Swamp landing site

Like us, if you are the first to leave for the day, you need to find one of these shoebills somewhere in a huge swamp! The idea in leaving early is to shoot in the best light but of course you need to find one first and as luck would have it, we could not find a shoebill early which was hugely disappointing.  

Cruising the waterways in a wooden dugout

So there is some debate as to whether you just leave it to other tourists to find the bird while you sleep in ;) In the end, we spent about 4 hours on the water, so choosing to have breakfast before leaving was a wise choice.

Northern Brown-throated weaver

There were plenty of other birds on show in the swamp, mostly common water birds, but we were able to catch a lifer in the Northern brown-throated weaver. 

After traveling some distance in one direction without any luck, we decided to cross the main channel and head to a different section of the swamp as other tourists had arrived and were on the lookout. Shortly afterwards, we got a call to say a shoebill had been spotted close to where we had been.

Dru bailing water out while the captain poles us along the watercourse

It is then that we found out that these dugouts don’t need a clear watercourse but can be maneuvered on grass beds with some serious effort by both the boatman and guide, who at times need to jump out the boat and use the oar as grounding in order to push the boat over grass beds! It's kind of odd sitting in a boat with two guys doing extremely hard work to get us over grass beds in the swamp but rather them than us having to jump into the water!

Pied kingfisher

Voices from other boats ahead battling the grass informed us that the bird had flown out so we had to back out and try to see where it landed. From what we could gather, they had a hunch it had landed some distance away but it required the negotiation of some serious grass beds.

Finally! Our first sighting of the Shoebill

So one boat went further in while we hung around in open water waiting for confirmation of any sighting. We could see the whole operation of the boatman and guide absolutely giving it everything to get the boat over the grass beds and the motor would fire the moment they hit open water - this cycle was repeated multiple times before they confirmed the bird was visible. 

Hunting fish

This meant we had to go through the same arduous mission but with only a dozen birds in the swamp and this being the only sighting of the morning, it was not like we had a choice. To their credit (and for which we rewarded them handsomely), the two guys put in some serious hard work to get us to the sighting and finally we were rewarded with a sighting of the mighty shoebill. 

A big bird so takeoff is a bit slow

It was mid-morning and the sun was bright and burning but we had a clear view of the bird at a decent distance. The dugout was wedged in grass for stability but it was still difficult shooting conditions as it’s hard to get a steady footing. Most of the time the bird hardly moved which was a plus factor and we had a good long stay with the bird, including of a sighting of him trying to do some fishing.

Yawning?

It is one crazy looking bird and it’s hard to imagine how it could, of all things fish, with such a huge bill. It’s a huge bird so presumably it takes large fish to fill it up, so it’s a serious skill to work out catching fish with such a massive implement. We spent about an hour with the shoebill but he eventually headed into longer grass and we could hardly see him, so we decided to get out of the blazing sun and head for shore.

A bit foolish looking ;)

We even saw 2 other shoebills on our way back from our main sighting - one in flight and ironically one near to the main channel at the landing site, unfortunately too far away to get any good photos.  All in all a good morning's searching for the shoebill, with a total of 3 found in the end. Mission accomplished, although we felt that if we had a chance we'd probably head out again to try for better shots.

2 more shoebills spotted - unfortunately far away

Our unplanned shoebill bonus...


We had an unplanned opportunity from an unexpected spot, the Ziwa rhino sanctuary. It claimed on their website as the most reliable shoebill site on Uganda, although we assumed it could not be correct as this was the first we were hearing about this as a potential site. We actually had no idea that Ziwa was around - we just happened to see 2 big and colourful rhino statues on the way to Budongo Forest. So after doing some reading on the place, we decided to leave the forest a day early, stay over at Ziwa and do some shoebill trekking the following morning before heading back to Kampala.

Ziwa - you can't miss the turnoff with these rhinos showing the way

Ziwa is about 2 hours drive from Kampala to Gulu on an excellent tarmac road but it’s possible the busiest artery out of Kampala and thus will take you a while to get out of town. Ziwa is a rhino sanctuary with 30 rhinos, having started from about 8, and the plan is to restock the national parks once the sanctuary population makes it viable.  It's most famous for its Rhino walk, but we were not convinced with the high price tag of $50 for 1 hour, so opted only for the shoebill expedition. But we seemed to be in the minority as there was a parade of tourists all day long doing the rhino walk. Having said that, it's the only place in Uganda that you can see rhino, so if you want to tick off the big 5, this is a must visit for tourists.  

Long-tailed cormorant

The facilities include some basic accommodation and a restaurant that seems a bit overpriced in our opinion, but apparently we did have a rhino sleeping outside our door all night ;)  Birding is pretty good there, but it's savannah type varieties as the terrain is dry and sparse, which is different to the lush and well-forested areas that we'd been visiting recently. 

The shoebill trek starts at 6.30AM, so staying over is a requirement, and it was still very much dark when we headed off in our own car with our guide, our life jackets and gumboots.  Our guide, Robert informed us that we couldn't drive out on the main road as a rhino was asleep on the road!

We first stopped on the edge of the swamp for a bird walk with the idea of spotting a shoebill from land, but the most noticeable thing was the swarms of biting mosquitoes. The wellingtons are really important for this section as you wade in ankle deep mud and hiking shoes would be a total mess.  The birding was interesting but nothing overly exciting although we did add the Northern Black Flycatcher to our list of lifers. 

African jacana

After an hour of walking we eventually instructed the guide to stop the walk and to get on with the search of the shoebill which was the reason we were here.  Similar to the Mabamba swamp, the searching is done by boat and the landing spot is a public access point outside the park boundary with people using the swamp to cross over with basic daily stuff.   We also noticed that it is a milk collection point, where milk is dropped from across the swamp and trucked to Kampala. 

Great blue turaco

The dugout canoe used for the trek was remarkably smaller than we used at Mabamba with the boatman poling instead of a engine being used.   Being on the swamps in a small dugout is quite relaxing as there is very little noise except a splash when the pole strikes the water, but can be a bit unnerving when you know that there are hippos in the swamp - we had seen the footprints to prove it while doing the bird walk. 

Cuckoo - African or European we can't be sure

Like our previous attempt at Mabamba, we were disappointed at not having a sighting in good light and had actually decided it was time to give up and return when the boatman spotted a shoebill land in the distance. To their credit, despite it being hot and having already spent considerable time and effort, both the guide and boatman decided to go in search of the bird and luckily the shoebill obliged by taking flight again and then landing closer to us.

A smaller dugout canoe than Mabamba - and without a motor

Eventually we found the shoebill, although it was too far to shoot anything meaningful.  Robert felt that it was best not to approach any closer as it was a juvenile and did not want to upset it.  We were respectful of his decision and understood the importance of not disturbing the bird just to get a shot.

Our bonus sighting of a shoebill

The boat being even smaller meant only one person could be up for shooting at a time and coupled with the relatively long distance to the bird, this was an unsatisfactory shoot but a nice sighting nonetheless.  After spending about 40 minutes with the bird, who stood almost stock still the entire time, we called it a day and slowly headed back to the landing. 

Back at the lodge, Ziwa produced one of the best most impressive breakfasts we have had in a long time and coupled with the bonus shoebill sighting and the lifer we scored that morning, we left happy that we'd given Ziwa a chance, even if we wouldn't do it again.

Sunset at Mabamba