We went on the Birdingpal fixed date tour from 24 January to 7 February 2014 with Deo and Robert as guides.
Deo was the mastermind of the trip. He was not only an excellent birder, but was unfailingly good-humoured and gracious, and made us feel at home on the trip. Our group of six had a mix of interests and personalities, but Deo made sure that everyone was happy and was getting what they wanted out of the tour.
Robert is a specialist bird guide. His skill at spotting birds was exceptional - one of the best either of us has every seen. He worked extremely hard to pick up the hard-to-gets and to ensure that everyone got a good look at each bird. He never seemed to get tired!
The tour covered a nice mix of savanna, montane and lowland forest, and wetlands from tiny marshes to enormous swamps and lakes. Some of the bird highlights for us were Jameson's Wattle-eye, African Green Broadbill, Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu, Black Bee-eater, Crested Guineafowl, and Brown Twinspot. We also saw a nice smattering of the big African mammals - elephants, lions, zebras, many antelope species - and we paid extra to track gorillas in Buhoma and chimpanzees in Kibale (definitely recommended!)
Accommodation ranged from beds in tents to mid-range hotels. It was always clean and comfortable, with mosquito nets provided. Food was not really a highlight, but was nutritious and there were few stomach complaints. We travelled by minibus on roads that were often rough, but there were no major issues. Deo tried to avoid driving by night wherever possible, which seemed like a good decision to us. We were impressed that Uganda Eco Tours could offer such a high quality tour so cheaply.
Overall, this was a fun trip! We hope to come back another time to see the north of the country.
Feel free to contact us using the link above (extracted from safaribookings.com website)
Jono and Karo, AUS
