The Royal Mile at Budongo Forest is undoubtedly Uganda’s best birding hotspot especially for the local Guinea/Congo biome bird species that reach Budongo Forest on their eastern range limit. The royal mile trail traces it’s fame from pre-colonial times when the vast Budongo Forest were jealously protected as the royal hunting grounds for the Bunyoro Kings. Featuring on all Uganda birding tours, the royal mile offers unmatched and rewarding forest-birding experience targeting a wide range niches specialists unique to small within the lowland and mid-altitude forests. Notably are the Royal mile bird “specials” that frequent canopies of the century old mahogany and ironwood trees that line the royal mile trail.
The 435sqkm Budongo Forest lies on the eastern edges of the Albertine Rift zone with a diversity of 380-species that comprise of the Congo-Guinea biome/habitat restricted specialists.
Royal Mile Bird Highlights
Bird highlights at the royal mile include “specials” namely; Yellow-footed Flycatcher, Chestnut-capped Flycatcher, Uganda Woodland Warbler, Rufous-crowned Eremomera, Chocolate-backed Kingfisher, James’s Wattle-eye, Ituri Batis, Tit Hylia, Forest Flycatcher and Lemon-bellied Crombec. The shy Forest Francolin occur along the riverine belt near Busingiro trail while Mottled and Cassin’s Spinetails are seen patrolling over the forest canopies.
Other highlights include; White-bellied and African Dwarf Kingfishers, Spotted Greenbul, Forest Scimitarbill, Western Black-headed Oriole, Afep Pigeon, Black-billed Weaver, White-thighed Hornbill, Eastern Piping Hornbill, Red-tailed Ant-thrush, Grey and Yellowbills, Yellow-billed Barbet, Crested Guineafowl, Blue-breasted Kingfisher and Willcock’s Honeyguide.
Budongo Forest is also utilized by Palearctic and intra-African migrants notably; the African Pitta that calls around late April and May. The local Nahan’s Partridge and Grey-Ground-Thrush are rare, requiring multi-day birding excursions across the forest interior. Puvell’s Illadopsis is known from the main trail at Kaniyo Pabid sector office that lie on the eastern edges of Budongo Forest near the main entrance gate of Murchison Falls NP.
A birding outing at the royal mile exploits also the forest edge and agricultural lands where Cabani’s Bunting, Heuglin’s Francolin, Brown Babbler, African and Jameson’s Firefinches, Copper Sunbird, Brown Twinspot, Moustached Grass Warbler, Fan-tailed Grassbird, Stout and Singing Cisticola, Red-collared Widowbird, Yellow-mantled Widowbird and more occur.
Getting to Royal Mile – Budongo Forest
The royal mile lies 30km from Masindi town along the now tarmacked Butiaba road turning north near before the sugar town of Kinyara and thereafter the gate is about 4km to the gate.