The drive continues to Semuliki National Park, Uganda’s outpost of the vast Congo basin lowland forest and one of the few places in East Africa to hold true Guinea-Congo biome species. Afternoon birding around the Sempaya hot springs trail is an easy introduction to the park’s distinctive, low-elevation birdlife.

A full day in Semuliki’s forest interior is the best chance at species found almost nowhere else on the usual East Africa birding circuit, including yellow-throated nicator, Nkulengu rail and a long list of hornbills and greenbuls found on the western, Congo-facing side of the Albertine Rift.

The transfer to the Kibale Forest area takes a few hours, with the afternoon left for a guided walk through the community-run Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary, a papyrus and forest-edge habitat that regularly produces great blue turaco, African grey parrot and a strong supporting primate cast alongside the birds.

The route continues to Queen Elizabeth National Park, where the afternoon Kazinga Channel launch cruise doubles as a birding outing, with African skimmer, pink-backed pelican and a dense concentration of waterbirds lining the channel banks alongside the park’s more famous hippos and elephants.

A final morning of savanna birding around Queen Elizabeth’s plains, good for raptors and dry-country species, precedes the transfer up into the hills to Bwindi’s Ruhija sector, the gateway to the park’s best Albertine Rift endemic birding.

The Mubwindi Swamp trail, a full-day round trip from Ruhija, is Uganda’s single best shot at Albertine Rift endemics: African green broadbill, Grauer’s rush warbler and Shelley’s crimsonwing are all realistic targets here, alongside a wider mix of forest species found only along this narrow highland strip shared by Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The return drive retraces the route north and east, timed to connect with an evening international departure or an overnight before flying out.