FEATURE
Searching for the
shoe bill bird By Harriet James
I
n Buganda, there’s a proverb that goes, “Okutambula kulaba, okudda kunyumya”-Traveling opens your mind to the unknown, turning you into a story teller on your way home”. Before my recent trip to Uganda, I read lots of books and blogs on the shoebill and with my curiosity roused, I set off. Tourists travel from all over the world to Uganda just to take its photo. My sight
watching began in Mabamba swamp, a famous birding site situated in the west of Entebbe on the northern shore of the largest lake in Africa: Lake Victoria. Through a motorized wooden boat, we rode through the maze of trails that cut through the thick marshes eagerly anticipating a glimpse of the shoebill. The area is covered with water lilies and papyrus where over 300 species of birds
reside. The black heron, African fish eagle, Brown and grey parrot, Grey woodpecker, great cormorant, goliath heron, African pigmy goose, grey crowned crane and many others can be spotted here. This is not the only place to spot the spoonbill in Uganda. It’s also commonly found at the Murchison falls parks on the banks of the river Nile, lake Edward, Rugogo swamp, and Lake Mburo. On our way, we
'The Baganda believe that meeting a Shoebill bird as they fish, would mean a poor catch that day and this has consequently resulted in the birds being hunted and killed in great numbers.' NDEGE NEWS DECEMBER, 2019 - FEBRUARY 2020 | 39
