The royal mile ( Budongo Forest )
The Royal Mile is found in the 793 km2 Budongo Forest Reserve that lies at the edge of the Albertine Rift and is attached to Murchison Falls National Park in the south. It is known for its popularity as a traditional leisure stop-over for Uganda’s royalty. The Royal Mile is an excellent birding spot with many west and central African species, as well as a variety of sought-after key species. The forest is a 3 hours’ drive northwest of the capital city Kampala. It’s the biggest Mahogany forest in the whole of East Africa and habits a large number of chimpanzees.
There are major tourist sites within this forest which are: the Kaniyo Pabidi ecotourism site, Busingiro ecotourism site and Kaniyo Pabidi Ecotourism site and are located at boundaries to Murchison Falls National Park, dominated by mahogany and Iron-wood trees. This therefore makes it an excellent tourism site and draws many tourists to this site. Interestingly, the forest once in a while offers a safe haven for lions, leopards as well as buffaloes. For those on a safari, the morning time is the best since you will have an opportunity to find a number of forest inhabitants licking salt by the forest glades. River Waiga offers refreshment to the various wildlife species within this forest.
Budongo forest has a number of tourism activities that act as tourism magnets to this area. These include;
Bird watching; The forest is among the most ideal places in Uganda to have a guided bird watching tour by the Royal Mile that extends from Nyabyeya Forestry College to the research station. Among the various bird species that have been recorded in this forest are more than 360 species that will certainly reward you with a very amazing birding safari experience in this great forest.
Additional species that rank Budongo one of the finest bird watching destinations in East Africa include the Zoothers camaronensis, Ceratogymna fistulator, Neafrapus Cassini, Baits ituriensis, Smithornis rufolateralis, Sylvietta denti as well as Ixonotus guttatus African Crowned Eagle, nahan’s francolin, white- spotted flufftail,sabine’s spine tail, Cassin’s spinetail, Blue- breasted kingfisher, Chocolate- backed kingfisher, Dwarf kingfisher, blue- throated roller piping Hornbill ,White thighed Hornbill Hairy- breasted Barbet, yellow- spotted barbet, brow-eared woodpecker, yellow-crested woodpecker, spotted greenbul, fire- crested alethe, blue- shouldered robin-chat, red-capped robin-chat, lemon-bellied crombec,rufous-crowned elemonela, yellow- browed camaroptera, black-capped pails, yellow-browed car, lturi batis, chestnut-caped flycatcher, and the grey- headed sunbird. There are 2 endemic bird species within the forest and among these arethe pitta reichenowi and parmoptila woodhouse. Other bird species cannot be seen in other parts of east Africa but are found in budongo forest. In addition there are 290 butterflies species, 130 Moths species, 465 tree species, as well as 24 mammal’s nine of which are actually primates. The Budongo Forest reserve is among the most significant birding destinations in Uganda, and is located on the escarpment northeast of the stunning Lake Albert. The forest is characterized by a medium altitude damp semi-deciduous verdant forest that covers 42 800 hectares, with patches of Savanna as well as woodland.
This forest comes second after the Semliki National Park as the most important forest in Uganda with species of the Guinea Congo forest-Biome. The Yellow-footed Flycatcher, simply known in Budongo within Uganda, was common within mature forest, however today it is extremely rare to see. Illadopsis puveli, a new addition, isn’t seen in another place in East Africa. Within this forest, Bird watching is properly facilitated with a widespread properly maintained 115 kilometer truck system.
The Chimpanzee Tracking experience: This is the number one priority. The chimps move a lot covering a wider area so the success of seeing them drops to about 50%. Fortunately there is a diversity of Accommodation facilities available from where you can base to enjoy the Chimpanzee trekking as well as the exciting forest walks and chimpanzee habituation experience and spend the whole day in the presence of the chimpanzee’s family.
