Day trip · Entebbe & Lake Victoria
Shoebill at Dawn with Olivia
A dawn canoe on Mabamba swamp looking for the shoebill — Uganda has more bird species than anywhere else in Africa.
And if nobody else books your slot, it runs as a private tour — same price.
No shoebill? Your next dawn trip is free.
Hosted by OliviaKnows every bird on Mabamba swamp
The shoebill is a bird that looks carved rather than hatched, and Mabamba swamp is the most reliable place on earth to meet one.
From the landing site you go by motorised canoe — three guests per canoe, plus a local spotter — through papyrus channels that open into the wide green swamp. One to two hours of tracking, then back for lunch.
Bring a camera, sunscreen, long trousers and a rain jacket. Canoe, spotter, lunch and transport included. Sightings are the swamp's decision, not ours — hence the promise below the price.
The route
- Pickup
From your hotel via the Entebbe expressway to Mabamba.
- Into the papyrus
Motorised canoe, three guests per boat, with a local spotter.
- Shoebill tracking
One to two hours in the channels — plus jacanas, malachite kingfishers, papyrus gonoleks.
- Lunch & return
Back on land, lunch, then hotel drop-off.
What's in the price
- Hotel pickup & drop-off
- Canoe & local spotter
- Site entrance fees
- Lunch
- Binoculars (bring or rent)
- Drinks & tips
Where your money goes
- Olivia, canoe & local spotters
- Mabamba community & site fees
- Company (Ugandan-owned)
Meeting point
We pick you up from your Kampala hotel