The areas where acacia savanna meets broad leaf forest in close proximity to rocky outcrops is where we spent the majority of our time while visiting Uganda’s Kidepo National Park. We walked for hours amongst the grassland, accompanied by an armed guard in case we should come across any dangerous big game. An armed ranger is a requirement in most of Uganda’s national parks as a safety precaution. While we did come across several Cape Buffalo on foot, we never managed to find our main target, Archer’s Francolin.
Even though we saw over 100 species on our first day, including one of our biggest targets, Black-breasted Barbet, the highlight of the day was crossing over into South Sudan.
South Sudan is currently in the midst of a civil war and is among one of the least safe countries to visit in all of Africa. Knowing how few tourists have visited this land and how little is known about the bird life that inhabits it, we felt like we were on a secret adventure, although our armed Guard, Dennis, did ask for permission and we only were able to drive 1.3km inside the border. It was a quick game of hide and go seek. We attempted to rack up as many birds as possible during our 22 minute jaunt. Seeing a Ring-necked Dove, an extremely common bird that we’d seen thousands of times before suddenly was exciting to point out and we were all happy to point out whatever we could. We managed a total of 21 species of birds, catapulting us to 13th in the country for highest all-time number recorded via eBird.
We prefer to camp wherever we go and I have to admit there are few places I’ve preferred to sleep more than my roof top tent. As we pulled into our campsite that evening, a beautiful male lion was standing right in the middle. Perhaps the campsite was useful to him as well. While this might deter some people from wanting to camp here (Julien included), we’ve been in Africa long enough to cherish these moments and recognize that the campsite was still safe enough for us to sleep in. I slept in my rooftop tent tucked safely away from any predators. Although Julien was in a ground tent, we put the tent inside of a small shelter and parked our truck in front of the entrance so he would be safe too. Sitting outside in our campfire chairs with a few beers in hand and some pasta for dinner was a great end to an enjoyable day of birding.
We ended up spending two days in the park and only managed one of our three main targets. Any time we don’t see a bird target, I like to disect the experience and ask why. Was it time of year? Weather? Lack of rain? Too much rain? Were we even in the right area? I always want an answer. Ross absolutely hates when I go down that road. He’s confident that the reason we didn’t see the bird is simply “because we didn’t see the bird.” There doesn’t always need to be some elaborate explanation.
We came here with three targets in mind and yet we missed two of them. It’s hard not to feel disappointed with those kinds of statistics. Despite hours walking in what appeared to be perfect habitat, we never managed to see or hear a single Archer’s or Ring-necked Francolin. Julien reminded us we should set the bar low and realize that these are extremely difficult birds. While Archer’s Francolin should have been possible, it was still a very hard bird and was never a guarantee. Ring-necked Francolin on the other hand happens to be nearly impossible to see during the best parts of the day and downright impossible at any other time. Seeing that one might have been more of a pipe dream.
Black-breasted Barbet 
Abyssinian Ground Hornbill 
where acacia savanna meets broad leaf forest in close proximity to rocks 
Searching for francolins 
Gambaga Flycatcher 
Dwarf Bittern
The S. Sudan expedition, great looks at Black-breasted Barbet, and this lion sighting in our camp were the three best things that happened during our time in Kidepo. I guess the good always outweighs the bad.
This birding occurred June 7, 2021.