Kigali City is a great birding destination offering a rewarding experience and an introduction to a rich Rwanda bird diversity. Kigali’s birding hotspots include excellently restored wetlands with extensive birding trails that meander across local micro-habitats, wooded hillsides, manicured hotel gardens, eco-parks and man-made lakes. These highly accessible birding hotspots can be explored as Day-trips out Kigali and feature on our longer Rwanda birding tours for their quality local sightings.
Below are our favourite birding hotspots exploited on Untamed Rwanda Birding tours on either first day or last day depending on our clients available time.
Birding Hotspots in Kigali City and Environs
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Umusambi Village
Undoubtedly the best birding hotspot in Kigali, Umusambi Village which lies on the eastern edges the city is a beautifully restored wetland that offers an excellent birding experience and an introduction to birds of Rwanda. Established as a sanctuary and a rehabilitation center for the endangered Grey-crowned Cranes, the 21-hectares of restored wetland of Umusambi Village hosts over 300 Grey-crowned Cranes mostly rescued from pet traders. Birding at Umusambi village wetlands follows excellent trails that explore micro habitats including patches of woodlands, wetland and agricultural farm edges where over 100 species of birds are recorded here.
Bird highlights at Umusambi Village include; Grey-crowned Crane, Western Citril, White-collared Oliveback, Grosbeak Weaver, Variable Sunbird, Variable Sunbird, Grey-capped Warbler, Green-headed Sunbird, Bronze Sunbird, Grey-headed Nigrita, Baglafecht Weaver, White-chinned Prinia, Black-headed Weaver, Fan-tailed Weaver, Black-headed Gonolek, Spot-flanked Barbet, Chubb’s Cisticola, Black-winged Bishop, Ross’s Turaco, Nubian Woodpecker, Snow-crowned Robin-Chat, Winding Cisticola, Long-crested Eagle, Malachite Kingfisher, Red-chested Sunbird, Tropical Boubou and more.
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Lake Nyarutarama
Lake Nyarutarama offers another rewarding expereince for a diversity of waterbirds and woodlands. This man-made lake lies in the lush green valley between Kachiru and Nyarugenge suburbs of Kigali City providing a perfect urban birding experience. Birding here follows a footpath that explore the open water margins and rank vegetation where Black Crake, Malachite, Swamp and African Pied Kingfishers, Pink-backed Pelican, Lesser Striped Swallow, Knob-billed Duck, Spur-winged Goose, Winding Cisticola, African Jacana, Black-crowned and Common Waxbill occur.
The mature acacia woodland host Woodland Kingfisher, Lizard Buzzard, African Grey Hornbill, Yellow-fronted Tinkerbird, Long-crested Eagle, Shikra, Orange-breasted Bushshrike, Cinnamon-breasted Bee-eater, Yellow-breasted Apalis, Grey-backed Fiscal, Red-eyed Dove, White-browed Coucal, Striped, Woodland and African Pygmy Kingfishers, Marico Sunbird, Blue-naped Mousebird, Grey-Tit Flycatcher, Fork-tailed Drongo, Brown Parrot, Nubian and African Grey Woodpeckers, Brown-throated Wattle-eye, African Paradise-Flycatcher and more.
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Nyandungu Eco Park
Nyandungu Eco Park is a restored wetland covering an area of 121.7 hectares on the outskirts of Kigali City, turned into an eco-tourism park. The complex boasts a varied range of micro-habitats from wetlands, water ponds, woodlands and forest patches where a checklist of over 100-species occur. Bird highlights here include, Black Crake, Malachite Kingfisher, Red-faced Cisticola, Red-billed Firefinch, Bronze Mannkinn, Streaky Seedeater, Palm-nut vulture, Mackinnon’s Shrike, Yellow-billed Kite, Scarlet-chested Sunbird, Speckled Pigeon, African Thrush, Cape and African Pied Wagtails, Speckled Mousebird, Ruppell’s Starling, Little Weaver, Village weaver, Pied Crow and more.
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Bugesera Wetlands
The extensive Bugesera wetlands offers a rewarding day-trip birding experience out Kigali city especially for the wetland restricted specialists. This wetland complex falls within the larger Nyabarongo wetlands recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA) protecting a large diversity of birds and other fauna.
The birding hotspot of Bugesera wetlands not only host wetland specialists but a good selection of woodlands species that occur on wetland edges.
Bird highlights include; White-winged Swamp Warbler, Fan-tailed Widow, Winding Cisticola, Yellow-billed Stork, Striated and Squacco Heron, Yellow-fronted Canary, Brimstone Canary, Black-headed Weaver, Spur-winged Goose, Southern Red-Bishop, Yellow-billed Duck, White-faced Whistling Duck, Black-headed Heron, Cape Wagtail, Red-headed Weaver, Holub’s Golden Weaver, Red-chested Sunbird, Black Crake, African Jacana, Yellow-throated Greenbul, Green-winged Pytilia, Blue-spotted Wood dove, Augur Buzzard, Streaky Seedeater and more.
Bugesera Wetlands lie about 40 km or an-hour drive out of Kigali City.