Shoebill at Mabamba Swamp

We had a very early morning start and a two hour drive, so that we would reach the swamp fairly early to have a good chance of seeing the Shoebills for which it is famous.
Mabamba swamp is a RAMSAR site, and a community project, with local people employed as boatmen and guides.
As we set off, we saw some fleeting Pygmy Kingfishers and this singing Swamp Flycatcher, Muscipapa aquatica. This is a really attractive little Flycatcher, but this photo doesn't do it justice.

Although we had seen the Shoebills at Entebbe Wildlife Education Centre close-up, we all hoped to see them in the wild. It had been my no. 1 'wish bird' for years, not helped by the fact that one arrived in Kenya one year when I was there with my husband, but we didn't hear about it until just before our flight home.
We went in two small boats and were lucky to see a Shoebill about 50m away. He stood for about ten minutes, then slowly walked away.

The incredibly large beak of the Shoebill helps it to scoop up its prey, the main items of which are lungfish, catfish, frogs and water-snakes. They can also use it to store water to take to dribble over its eggs or young during thye heat of the day.
Uganda is one of the best places to see them, as their main stronghold, the Sudd in Sudan, is very difficult to access