Birds of Lac Oiseaux, Kirundo, Burundi

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Moto Taxi Ride

The town of Kirundo was nothing special and was typical of many towns we'd seen complete with stares from the locals, but our reason for being here was the close-by scenic Lac aux Oiseaux (Bird Lake) - a place that many people had told us to visit. It's now called Lake Rwihinda Nature Reserve and covers a large area famous for many different bird species. Sadly, due to increased agriculture and fishing, and a decreased water level, some species don't migrate here anymore. We took a moto each (motorbike taxi) to get to the park along the 8km dirt track passing through villages and waving at tons of people on their way from/to church (it was Easter Sunday). Because the area is a protected nature reserve we were expecting a Park office of some sort, or at least a booth to buy an entrance ticket. Instead, we arrived at a widened muddy beach at the edge of the lake with scruffy kids

Banana Tree Raft (note the ibishinga top right)

hanging around playing in the water!

A canoe approached the bank within seconds which meant somebody must have called somebody to tell somebody that white people were on their way! We negotiated a price for the canoe to take us to the island. The hour trip was beautiful, and it was super peaceful being out on the water.  Not only famous for its birds, the lake also has compact floating islands called ‘Ibishinga’. Some are just black muddy earth clods without any plants that move around with the wind, and others have tufts of vegetation and are immobile. Both are perfect for local and migratory birds for nesting and feeding.

There were also a lot of lilac coloured water-lillies scattered on the surface of the still water which made a cool sound as the boat drifted through them. We did see plenty of birds, thankfully, including a huge

With our Driver Ben

African Fish Eagle perched in the palm trees, pied kingfishers, pelicans, herons, egrets, ibis, and lots more. Our 'driver' who we nicknamed 'Ben' because we couldn't pronounce his name, paddled us around the island and then landed on it. A quick walk soon revealed that the edge of the island was way more lush and tropical than the dull, brambled interior which surprised us.

Our picnic lunch and walk at the edge of the lake was tranquil when we weren't watching the kids playing in their ingenious rafts made of banana tree trunks, or swimming in the fairly murky-looking water. A pleasant day at the lake, and then back on our moto (our guys remembered to come and pick us up!) to buy a bus ticket for Rwanda next day. *Mush

Egret Taking Flight

African Fish Eagle at the Island

Landing on the Island

Lake Fisherman