{"id":261090,"date":"2025-11-13T20:36:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/261090\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T20:36:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:36:13","slug":"tourists-shocked-as-creature-lands-on-boat-that-looks-straight-from-jurassic-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/261090\/","title":{"rendered":"Tourists shocked as creature lands on boat that looks ‘straight from Jurassic Park’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The terrifying bird, which boasts an eight foot wingspan and has been known to decapitate crocodiles was snapped on a lake in Uganda by a group of gobsmacked tourists\"SelindaPlenty of tourists jet off to get close to nature (stock image)(Image: National Geographic Creative)<\/p>\n

A group of tourists got more than they bargained for when one of the world’s largest and weirdest birds landed right on their boat, in a scene that looks straight out of Jurassic Park.<\/a><\/p>\n

The rare and extraordinary encounter took place in a popular birdwatching hotspot in Uganda when a towering shoebill, a bird often described as looking like a relic<\/a> from the dinosaur age, landed directly on a tourist boat on Lake Victoria.<\/p>\n

The massive creature, standing nearly five feet tall and boasting an enormous beak shaped like a giant wooden clog<\/a>, perched on the small wooden vessel that was situated in an area called Mabamba Bay, leaving tourists gobsmacked.<\/p>\n

In the now-viral footage shared by Mabamba Trips on Instagram<\/a>, one tourist can be seen cheekily trying to take a selfie with the unflinching bird, which remained perfectly still just inches away.<\/p>\n

“Another unforgettable moment was created today as the shoebill flew onto our boat,\u201d the tour company wrote in a post on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Content cannot be displayed without consent<\/p>\n

The comments were full of jealous bird-watchers, none of whom could believe how close the shoebill had got.<\/p>\n

“Absolutely amazing! Oh one can dream”, commented one user.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, another admitted they ‘would faint if [they] saw a Shoebill up close in person”.<\/p>\n

And a third joked: “What in the Jurassic Park do we have going on here.”<\/p>\n

Shoebills are one of the most sought-after sights for birdwatchers visiting Mabamba Bay, which is a globally recognised Important Bird Area that protects species including blue swallows and papyrus gonoleks.<\/p>\n

Despite their intimidating appearance, with wingspans reaching eight feet and beaks up to 24cm long and 9cm wide, shoebills are generally calm around humans.<\/p>\n

That being said, their razor-sharp beak edges can cut the heads off large fish and even baby crocodiles.<\/p>\n

\"AA pair of shoebills featured on David Attenborough’s Africa documentary (Image: BBC \/ Alex Lanchester)<\/p>\n

Thankfully for the tourists in Mabamba Bay, the shoebill showed no aggression.<\/p>\n

It simply stood on the boat, stared intently with its huge eyes, and allowed the nervous visitors to capture the moment before eventually taking flight again.<\/p>\n

Encounters this close are exceptionally rare, even in one of the world<\/a>\u2019s best places to see these prehistoric-looking birds.<\/p>\n

Shoebills are more closely related to pelicans and herons than to the storks they superficially resemble.<\/p>\n

Fewer than 8,000 shoebills remain in the wild across tropical central-eastern Africa, and the species is classified as Vulnerable on the global conservation red list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The terrifying bird, which boasts an eight foot wingspan and has been known to decapitate crocodiles was snapped…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-261090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}