Murchison Falls National Park
Murchison Falls National Park : This is one of the classic parks of Uganda and a staple on most Ugandan safari circuits. Quite rightly it’s best known for its thunderous waterfall that plummets over a 45meter valley wall after squeezing itself through a 7meter wide cleft. While its Southern wing is largely hilly and graced with a dense tropical forest, its North is made of flat savannah grassland that is dotted with towering borassus palm trees.
Murchison’s claim to fame is the fact that it is one of the only three parks in the world where River Nile passes. That aside, it is chockfull of wildlife inclusive of lions, leopards, buffalos and Chimpanzees, the second most sought species of primates in Africa.
During your game drive through Murchison’s savannahs, you are likely to encounter elephants who are completely unfazed by cars meaning very up-close encounters are possible. Murchison is also where all those classic pictures of giraffes with a backdrop of the rolling hills are taken.
Boat cruise
The beauty of River Nile is best discovered by a relaxing cruise aboard a double decker boat that is custom made for sight-seeing. It presents a hustle free way of viewing all wildlife you might have missed out on during game drives as they congregate at the shoreline to freshen up. Among the wildlife you will encounter here include the lions, elephants, leopards, buffaloes, giraffes, warthogs, topi, oribi, water and bush bucks.
Proximity to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary
Murchison is an accessible park to visit and the visa clearance process into the country is easy, with citizens of over 40 countries being allowed to get tourist visas upon arrival. The starting point of the activities here is more than 30minutes drive away from each other, so it’s easy to visit all in a relatively short time. This makes the park ideal for first time safari-goers.
Additionally, given that it is located along the Northern highway, a visit here can easily be combined with numerous other attractions in the region, including Ziwa rhino sanctuary. The larger and more peaceable white rhino species is abundant on the woodland and open savannah of Ziwa, where it is more easily seen than in any national park in the Great Lakes Region. This is thanks to a 24/7 surveillance system that monitors their movement with the intent of protecting them from poaching.
Chimpanzee trekking in Budongo forest
In the Southern section of the park lies Budongo tropical forest. Historically, this used to be a hunting ground for Kings and royals from Bunyoro Kingdom, but now serves as a purely conservation zone that is purposed to protect Uganda’s second biggest chimpanzee population from going extinct.
Roughly 600 individuals are found here, over 20 of which have been habituated for tourism. Like gorilla tracking, the maximum number of tourists allowed to see each of the four families here is 8.
During the one hour you will spend with them, a lot of surprising things are likely to steal your attention. You will watch them interact, eat, play, tease, make tantrums, nap off and groom each other.
As you follow them in the jungle, you will encounter lots of trees that are over 200 years old, inclusive of mahogany trees that are taller than storied buildings with four floor.
