Murchison Falls National Park is Uganda’s largest national park country situated in the northern part of the Nwoya district, it is the oldest and largest conservation area stretching along the floor of the great Albertine rift valley region, it was first gazette as national parkin 1926, it was once called the Kabalega national park during the reign of the Ugandan president Idi Amin Dada and later regained its name following his downfall, the Murchison Falls National Park is bisected into 2 by the Victoria Nile along which is the great Murchison Falls which it is named after, the national conservation area is managed under the Uganda wildlife authority covering an area space of 3893 square kilometers.
The dramatic falls of Murchison stand to be one of the great wonders of the water squeezes itself into the 7-meter slit on the rock gorge dropping with the loudest sound of water to a deep plunge pool, the variety of vegetation scope of the park is comprised of a growing thick savannah dotted with bushes, shrubs, thrones, river rine forest to the south and woodland in which are primates like the chimpanzees and olive baboons, other park wildlife include hippos, Nile crocodiles, African elephants, African buffaloes, warthogs, waterbucks, Rothschilds giraffes, oribi, Uganda kobs, and over 400 birds present within the national park some of which are endemics of the Albertine rift valley region example species include Abyssinian ground hornbill, pelicans, shoe bills, white whistling duck, goliath herons, blue turaco among other species.
Park activities include game drives these are conducted in sessions, in the morning, afternoon and evening time in search of wildlife, the well distributed game tracks within the national park will take you closure to wildlife, it is conducted 2-3 hours in search of game, it is one of the few places to do night game drives in Uganda, these are conducted with the guidance of the Uganda wildlife authority team, expect to see serval cats, leopards, lions, hyenas and many more species, Boat cruise to the bottom of the falls is famous to do while in the national park, it is a no to miss list thing , the stretch of the Victoria Nile will gte you closure to wildlife the lazy Nile crocodiles basking on the sandy river banks, is amazing, boat cruises are also done on the Nile delta to enjoy sundowners and many animals on the doc, birding safaris within the national park encounter a number of bird species of the park including endemics of the Albertine rift valley region, Chimpanzee tracking in the Budongo forest, the chimpanzee are said to share up to 98% of the human DNA, you will be guided into the Mahogany forest on foot as we hunt for mans close relatives, cultural experiences in the Murchison neighbouring local villages for example the BOMU women’s group and the Mubaku community.
Murchison Falls National Park can be accessed by road from Kampala or Entebbe through the Kampala – Gulu highway, charter of scheduled flights can be arranged to the Pakuba airstrip, there is available accommodation in the national park ranging from the best budget to luxury.