Murchison Falls National Park is one of the most visited conservation areas in Uganda, it is the largest and oldest national park in Uganda situated in the north in Nwoya district, the park is famous for the Murchison falls after which it was named. It was gazette in 1952 as a way of protecting animal species that call this home, the magical falls squeeze in a 7 meter slit on the rock to low downwards into Lake Albert, the Nile separates the park into 2 parts forming the northern and southern banks. The national park lies along the floor of the great Albertine rift valley. The Murchison falls conservation area is made up of the Bugungu, and the Karuma wildlife reserve.
The northern part of Murchison Falls National Park is dotted with borassus palms, acacia trees, woodland and savannah, while the south is more of the forested parks, the Budongo forest is a distinctive forest home to the chimpanzee and many forest birds, there are 144 mammals present in the national park, posing with the greatest population of African elephants, the park is the one place to witness and see the big four of the wilderness including lions, leopards, elephants, buffaloes, other species include hyenas, jackals, waterbucks, warthogs, impalas, hippos, Nile crocodiles, there are several primates like the vervet monkeys and baboons. The park is home to over 400 species of birds 16 of which are Albertine endemics, among which is the critically endangered shoe bill stock.
The major highlight of the park is visiting is the Murchison falls, which is prime popular for travelers, the presence of the Nile presents an opportunity to have a boat cruise to the bottom of the thunderous Murchison falls, boat trips are arranged beginning from the Para section it takes 2hours on the Nile while enjoying the breathtaking views of the environment, there are plenty of water birds that can be spotted including the African fish eagle, kingfishers, famous shoe bill, sunbirds among the 451 bird species of the national park, mammals like hippos, Nile crocodiles along the banks of river Nile can easily be seen, water bucks and warthogs Boat cruises are done in the morning or on evening sundowners.
Game drives are popular on the northern bank of the river there are more animals on this part of the park, game drives are conducted early in the morning in search of mammals, expect to see most of the species in the national park in action, the afternoon drives are take place for 2 -3 hours to enjoy the sundowners, the savannah park is one of the few places were night game drives are done by the help of the a game ranger from the Uganda wildlife authority team, you will hunt for the nocturnal species more so the cat family.
The national park can be accessed by road through the Kampala Gulu highway, it takes approximately 5hours’drive to arrive at the destination, and the scenic drive through the beautiful hills is amazing, charter flights can be arranged to the destination ton lad at the Pakuba airstrip.