Sarania Adventure Safaris For Customized East African Safaris

This is Uganda’s biggest and oldest national park, covering an area of 3,840 square kilometers. The park spans the districts of Nwoya, Masindi, Buliisa, and Kiryandongo, which led the locals of the Luo to call it PAJOK, meaning “the place of spirits.” Since the largest part falls within the Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom, it was originally called Kabelega National Park.

Established as a game reserve in 1926 and later gazetted as a national park in 1952, it features the most powerful waterfall in the world on the Nile, which squeezes itself through a narrow gap of 8 meters, plunging 45 meters.

This park lies along the shores of Lake Albert and is divided by the Nile River into southern and northern sections. It is home to around 76 species of animals and 451 species of birds. With diverse types of vegetation, including the tropical rainforest of Budongo, forest woodlands, savannah woodlands, savannah, and montane forests, this variety supports a rich array of bird species inhabiting these different vegetation types.

The southern sector is primarily occupied by tropical and montane forest woodlands, hosting animals like buffaloes, elephants, bushbucks, forest hogs, and warthogs, which are often camouflaged in the thick vegetation and hard to spot. Species such as black-and-white colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, red colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys, and olive baboons can also be found here. In contrast, the northern side is composed of savannah, Borassus riverine woodlands, and acacia trees, offering opportunities to see a variety of animals, including buffaloes, elephants, lions, leopards, giraffes, oribis, Jackson’s hartebeest, kobs, warthogs, waterbucks, bushbucks, and many more.

The park has six entrance gates and is located approximately 5 hours from the capital city of Kampala.

Additionally, the park offers various activities, including game drives, boat rides on the Nile, visits to the top of the Nile, bird watching, sunset viewing, observing the shoebill stork, sport fishing, and more.

THREE-DAY VISIT TO MURCHISON FALLS NATIONAL PARK

Day 1: Our company driver will pick you up from your accommodation after breakfast and proceed northward to Murchison Falls National Park. This journey will take approximately 5 to 6 hours. We will stop at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for a nature walk in search of the white rhinos. Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary is a breeding zone for white rhinos that became extinct in Uganda in the 1980s due to hunting for their horns, which were highly sought after on the international market. Now, with the help of international organizations, the Ugandan government has embarked on efforts to breed rhinos, successfully restoring their population to over 42 in the sanctuary. Besides the walk, we hope to see other animals such as kobs, bushbucks, waterbucks, warthogs, zebras, and giraffes. After lunch, we will continue to Murchison Falls.

Entering through the Kicumbanyobo Gate in the south, expect to see animals like baboons, black-and-white colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, red colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys, buffaloes, and elephants. We will then proceed to our lodge for dinner and overnight stay.

Day 2: Early in the morning, after breakfast, we will begin our journey into the park specifically for a morning game drive, looking for animals like giraffes, oribis, African elephants, Jackson’s hartebeest, kobs, bushbucks, warthogs, waterbucks, lions, leopards, hippos, patas monkeys, and many more. The park is also home to a variety of birds, including Egyptian geese, African crowned hornbills, southern ground hornbills, piapiacs, lilac-breasted rollers, little bee-eaters, francolins, African wattled lapwings, spur-winged plovers, woodland kingfishers, black-headed herons, marabou storks, starlings, spur-winged lapwings, and long-crested eagles, among others.

After lunch at the lodge, we will embark on an afternoon boat ride. Here, we expect to see many of the animals mentioned above that come to drink water, as well as schools of hippos, crocodiles, monitor lizards, and flocks of water birds like the malachite kingfisher, giant kingfisher, pied kingfisher, African fish eagles, marsh sandpipers, black-winged stilts, and many more. We will return to our lodge for dinner and an overnight stay.

Day 3: We will start our day with a return trip to Kampala or the airport. On the way, we will stop by the top of the Nile, where we can view the magnificent waterfalls that force themselves through a narrow gap, plunging 45 meters. This vantage point offers a stunning view of the falls.