Best Things to Do in Murchison Falls National Park; Murchison Falls National Park Uganda’s famous largest and oldest game park, that sits in north western part of Uganda. More so, it was established in 1952 and covers a total area of 3840 square kilometers thus making it the largest national park among the Uganda’s national park. This land is a home to biodiversity of wildlife species over 76 mammal species and around450 bird species that inhabitant of different vegetation types including savannah grasslands, riverine forests, woodlands, swamps. The park a home of big four of the big five mammals such as lions, elephants, leopards, buffaloes and rhinos are exclusive but can be explored at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary which is located on the same route to Murchison Falls National park, other animals to adventure here include, Jackson hartebeest, Oribis, water bucks, giraffes, hippos, crocodile, among others, primates like unique Chimpanzee and other species.
Things to do in Murchison Falls National Park on Uganda Safaris
Game drives in Murchison Falls National Park
This gives a great opportunity to explore the endless plains of the park and rewarding views of diversity of wildlife species. We recommend you to use 4x4WD safari vehicles and are categorized into three sessions;
Morning game drives
Morning game drives is done after morning breakfast drive into open savannah grasslands and expect to view the most active mammal species before going back to their hideout such as hyenas, leopards and other animals to view include waterbucks, giraffes, Uganda Kobs, Warthogs, Jacksons hartebeest, bushbucks, Oribis, buffaloes, elephants as well as watching out different bird species many more.
Afternoon game drive
Afternoon game drive is also a remarkable activity which can be conducted after lunch and best done along water holes within the park especially in peak seasons and sometime big cats can be hiding due to much sun thus leading too difficult in spotting.
Night game drives in Murchison falls national park is done in evening hours accompanied by park rangers who must have a strong touch to help you in lightening around the nocturnal animals such as; bush babies, night jar, lions, hyenas, genets, civets, leopards, porcupines, grazers such as hippos, elephants, waterbucks and enjoy the beautiful landscape under the star.
Boat Cruise in Murchison Falls National Park
Boat cruise is one of the best done activities in the park and there are two boat cruises that is; the boat cruise upstream to the bottom of the falls and the boat cruise downstream to the Victoria Nile delta stretching to the shores of Lake Albert. The boat cruise to the bottom of the fall offers two sessions that is morning session which starts at around 9:00am and the afternoon sessions starts around 2:00pm and each session takes about 2 to 3 hours ride.
The Nile delta boat cruise is done in different sessions ,each session takes about 4 to 5 hours and both boat cruise starts from Paraa jetty landing site and offers you a great chance to enjoy stunning view of Murchison falls scenic scenery ,large herds of hippos in water ,crocodiles basking on the banks, elephants ,Uganda Kobs ,buffaloes ,waterbucks ,warthogs are best seen along the shores of waters of lake Albert during peak seasons which starts from June to September and December to February .It also offers you a great opportunity to watch aquatic bird species such as rare shoe bill storks , African jacana ,Saddle bellied stork ,Goliath heron ,Yellow footed kingfisher ,Open billed stork , Senegal thick knee ,Swamp flycatcher ,Blue headed coucal ,King fishers as well as having great views of the fishermen catching fish many more.
Birding in Murchison Falls National Park
Murchison Falls National park is one of the best birding areas on Uganda birding safaris, the park is home to over 450 recorded species of birds including migratory birds, Albertine rift endemic birds, savannah birds and water birds. In the park, birding can be spotted during game drives, nature walk and at the boat cruise to the bottom of the falls and along the Victoria Nile delta. Some of these bird species to see include; martial eagle, yellow fronted tinker bird, Veracious dove, Long toed plover, Abyssinian ground hornbill, Giant kingfisher, Shoebill, Black headed lapwing, Black billed barbet, Long tale’s nightjars among others.
Chimpanzee tracking in Budongo Forest –Murchison Falls National Park
Chimpanzee tracking in Murchison Falls national park is done in Budongo forest also a home to the biggest mahogany forest in East Africa. This activity starts early morning after morning breakfast your driver guide will drive you to park headquarters for a short briefing about the chimp rules and regulations. After briefing a park guide will group you into a group of 6 people to allocate you to chimpanzee family to track. However, the activity can take about 30 minutes to 5 hours depending on where the chimpanzees were seen the previous night during tracking visitors, you will be able to view other primate species birds, butterflies, different plant and tree species among others. But once chimpanzee family are located you will be given one hour to spend with them in their environment, learn about their behaviors, habits, watching them how they play, feed, breastfeed, hunt, fight, take photography as well as memorable video recording.
Guided Nature Walk –Hiking in Murchison Falls National Park
This is an interesting activity that takes you deeper in hidden treasures of Murchison Falls national park where visitors can be able to explore it on foot with an experienced park guide and armed game rangers. In Murchison Falls national park guided nature walk is mostly done in Kaniyo Pabidi and Rabongo forest and the only way you will get closer and personal with wildlife species such as elephants, waterbuck, giraffes, primates like chimpanzees, black and white colobus monkeys, red tailed monkeys and variety of beautiful bird species among others.
Along your guided nature walk, you will be able to hike up to the top of the falls which takes about 45 minutes to 1 hours depending on the speed and physical fitness during the hike, visitors will be able to have rewarding views of the scenery, listen to the crashing of the water, great views of waters of Nile squeezing through a 7 meter gorge many more.
Best time to visit Murchison Falls national park
Murchison Falls National Park can be visited all year around though the best time without interruption of heavy rain I during the dry season which is peak season that starts from the month of June to September and December to February. During peak season vegetation grows thin thus giving clear views of huge number of animals and clear beautiful photography.
Still, Murchison Falls National Park can be visited in wet season –low which happens from March to May and November because that’s the best time for bird watching and accommodation rates lows during this period and there can be less crowds in the park thus favoring budget travelers
