Safari Activities to do at Murchison Falls National Park
Safari Activities to do at Murchison Falls National Park: Murchison falls national park is Uganda’s oldest and largest game park which was established in 1952 and covers a total area of 3840 square kilometers thus making it the largest national park in Uganda. More so, it is situated in the north-western part of Uganda approximately a 4 to 5 hours drive, or use a domestic flight from Bar Aviation from International Entebbe Airport to fly you to Pakuba airstrip. More then, Murchison Falls is of different vegetation types including savannah grasslands, woodland, riverine forests, and swamps which act as habitats for wildlife species including the big four of big five mammals like leopards, lions, elephants, buffalos, primates, and over 450 bird species such as rare shoe bills, African Darter, Giant kingfisher, Osprey, Long-toed plover, Veracious Dove, Black-headed Lapwing among others.
Game drives in Murchison Falls National Park;
Game drives in Murchison Falls National Park offer visitors a great opportunity to explore the park and enjoy beautiful views of wildlife species. One to have a fabulous game drive recommends you to use 4WD safari vehicles however, a game drive is carried into 3 sessions which include;
Morning game drives; this is the most rewarding session which gives a great view of the largest number of wild animals in the park. The morning game drive starts the early morning after breakfast and some of the animals to see during the morning game include elephants, buffaloes, waterbucks, giraffes, Uganda Kobs, warthogs, Jackson’s hartebeest, Oribi, bushbucks many others, and if you’re lucky you can see big cats like lions, leopards and a great time to view various bird species among many.
Afternoon game drives; The afternoon game drive is not quite impressive due to much heat that causes animals to hide under the tree species therefore spotting them might not be easy.
Night game drives; Night game drive is quite awesome because visitors get an opportunity to view nocturnal animals after dinners. This is an activity where visitors can be accompanied by park rangers and nocturnal animals to see including lions, hyenas, civets, genet, bush babies, porcupines, night jars, leopards, grazers like elephants, hippos, and waterbucks as well as getting impressed of t beautiful landscape under the star many more.
Boat cruise in Murchison Falls National Park
The boat cruise is one of the commonly done activities by tourists on their Uganda safari in Murchison Falls National Park. However, there are two boat cruises that are; 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 falls offers two sessions; the morning session starts at around 9:00 am and the afternoon session starts at 2 pm and each session takes about 2 to 3 hours to ride. You can choose to do a Nile Delta boat cruise.
Take note; Both boat cruises start from the Paraa jetty landing site and offer an opportunity to enjoy impressive views of Murchison Falls, beautiful scenery, large herds of hippos in the water, crocodiles and hikes can be seen grazing on the banks, elephants, buffaloes, Uganda kobs, waterbucks, warthogs, and aquatic bird species to see includes; the prehistoric shoebill stork, saddle bellied stork, goliath heron, African jacana, open billed stork yellow-footed kingfisher, grey head kingfisher, Senegal thick-knee, swamp flycatcher, blue-headed coucal, enjoy views of the fishermen catching different kind fish species many others.
Birding in Murchison Falls National Park
The park is a truly stunning place for birders because it hosts more than 450 species of birds which are comprised of migratory birds, Albertine rift endemic bird savannah, and water bird species. During the birding tour in Murchison Falls National Park birds to see includes the Abyssinian ground hornbill, yellow-billed stork, Veracious dove, Pied kingfisher, weaver birds, silver bird, martial eagle, yellow fronted tinkerbird and most sought bird named it Shoe bill among others.
Chimpanzee trekking in Murchison Falls National Park
Chimpanzee trekking in Murchison falls national park; Chimpanzee trekking is done in Budongo forest and the activity starts early in the with a briefing led by the park ranger about dos and don’ts. After the briefing visitors will be grouped into a group of 6 people and each group will be allocated to habituated Chimpanzee family to trek.
The trekking experience in Budongo forest takes about 30 minutes and 4 hours depending on where were last seen the previous night. During the trekking activity, you will have a chance to view other primates species like monkeys, birds, butterflies, different plant and tree species many others. When the chimpanzee family you will be allowed to spend one hour with them in their natural habitat while learning about their habits, and behaviors, watching them play, feed, breastfeed, hunt, fight, take photos, and record videos.
Guided nature walks in Murchison Falls National Park
Well, nature walks in the park are best done in Kaniyo Pabidi and Rabongo forest where visitors have a close rewarding encounter with wild animals such as mammals and primates like chimpanzees, black and white colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, and various bird species.
Hike up to the top of the Falls; While on a visit to the park never leave the park without hiking up to its top where you expect a gain view of the falls and watch the water of the Nile squeezing through a 7 meters gorge and many more.
When to go visit Murchison Falls National Park;
Murchison falls national park is best visited during the dry season which occurs in the months of June to September and December to February. During dry season makes roads and hiking trails in the park possible and various mammal animals can easily be watched around the water bodies while quenching for thirty.
