Murchison falls national park is Uganda’s most visited National park, it is situated along the floor of the great Albertine rift valley and on the shores of Lake Albert in the Nwoya district, it is the country’s largest and oldest protected area covering an area space of 3840 square kilometers, it was first Gazette in 1952 as a way of protecting species that call this home,  Murchison is Bisected into two by the Victoria Nile forming the south and Northern banks, it was named after the great Magnificent falls. During the reign of one of Uganda’s presidents Idi Amin Dada, the park’s name was changed to Kabalega national park, however at the time of his downfall, the conservation area retained its name. The park hosted all the big five of the wilderness (Lions, leopards, African buffaloes, Rhinos, and African elephants), however, due to its exposure to human activity like poaching, Rhinos extinct to date, the Uganda wildlife authority plans to relocate the animal species from the Rhino sanctuary.

The vegetation of the park comprises forests, woodland, savannah grasslands, rivers, and Marshy swampy areas, the habitat types host 87 mammal species, 14 reptiles, and over 479 bird species, the park is blessed with a reputable number of the Rothschild’s giraffes, a herd of the African buffaloes, African elephants, Uganda Kobs, Oribi, Jackson hartebeests, leopards, lions, hyenas, warthogs, schools of Hippos, Nile crocodiles along the banks of the River Nile, the long stretch corridor to Lake Albert protects of the bird species include the African fish eagle, the plover bird, piacpiac, Abyssinian ground horn bill, yellow fronted tinker bird, Denham’s bustard, Long-toed Lapwing, black-headed lapwing, there are a number of physical features like the Murchison fall, forests, wildlife, river Nile that present an opportunity to do tourism activities in the national conservation area, below are some popular things to do in Murchison falls national park.

Game drives in Murchison fall national park can be done in the morning, afternoon, or the Night, in search of wildlife, animals of the Murchison area are mostly concentrated on the northern bank of the park, and drives are carried out in open pop roof cars through the well-distributed game tracks such as the Victoria and buligi tracks, you will have views of the abundant wildlife and on each of the tracks there is a different experience of the conservation area, game drives can last from 2-4 hours, it is advisable to take comfortable shoes, insect repellants, long trousers, drives are carried out in 4×4 wheel car drives.

A boat cruise to the bottom of the falls begins at the Para Doc, this presents an opportunity to view the thunderous fall of the great Murchison into the plunging poll, the sided walls of the metamorphic rocks are indigenously wonderful combined with sights of the Nile crocodile basking under the sun, hippos hooting in the water, water birds and animals grazing around the banks, some days it is possible to view the critically endangered shoebill stock in the marshy swampy area. Rides take 2-3 hours while enjoying the beauty and breeze.

Visiting the Budongo Forest south of the park is an ideal destination to find the chimpanzees, these are said to be man’s closest relatives sharing up to 98% of the human DNA, tracking chimpanzees begins in the morning at the Budongo eco-lodge. The park has the largest forest of Mahogany tree species in Uganda, other park activities include hot air balloon safari, guided nature walks, sport fishing, community walks, and Visits to the Rhino sanctuary.

Murchison falls national park can be visited all throughout the year but is best during Uganda’s dry seasons between June-September and December – February. The park can be accessed by road through the Kampala Gulu highway, or Charter flights can be arranged from Entebbe or Kajansi to the Pakuba airstrip.