Philip is a renowned Africa expert and author of many Bradt guidebooks to African destinations, including the guide to Uganda.
Philip is a renowned Africa expert and author of many Bradt guidebooks to African destinations, including the guide to Uganda.
Philip is a renowned Africa expert and author of the Bradt guidebook to Uganda.
Philip is the author of the Bradt guidebook to Uganda.
Murchison Falls National Park, part of the greater Murchison Falls Conservation Area (MFCA), offers excellent wildlife viewing. The Victoria Nile bisects the park and boat trips to the spectacular Murchison Falls are a highlight – especially if you hike to the top where the immense power of the falls is best appreciated.
Four of the Big Five can be seen, but rhino are absent. Huge herds of elephant and buffalo are common, and lion are quite easily spotted. Antelope include Jackson's hartebeest, waterbuck and Uganda kob. Large herds of Rothschild's giraffe are a specialty. Chimpanzee and several other primates can be tracked in Budongo Forest, in the south of the greater Murchison Falls Conservation Area.
The park is divided by the very scenic Victoria Nile. A boat trip takes you to the base of the Murchison Falls where you can see the Nile squeezing through a narrow gorge before dropping down into the ‘Devil's Cauldron’. North of the river is a savannah habitat that's dominated by grassland and dotted with borassus palms. South of the river, the habitat changes to woodland with forest patches.
Weather & Climate
Murchison Falls has a consistently hot climate. The minimal variation in temperature is due to the park’s equatorial setting. It does, however, get noticeably hotter during the relatively brief Dry season (December to February). Light rain is usual in the Wet season (March to November), with the occasional storm blowing through. Temperatures are also affected by the wide variation in altitude across the park.
Wildlife spotting is easiest in the Dry season (December to February), when animals congregate at waterholes and there’s little undergrowth for them to hide in. But bring a broad-brim hat and plenty of sunscreen to ward off the fierce sunshine. Most visitors tend to go in search of lions, elephants and other animals from June to September, when it’s cooler and the rain isn’t that bothersome.
Ariadne is a renowned African wildlife photographer whose work is featured in many well-known guidebooks and magazines.
Murchison Falls National Park – where the Nile tumbles down the Rift Valley escarpment
4/5
Although the wildlife viewing is excellent in this park, it is the scenery that really gets to me. There are rolling grassy hills studded with borassus palms and teeming with plains animals, papyrus swamps inhabited by the sought-after...