Lake Mburo national park
Lake Mburo national park Uganda
Lake Mburo national park is one of the smallest and least visited national parks of Uganda. This Lake Mburo national park however has much more to offer and unique activities to engage in while in the park. The visit to Lake Mburo is the shortest and is usually combined with a visit to other national parks in the area like the Queen Elizabeth national park and the Bwindi Impenetrable forest that offers Uganda’s mountain gorilla trekking experience. The lake Mburo is also usually a stopover for guests who could have been coming from Murchison falls national park by road and would want to connect to the Bwindi forest for their visit.
The Lake Mburo national park is just a three hours and a half drive from Kampala and only 4 hours away from Entebbe International airport making it the most accessible savannah park so make sure to book a visit to this park for a chance to spot some wildlife while in this part of the country.
The Lake Mburo national park was named after the Lake Mburo that is in the park and one can take a boat ride on this lake. The park is sitted on an area of 370 square kilometers and is raised at an altitude of 1,828 meters above sea level. This national park is the first national park enroute from Kampala to the western part of Uganda. The park is a savannah park with up to 350 different bird species and a number of wildlife to spot.
The lake Mburo is not the only lake in the park but one of the 13 lakes but is the biggest lake. Visitors are welcome to visit the Lake Mburo national park any day of the week and the fees charged per activity have a 20% contribution that goes back to the local community projects in the area such as water systems, welfare structures like hospitals and schools. The park entrance to Lake Mburo is 40 USD per international travellers and 40,000 Ugandan shillings to the local people of Uganda and East Africa.
Upon entry to the park, there are a number of activities that you may engage in such as game drives in this savannah park. The game drives in the park can last for up to four hours with a chance of spotting several game with the most being the zebras. Lake Mburo is also a home to a number of antelopes like the topis, impalas, elands, reedbucks, defassa waterbuck, buffaloes, oribis, hyenas and a leopard on a great day. The wildlife of the Mburo national park has in the past been threaten by measures to kill tsetse flies and also the park is located in an area dominated by pastoralists who have turned the land for subsistence use.
The Lake Mburo national park has recorded up to 69 animal species within its boundaries and these also include the hyenas, Rothschild giraffe, leopards, burchell zebras that are a common sighting, warthogs, antelopes, elands, reedbucks, waterbucks among those on land and then hippos and crocodiles among those that live in water.
Besides the game drives, while in Mburo national park, you can engage in a boat ride on the Lake Mburo for a chance to spot some hippos in families basking and wallowing in the waters.
Also get to spot a range of bird life while on this boat ride. There are about 350 different bird species that you may spot such as the red faced barbet and this is only in the Mburo national park. You can also see the papyrus yellow warbler, brown chested lapwing, African finfoot. Abyssinian ground hornbill, the shoebill as well to mention but a few. The guests interested in sport fishing have a chance to do it on one of the lakes in the park. There is a forest called the Rubanga where guests of the park can take nature walks, birding can also be done while on this forest walk.
The park is also the only park in Uganda where you can do a horseback ride in the park. Yes, get to experience the wildlife on the back of a horse. This experience is offered by the Mihingo lodge, a luxury property in the park. Mihingo lodge is among the accommodations which you can opt to stay in while in this park. The Mihingo lodge has 7 horses and 4 ponies for this activity but is limited to 6 guests per trip and this is an experience I would definitely recommend one to engage in. The Lake Albert lodge of the Kabwoya wildlife reserve also offers these types of horse rides.
Besides the Mihingo lodge, there are other accommodations you may opt to stay in while overnighting in the park such as the new luxury Kigambira safari lodge, there is also Mantana tented camp, the Rwakobo Rock lodge, the famous Arcadia cottages, which all offer top notch services. For the basic and affordable accommodation in Lake Mburo national park, you can stay in the Mpogo lodge, Eagle’s nest, Mburo safari lodge or even stay out of the park further ahead in Mbarara town or Lyantonde town.
