Welcome To Lake Mburo National Park
"Whispers Of The Wild"
About Lake Mburo National Park
Lake Mburo National Park is a compact gem, located conveniently close to the highway that connects Kampala to the parks of western Uganda. It is the smallest of Uganda’s savannah national parks and underlain by ancient Precambrian metamorphic rocks which date back more than 500 million years. It’s a home to 350 bird species as well as zebras, impalas, elands, buffalos, oribi, Defassa waterbuck, leopard, hippo, hyena, topi and reedbuck.
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Wetland habitats comprise 20% of the park’s surface since together with 13 other lakes in the area, Lake Mburo forms part of a 50km-long wetland system linked by a swamp. Five of these lakes lie within the park’s borders. Once covered by open savanna, this supports the healthy population of Buffalos, Wathhog ,bushpig and hippopotamus. Lake Mburo National Park now contains much woodland as there are no elephants to tame the vegetation. In the western part of the park, the savanna is interspersed with rocky ridges and forested gorges while patches of papyrus swamp and narrow bands of lush riparian woodland line many lakes.
Lake Mburo is notably blessed with over 315 bird species and probably the best place to view acacia-associated birds, Rwonyo is a good zone to see the mosque swallow, blackbellied bustard,bare-faced-go away bird and Ruppell’s starling. A handful of birds is recorded essentially the southern ground hornbill and black throated barbet.
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The parks’ precarious past has seen wildlife virtually eliminated several times: firstly, in various attempts to rid the region of tsetse flies, then to make way for ranches, and finally as a result of subsistence poaching.
20% of the park’s entrance fee is used to fund local community projects such as building clinics and schools.
Activities In Lake Mburo National Park
Horseback Safari
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The best way to get to Lake Mburo animals is on horseback safari before or after the boat cruise on the lake. If driving in the comfort of a 4×4 safari truck does not impress you, hop on horseback after your boat cruise and explore the savannah wild on the back of an animal. Other ungulates are friendlier to a human on a horse and tend to stick around in amazement. So you may get closer to them than expected — a unique way to experience Uganda’s wild wonders. Horseback rides usually last four hours, hailing out of the Mihingo Lodge stable with an expert instructor. Even kids can join in the fun with ponies and then later join the sundowner to watch the golden sunset with a wine glass at the hilltop viewpoints.
The Lake Mburo Boat Cruise
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A boat cruise on Lake Mburo regularly lanches from the Rwonnyo jetty at 08:00 and takes a two-hour ride around the eastern banks of Lake Mburo. In addition to the charming scenery and simple pleasures of floating in a boat surrounded by wild things, the launch trip reliably provides good sightings of hippo, crocodile, buffalo, waterbuck, bushbuck, and otter sightings.Among the more conspicuous water birds birdwatchers may encounter riding the Mburo boat cruise are the African fish eagle, shoebill stork, pied kingfisher, and various egrets, herons, Ross’s turaco, Narina trogon, and the elusive African finfoot.
In addition to a boat cruise on Lake Mburo, you can explore the expanse of the park on a game drive, horseback safari, biking safari, and most exciting of them, the guided walking safari. Lake Mburo National Park’s uniqueness allows you to enjoy wildlife viewing without missing the big savannah game players.
Guided Walking Safari in the park
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Guided walks are a major highlight of visiting Lake Mburo and a great addition to your boat cruise. A walking safari in Lake Mburo National Park allows you to surprisingly get very close to wild animals, like the impala and zebra herds, on foot.
An armed expert ranger leads you off the beaten path through amazing savannah landscapes till you find yourself among a herd of calm ungulates.If you’re a sucker for breathtaking landscape views, take the walking trail to the viewing platform that overlooks a salt lick about 2km from Rwonyo camp — it’s an excellent place to view the vastness of the park and a wide variety of animals.
The Rubanga Forest trail, in the southeastern part of the park, is an exciting walk for nature lovers and, particularly, birders. Other rewarding walking trails in the park include the salt lick trail, lake shorelines, and the trail to the hilltop viewpoint.
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Cycling Safaris
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Before or after your boat cruise on Lake Mburo, burn off some calories on the savannah game tracks and into the park’s surrounding communities on a mountain bike. Rwakobo Rock lodge, on the northern edge of the park close to Sanga gate entry, maintains a good fleet of mountain bikes and offers excellent guided rides through the park’s savanna plains and surrounding communities. Biking through the local communities will introduce you to the local lifestyle and culture and allow you to get off the beaten path into the Mburo wilderness.
Safari Game Drives
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Game viewing at Lake Mburo may not match the other big safari parks, but the park’s slow pace and small size make for a moderately rewarding private safari game drive. The park is small enough for a game drive to find some of the common animals among the 68 mammal species present in the park, including zebra, impala, topi, eland, bushbuck, buffalo, warthog, leopard, hyena, and jackal.
Although the quality of game viewing along the park’s popular tracks is irregular, particularly during the wet season, tourists can view substantial concentrations of impala, zebra, waterbuck, topi, and buffalo within a 4-km radius. Lake Mburo National Park is one of the three parks in Uganda hosting the Rothschild giraffe
A short game drive on Lake Mburo National Park’s savannah plains is a worthy addition to a boat cruise on Lake Mburo. And even most captivating are the late evening, night game drives that bring you closer to the night hunters like the elusive leopard, hyena and the nocturnal animals like the bushbabies. Guided night game drives in the park set off at 18:30 and can last for four hours.
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Birding Watching Safaris
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If you’re an ardent birder, Lake Mburo National Park’s acacia woodland and wetlands are excellent birding spots to find the more than 300 bird species recorded around the park. After your boat cruise, you can explore the park’s avian diversity in the comfort of your vehicle, biking, or on foot. And to make bird spotting simpler for beginners, the park has viewing platforms constructed within the Rubanda forest and by salt-licks.
Lucky birders will come across the prehistoric Shoebill in the Waruki and Miriti swampy valleys, and also, the trail to the Rwonyo jetty provides some great sightings. Common bird species include the Rufous-bellied heron, bateleur, black-bellied bustard, and the Lake Mburo endemic red-faced barbet.
Our Safari Tour Consultants have visited all the popular Uganda Destinations and more. They would not hesitate to give you first-hand information that will help you chose the next best destination for your trip. Contact our Safaris team to get you started.
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