Night Game drive in Lake Mburo National park Safaris : Lake Mburo national park is one of the few parks where you can go on a night game drive! At night, there is a whole variety of animals that can be seen in the day including bush pigs, genet cat and white tailed mongoose to mention but a few. Night game drive is a unique game drive Safari done in a few of the national parks in Uganda including Lake Mburo national park, the smallest savanna park. Lake Mburo national park is located off road between Masaka and Mbarara town as one head to southwestern Uganda. The Night game drives in this game park are done in the early hours of the night at dusk where visitors get to explore the park and see its inhabitants in the night under the stars using torchlights. Night game drives gives chances of seeing animals that you could have missed during the day.
Lake Mburo national park is located about 4 hours from Kampala City in Kiruhura district close to Mbarara in western Uganda, Lake Mburo National Park is the closest Safari game park to both the international airport and capital city of Uganda.
Activities that visitors can engage in are Boat cruises on lake Mburo, Birding, Nature walks and hiking, Cycling, Horse riding, Cultural experiences, quad biking and more. In Lake Mburo national park, Night game drives starts as the sunsets around 6:30pm – 7pm and it lasts for 2-3 hours. The last two and three hours of the drive are lead and managed by profession ranger guides and in the course of this there high chances of seeing nocturnal animals. There are high chances of seeing nocturnal animals like bush babies, Leopards, Pottos, Zebra and more. Night game drives are escorted by armed ranger guides to lead and provide all the necessary information
Night drives give you the best chance of finding leopards, spotted hyena and there is one male lion in the park who resides down by Lake Mburo itself. It is an interesting experience out at night with a spotlight, an unusual twist on your regular game drives. An alternative view of the park, hopefully including sightings of animals rarely seen during the day, is provided by guided night drives.
Nocturnal animals feed and graze during the night making it hard to find them during the day therefore night game drives will allow you chance to view them as they feed in the darkness. These animals include mongoose, bush pigs, leopards, honey badger, black galago, hyenas, Genet cat and more. Other animals can be spotted like zebras, impalas and more as they look for where to spend the night.
Night game drives can be done with 4 x 4 Safari vehicle at any time of the year but the best time is during the dry season in the months of June to September. Visitors are advised to carry spotlight torches to easily view the animals in the dark, wear warm clothes as it gets cold at night, carry insect repellant as mosquitoes are active at night and wear dull/ nature blending colors to match with the environment. Remember to carry a camera with enough batteries to take pictures of these nocturnal animals. Visitors need to keep their voices as low as possible and follow the guidelines of a ranger guide. Remember to inform your tour operator/ travel agency to include this activity on the program during the booking process if interested.
Lake Mburo national park offers other various activities apart from night game drives that any visitor on a Uganda wildlife Safari can take part in. these are day game drives, bird watching, horseback riding, boat cruise on Lake Mburo, Spot fishing, nature walks, bicycle tours, cultural encounters and more.
The park has nice accommodations ranging from budget to luxury both within the park and around the park. Some of these are Mihingo Lodge, Kigambira Safari lodge, Arcadia cottages, Leopard Rest Camp, Eagles nest lodge, Lake Mburo Safari lodge, Rwakobo Rock Lodge, Rwonyo Rest camp, Mantana tented camp and more.
