Lake Mburo National Park is situated in western part of Uganda in the Eastern part of Mbarara the largest city in the western sub region, which is located in Kiruhura District covering a distance of 240 kilometers and 5:03 hours from Kampala the capital city to the Mburo.
Lake Mburo National Park is a forest reserve and game reserve and the area covers 260 square kilometers squared of the land with protected range of species of over 300 bird species such as saddle billed stork, geret snip, African finfoot, shoe bills,papyrus,yellow warbler, white winged warbler, tabora cisticola, brown chested wattled plover and many others. It has 100 species of mammals like reed bucks, elands, antelopes, buffalos, oribs, hyenas, warthogs, defassa, lions, water bucks and many more. There are also 240 tree species such as savannah grassland, acacia trees and many other species.
Lake Mburo National Park has a sculptured landscape with a wide range of species including lakeshores, forest reserve, seasonal and permanent swamps, grassy valleys which support a wealth of wildlife in tropical seasons. The park also has a special place of habitant ranging from dry hillsides ,bushy thickets, open savanna grassland ,acacia trees which is food for animals.
In 1933 Lake Mburo National Park was gazetted as hunting area by the local residents i.e. the Banyankole, Bahima who used to graze their cattle in the premises of the park. A number of wildlife were killed, then in 1963 the park was upgraded to a game reserve until 1983. Later on it was established in 1991 and became among the world heritage sites.
The park is on a low landscape with idyllic lake shores with a number of species like crocodiles, hippos, birds like African fish eagles, fin foot, water cormorants and many more others. It is surrounded with swamps which hide secret papyrus species such as sitatunga antelopes and red, yellow, black papyrus gonolek.
Safari to Lake Mburo will show you the richest faunal community in East Africa with an estimation of 200 mammals like zebras, hyenas, oribs, reedbucks, buffalos, waterbucks, 240 species of tree such as acacia wood trees, savannah grassland, 9 primates species and many others. The park is on law altitude to high altitude which is managed by Uganda Wildlife Authority.
Lake Mburo National Park has acacia woodland and savanna grasslands which gives a good breathing to the tourist and are a habitat for wild animals such as zebras, elephants, water bucks, orbs and many other.
Lake Mburo National Park also has a number of activities that can be done by the tourist such as game drive, nature walk, conservation education Centre, bird watching, horse riding, camping in Mburo park and we highlight some of them below:
Guided Nature Walk: The Guided nature walk is conducted on foot with the help of an armed guide who explains to visitors about the various flora and fauna species like antelopes like oribs, sitatunga, eland, zebras, water bucks and many other species.
Boat cruise: Boat cruise which is done in eastern shores of lake mburo and can be explored by boat at lakeside campsite near Rwonyo Rest Camp. Tourists can be able to see crocodiles and hippos during the two-hour time and they can also sight a variety of birds like African fish eagles, fin foot, shoebill stork and many more other species.
Game drive: Game drive which is done in hinterland of lake mburo with armed guide who takes you through drive while explaining to visitors and you can be able to spot a variety of savannah animals like zebras, buffalos, impalas, waterbuck and many other species.
Horse riding: Horse riding is conducted around mihingo lodge inside the park and quad biking is conducted by African all-terrain vehicles and tourists can be able to view the park’s terrain and wildlife floras with this confort.
Conservation education Centre: The park has an education center in west of Sanga Gate that provides accommodation with education halls for schools such as seminars, visitors, school groups and workshop. While at Lake mburo national park, a tourist can sleep in hotels such as Rwonyo Rest Camp, Luxury tented camp, Mburo Eagles Nest, Leopard hotels and many other options where tourists can sleep will depend on tourist budget.
Lake mburo national park can be accessed from Kampala with in 5:30 hours drive at a distance of 228 square kilometer. Alternatively, a tourist can fly from kajjansi Air strip with in 2:00hours.
Lake mburo national park can be visited best in the dry season months from February, June, September and December.
