Murchison Falls National Park covers an area of 3,840 square kilometers (1,483 square miles or 384,000 hectares), making it the largest wildlife reserve in Uganda.
It is also the oldest national park, having been gazetted in 1926. This park is the best and most popular safari destination because it offers the full African safari experience.
Whether you are planning a short safari or a long one, Murchison Falls National Park is the perfect choice.
Murchison Falls National Park is located in northwest Uganda, on the northern side of the Albertine Rift Valley. Here, the vast Bunyoro Escarpment drops into a wide Savannah dotted with palm trees. The park is home to over 76 animal species and 450 bird species.
Murchison Falls National Park is the largest and most breathtaking of all Uganda’s national parks. It is known not only for its wildlife but also for its natural beauty.
The park is made up of thick shrub forests, tall grasslands, and rolling Savannahs. However, one of its most famous features is its powerful waterfalls, which give the park its name.
The waterfall is an incredible 45-meter drop where the Nile narrows from 50 meters to flow through a 7-meter-wide valley. This is believed to be the strongest natural water flow on Earth.
Upstream of Murchison Falls, the Karuma Falls stretch across 23 kilometers of rapids, creating some of Africa’s most thrilling white-water experiences.
Quick History about Murchison Falls National Park
Famous British figures such as Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ernest Hemingway visited Murchison Falls National Park and were amazed by its breathtaking scenery.
The park is split in half by the mighty Nile River and is covered in Savannah, wild landscapes, and lush greenery.
The Omukama of Bunyoro Kingdom, after whom Murchison Falls National Park is also called Kabarega National Park, is remembered for resisting British colonization before being captured and exiled to the Seychelles by the British. He passed away in Jinja in 1923 while returning from exile to Bunyoro.
In the 1970s, poaching increased due to poor governance under Idi Amin’s rule, leading to a major decline in wildlife. Although Murchison Falls National Park is home to all of the Big Five—elephants, buffaloes, lions, leopards, and rhinos—poaching caused the rhino population to disappear.
Since then, efforts to restore the rhino population have begun, and the animals are being protected at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary in Nakasongola before being reintroduced to Murchison Falls National Park.
Once a sufficient number of rhinos have been bred, they will be returned to the park.
