Lake Mburo national park is located in kiruhura district in the west region of Uganda with an area cover of 260 square kilometers. The national park was gazette in 1933 as a disciplined hunting area but later in 1963 it upgraded to a game reserve.
The national park has a history that is attached to it by the locals where they say there were 2 brothers Mburo and kigarama. The two brothers lived in the plains f the savannah in an area called kaaro karungi. One night kigarama had a dream were too much rain caused floods and their property got destroyed. Kigarama told his brother about the dream but Mburo didn’t take it serious. Kigarama had to relocate and moved to the hills leaving Mburo behind. After some time, the dream came to reality, the area was attacked by rainfall which cause floods and Mburo drowned with his property and thus the name Mburo and the hills were named kigarama after the brother.
Lake Mburo boosts with wildlife such as zebras, elands, buffaloes, oribi, defassa waterbuck, leopard, hippopotamus, Topi, hyena and reedbuck among others and over 350 bird species which makes it among the best safari destination in uganda.
ATTRACTIONS IN LAKE MBURO NATIONAL PARK
RWONYO REST CAMP
The rwonyo rest camp is known for the tourism activities within the national park. The rest camp is a starting point for the nature hikes, quad biking, game drives as well as forest walks. There is a small shop that sells handcrafts and books.
LAKE MBURO
Lake Mburo is a nice place for the flora and fauna. The permanent animals are the crocodiles and hippopotamuses and buffaloes come along to take water during the dry season. A lot of birds include the malachite kingfishers, pied kingfisher, African fish eagles, rufous long-tailed starlings, blue headed weavers, green-necked doves and the shoebills.
RUBANGA FOREST
However small the forest is, the piece of land on the west of lake Mburo gives a taste of the tropical high forest with a closed canopy. The forest is a home to a number of forest birds and these include; harrier hawk, green pigeon, narina trogon, grey-backed camaroptera and double-toothed barbet. The forest can be explored with a park guide.
GAME TRACKS
The national park has several tracks that are found on the eastern hinterland of the park. Within he game tracks a number of animals and birds can be spotted . the hill top offers a panoramic vista as well as the five lakes within the national park.
ACTIVITIES IN LAKE MBURO NATIONAL PARK
BIRD WATCHING
Lake Mburo national park has over 313 bird species that makes it the best birding safari destination. Tourists on their safari within the national park can spot large numbers of birds mostly in rubanga forest such as saddle billed stork, African finfoot, mosque swallow, white winged warbler, black billed barbet among others. Rare birds such as the rufous naped, yellow throated long claw, narina trogon and many more.
GUIDED NATURE WALKS
The national park has an open savanna grassland at the rwonyo rest camp and the tourists are guided by the tour guide. The tourists can view trees such as acacia trees such as the acacia gerill and acacia hocki. The tourists are as well led to the salt links where the impalas, buffaloes, oribs, Topis and duikers linking the salt.
BOAT CRUISE
The national park is known because of its amazing lake Mburo and the other 4 lakes that are found in the park. Lake Mburo has 6 fish species such as the lung fish, mud fish and the common tilapia and haplochromis. While on the boat cruise tourist can spot animals such as crocodiles, hippopotamus, buffaloes and also water birds such as shoebill stork, pelican and the black crakes among others.
GAME DRIVES
The tourists in lake Mburo national park can engage in game drives that are led by the park guide. While on a game drive tourists can view plants, vegetables and a number of mammals such as the zebras, leopards, buffaloes, hyenas, antelopes and the impalas.
HORSE RIDING
The national park is the only park that carries out horse riding packages to the tourists as they view a number of attractions.
CULTURAL ENCOUNTERS
The national park is surrounded by the people in their communities. During the cultural visits, tourists tend to see and enjoy performances by the cultural dancers.
