Murchison Falls National Park

April 4, 2019

Murchison Falls National Park is part of the greater Murchison Falls Conservation Area (MFCA) offering excellent wildlife viewing which includes Kaniyo Pabidi. This is a great place for chimpanzee tracking and most big safari animals are easily seen, that’s four of the Big Five. The Victoria Nile bisects the park at Murchison Falls, the Nile is channeled through a narrow cliff in the Rift Valley escarpment.

The most impressive waterfall in East Africa encourages boat trips to the spectacular Murchison Falls, are a highlight especially if you hike to the top where the immense power of the Falls is best appreciated.

Murchison Falls Highlights

Africa Big 5 Game Drive Trail
The Victoria Nile bisects the park
The Murchison Falls narrow cleft in the Rift Valley escarpment
River Boat Ride for nile river shores wildlife
Lion Safari
Daytime temperatures of around 31°C/88°F and cooling down at night to around 18°C/64°F
Wet season runs from March to November and June to July
Located 305km/190mi north of Kampala – 4 Hours drive
Include Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for complet big 5 Safari

About Murchison Falls National Park

Murchison Falls National Park is the Uganda’s largest wildlife park lying at the northern end of the Albertine Rift Valley, where the bulky Bunyoro escarpment merges into the vast plains of Acholi land. One of Uganda’s oldest conservation areas was initially gazetted as a game reserve in 1926 to protect a savanna that Winston Churchill described in 1907 as ‘Kew Gardens and the zoo combined on an unlimited scale.

Murchison Falls has received many notable foreign visitors. In 1907, Winston Churchill hiked, boated and bicycled up the Nile corridor to the Falls.

He was followed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1909 during a hunting safari that cost, by today’s prices, a phenomenal US$1.8m! In 1951, the Falls provided a backdrop for Humphrey Bogart in John Huston’s famous movie, The African Queen which was filmed on location along the Murchison Nile and on Lake Albert.

British royals have also visited Murchison, the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) in 1930 and the Queen Mother in 1959. The least happy celebrity visitor was Ernest Hemingway in 1954 who literally dropped in. His intention was simply to overfly the waterfall but his plane clipped an old telegraph wire strung across the gorge and cart wheeled into the river line forest. Hemingway and his wife were rescued and taken to Butiaba where their rescue plane crashed on takeoff.

The Murchison Falls National Park is bisected by the Victoria Nile which first races down 80km of white-water rapids before plunging 40m over the remnant rift valley wall at Murchison Falls, the centre piece of the park.

Top Activities

Nature Walks & Hiking

Chimpanzee Trekking

Chimpanzee Trekking is one of the most sought activity in Uganda and Kibale Forest National Park is the leading tourist destination for chimpanzee trekking. Other places where you can find chimpanzees include; Budongo Forest, Kalinzu Forest, Semliki Wildlife Reserve and kyambura Gorge ….Read More