Mighty Murchison Falls National Park

At 3,840 square kilometers, Murchison Falls National Park spans the districts of Masindi and Nyowa in northwest Uganda. It is the largest park in the nation and gets even bigger when combined with Bugunga and Karuma game reserves to form the Murchison Falls Conservation Area.

Murchison Falls National Park, named for its falls, which were named for Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, a former president of the Royal Geographic Society, is located at the northern end of the Albertine Rift Valley, a mixed habitat of escarpment, plains, river, and lake. It was first gazetted as a wildlife reserve in 1926, making it Uganda’s oldest conservation area.

Despite not being as well-known as the Serengeti, for example, the park has hosted numerous royal entourages and notable people like Churchill, Roosevelt, and Hemmingway, all of whom have shaped certain perceptions of what it means to go on safari in Africa.

Murchison Falls National Park, which was devastated during Idi Amin’s presidency (1971–1979) when its larger animals were hunted for sport and meat, has recovered a significant portion of its once enormous wildlife populations thanks to several ongoing conservation projects.

Today, the park is home to 76 species of mammals, including relatively healthy populations of leopard, buffalo, lion, and elephant. Ziwa, a rhino refuge located south of the park, is helping to progressively reintroduce the white rhino, which has been extinct in the park since 1983.

The park is home to a variety of other species, such as the uncommon patas monkey, Jackson’s hartebeest, Uganda kob, olive baboon, crocodile, bushbuck, and waterbuck. Chimpanzees can also be found in the larger Murchison Falls area if you add the Kaniyo Pabidi and Budongo forests.

With 451 species of birds identified, Murchison Falls National Park is a birdwatcher’s paradise. Notable species include the rare Shoebill Stork, the Goliath Heron, and the Grey Crowned Crane.

The Red-throated Bee-eater, the Pied, Malachite, and Giant kingfishers, the Speckle-fronted weaver, and the Blue-headed Coucal are some of the other species.

Key features of the larger conservation area and Murchison Falls National Park are the Buligi savannahs, Budongo, Karuma Falls, Rabongo, and Kaniyo Pabidi forests, and the Nile from Paraa to the falls.