Lake Mburo National Park

Lake Mburo National Park is Uganda’s most accessible savanna wildlife area, just a 3 1/2 hour drive from Kampala.

At the heart of the park are swamp fringed lakes, forming a spectacular 50km wetland system, a rich habitat for a variety of birdlife – some 350 species- while the green acacia woodlands are home to eland, zebra, warthog, buffalo and impala. The park is also home to leopard, hippo and hyena. There are 13 lakes in all in this area of western Uganda, with 5 of them within the park’s boundaries.

The park, which has been a Game Reserve since 1963, and a National Park since 1983, has had a chequered history with the fortunes of its wildlife very much in the balance until recently.

In the 1930s Lake Mburu started as a controlled hunting area and faced a perilous existence for 60 years. Various attempts to rid the wider region of tsetse fly had a dramatic impact on the wildlife, then during the unstable political period of the 70s and early 80s large tracts of land were given over to ranches and grazing, before poachers moved in, and devastated the remaining wild population.

However in recent years thankfully things have changed – much has been done to conserve the land and its wildlife and today Lake Mburo is transformed into a rich and varied wildlife habitat and a fabulous addition to a gorilla trek or a wider exploration of Uganda. Knowing its history, makes Lake Mburo all the more fascinating.

Four female and four male giraffes were, in 2015, translocated from Murchison Falls to Lake Mburo during a 3 week operation. The Ugandan Wildlife Authority established that the habitat is suitable for the giraffes and initially secured them in a special shelter (or boma) while they acclimatised to their new surroundings.

The giraffes will be a welcome and exciting addition to this area, and the first giraffes in the parks of western Uganda.