Murchison Falls National Park is located in northern Uganda near the Albertine Rift Valley and is one of the most visited Uganda National Parks. It is the oldest and largest national park in Uganda which was gazetted as a wildlife reserve in 1926 and earned its first title as a national park in 1952. It covers 3,840km2 in size bisected by the Victoria Nile which divides the Park into the Northern and Southern sectors and forms falls that flow over the Western rift Valley escarpment. The awe-inspiring Murchison Falls, where the River Nile hurls itself in appalling convulsions through a narrow crevice of 7 meters and then plunges 40 meters in one breathtaking leap is an amazing place to watch.
The park hosts 76 species of mammals and 451 species of birds. This stretch of river Nile provides one of Uganda’s most remarkable wildlife spectacles. Regular visitors to the riverbanks include elephants, giraffes, and buffaloes; while hippos, Nile crocodiles, hippopotamus, and aquatic birds are permanent residents.
More about Murchison Falls National Park
The park is covered by Ugandan districts of Buliisa, Nwoya, Kiryandongo, and Masindi. The driving distance from Masindi to the National Park is about 87 kilometres. This park is about 297 kilometres by road, north-west of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda. A typical Uganda Safari to this park takes you to explore the best of Uganda wildlife.
Murchison Falls National Park was attacked by tsetse flies between 1898 and 1907 causing sleeping sickness to people. It forced the colonial government to clear the human population in 1907 from 13000sqkm land around the Victoria Nile. In 1907, the Bunyoro Wildlife Reserve was created due to the existence of free vast land on the southern bank. Later in 1928, the reserve was extended to the northern bank /sector and the whole reserve was named Bunyoro-Gulu wildlife Reserve covering 4,750sqkm.
When time went on, In 1960’s Murchison Falls National Park had the highest density of large mammals population than any other place in the world and it forced the park officials to create buffer zones like the Karuma (1964) and Bungungu (1968) Wildife Reserves. The protection of wildlife inside the park inserted more pressure to human population which forced them to hunt them down especially the Elephants and so the park authorities tried to keep them within the Park boundaries. In late 1960’s, Murchison Falls National Park was considered the best safari park in East Africa and it hosted 60,000 tourists as the number of elephants increased to 14,000 by the Mid 1960’s and the gazzated land space could not accommodate.
In 1965 and 1967, 2000 Elephants were killed since they were destroying and changing the environment from forest and woodland to open savannah especially it can be witnessed in the northern sector of Murchison Falls National Park. It also applies to hippopotamus and 3,873 in number were also killed between 1965 and 1969 since they were over the carrying capacity.
In 1972 to 1973, Foreign tourists were stopped from visiting this national park after Idi Amini closed the park for one year since he was the ruling government of Uganda. Later, he renamed the park to Kabalega Falls National Park and after Milton Obote taking over the power, there was rampant poaching which led to the reduction of various animals like Elephants, Buffalos, Hippopotamus among others and in 1990s the joint efforts of the Park administration, conservation groups and international donors had to rebuilt the National Park to normal and visitors started increasing up to date. The animals were guided and protected hence leading to the development and existence of Murchison Falls National Park.
The northern sector is covered by open savannah grassland, acacia trees and borassus palms which has facilitated game drive and the existence of many animal species like Elephants, giraffe, leopard, warthog, Lion, Giraffe Aardvark, pangolin, civet, buffalo, hyena, oribi, patas monkey, and Uganda Kob. On the other hand, the southern sector is dominated by riverine woodland and tropical forest hence making the northern sector ideal for tourism activities while at Murchison Falls National Park.
Before the Murchison Falls itself, in the eastern sector of the park, are the Karuma falls where the Nile cascades over 23 kilometers of rapids in a breathtaking sight. This is the most exciting white water in Africa.