A visit to Uganda’s Murchison Falls National Park not only guarantees travellers spectacular big game viewing, but one also gets to soak in scenic views of the dramatic landscapes of northwestern Uganda.
Most visitors to Uganda’s oldest national park are especially wowed by breathtaking views of the mighty River Nile – the longest river on earth – thunderously exploding through a gorge before falling into a pool about 42 metres below to create the world’s most powerful waterfall.
The 3,893 km² park harbours over 90 mammal species, including lions, elephants, crocodiles, hippos, buffaloes, giraffes, jackson’s heartbeats, waterbucks, warthogs, oribis, and even the unremarkably elusive leopards.
More than 400 bird species have also been recorded here, but Murchison Falls National Park’s most treasured residents are the jackson’s heartbeats, which are endemic to the park, as well as the endangered Rothschild’s giraffe.
Talking of the latter, Murchison Falls is home to 75 per cent of the world’s remaining Rothschild’s giraffes – 1,600 individuals in total, according to a 2018 census.
It’s such uniqueness that makes Murchison Falls National Park a formidable snare for both local and international tourists.
Journeying to northwestern Uganda
I recently took a trip to the park with a group of local travel bloggers, journalists, celebrities and Uganda Tourism Board and Ministry of Tourism staff, including Godfrey Kiwanda, Uganda’s state minister for tourism. The trip was part of the tourism ministry’s latest ‘Tulambule’ (let’s tour) campaign, which aims to encourage Ugandans to take more holidays at home.
Our starting point was the Independence Monument near the Sheraton Hotel in Kampala, one of those quite important landmarks in Uganda’s capital city that are less eulogised.
But I won’t bore you with the nitty-gritty of this monument (at least not now), so let’s stick to the natural wonder that is Murchison Falls National Park.
Journeying to northwestern Uganda took us through the Luwero Triangle, an area where, in 1980, President Museveni’s National Resistance Army (NRA), which he later renamed National Resistance Movement (NRM), launched its five-year guerilla warfare and successfully captured power in 1986.
We made a stopover at the Luwero Market, a popular spot for travellers to and from northern Uganda seeking quick refreshments. The roadside market features lots of eats and drinks, including fresh fruits and roasted meat and chicken – at affordable prices.
We bought some gonja (sweat plantain and one of the most popular snacks in Uganda) and lots of skewers of roasted meat whilst locals cheered on Moses Golola – who was part of our contingent – with reckless abandon.
I later learnt that the celebrated kickboxer is a Luwero boy, “born in this very neighbourhood,” one of the locals told me. It was a homecoming of sorts for the motormouth kickboxer who is more famous for his cheeky braggadocio than kickboxing.
As we continued our journey to Murchison Falls National Park, we were rewarded with more breathtaking views: River Kafu, Karuma Falls, as well as an authentic Ugandan countryside that is yet to be diluted by the so-called modernity.
This area still features traditional grass-thatched reed wattle and daub dorm-like houses, a sight that makes you feel like you are touring the “real Africa”.
Lost in the wild
At around 5 pm, we entered the park through its northern gate, seven kilometres away from the Pakuba Safari Lodge, our abode for tonight. As we approached President Idi Amin’s dilapidated presidential lodge, our lead car unceremoniously stopped. We had taken the wrong route.
A few minutes later, we turned left and drove southwestwards for about 30 minutes, taking in views of some of the park’s most famous residents, including buffalos, elephants, a wide range of antelope species, and even a lone lion that was chilling by the lakeside, perhaps drawn here by the cool breeze from Lake Albert, which skirts the western part of the park.
We drove on until we found ourselves at the end of the track. Again, we were lost. And it was now getting dark, and very fast. See, in the tropics, there is no long, drawn-out dawn or twilight. It just plunges suddenly and straight from day to dark and from dark to day.
This time we did what most people do when they are ‘lost’: we drove straight to Murchison Falls Tourism Police post on the northeastern edge of the park. We surely needed help.
As we drove (quite fast and certainly at the kind of speed that would have earned us a ticket under normal circumstances), we passed an overturned pick-up truck (in a game park, of all places!) I was later told that the strange accident was a result of a car chase – park rangers chasing a poacher. Fascinating.
We arrived at the police post and got some useless help. The direction we took from the police post only led us to a campsite deep in the jungle. Time check: 8 pm.
What the hell was going on? Where the hell were the park’s guides and rangers? The fact that the tourism minister was part of our team was even more disturbing.
We later found ourselves at the Students’ Centre, home to tourism students interning at Murchison Falls National Park. 9 pm found us at the exotic Paraa Safari Lodge but this time someone claimed to have figured out the way to Pakuba Safari Lodge.
So we drove on for about two hours (probably driving in circles), until the management of Pakuba Safari Lodge decided that it was time now to send one of its vans to come to our rescue. And the rescue mission succeeded at about 11: 15 pm and we were finally led to the lodge. I felt like clapping.
Once at Pakuba Safari Lodge, I breathed a sigh of relief, had dinner and entered my tent for that much-needed rest. I enjoyed the privacy of my tent till 6 am in the morning – and I was glad that carnivorous residents of Murchison Falls National Park, such as lions and leopards, also respected my privacy.
Morning game drive
The wake-up call came a 6 am. Still super exhausted from yesterday’s journey and with a lethargy body, I felt like snubbing the morning game drive.
But the thought of missing such a captivating activity was unpalatable so I grudgingly crawled out of my tent and hit the bathroom for a quick shower and then joined the rest of the team.
We lost a few minutes waiting for Moses Golola who was feeling “very hungry. Lemme first pick my mango,” he said as he alighted our bus.
We hit the Albertine Track at 6:30 to make sure that we were in the right places when the sun arose across the Indian Ocean to catch a glimpse of big game as most wild animals are most active very early in the morning.
Our first sightings included myriads of the everywhere-you-go antelopes but we were soon rewarded with a sighting of a lioness which, like yesterday’s lone lion, was chilling by the lakeside with its four playful cubs. There must be a hearty, yet unfathomable relationship between lions and water, I deduced.
Twenty minutes later, we met a bachelor herd of buffalos, which seemed to me to be numbering about 100 individuals. We met another huge buffalo herd before seeing the Rorthchild’s giraffes, an endangered species numbering less than 2,000 individuals worldwide. Murchison Falls National Park, as I gathered, is home to about 75 per cent of the world’s remaining Rorthchild’s giraffes.
There was also a lone warthog, which someone on our bus decided to baptize Kikalaaya, in allusion to a famous saucepan in Uganda that’s used for frying pork.
The warthog is a famous bush pig, its major claim to fame being the fact that it’s the most forgetful animal in the jungle, with a memory lifespan of just about 10 seconds.
“That’s the best life to live,” someone remarked as we drove away from the poor little thing.
Game viewing on the Albert Track then became sparse; we went for almost an hour without any major sightings. We turned left and joined the Pakuba Track which, wildlife aside, rewarded us with scenic views of palm-tree dotted plains that conjured up memories of the biblical Garden of Eden. More giraffes, antelopes, buffalos, warthogs…
Moments later, we drove back to the lodge for breakfast before going out for Murchison Falls National Park’s most coveted activity: a boat ride to the top of Murchison Falls. Unfortunately, we were told that our bus was too heavy to ride on the boat because it had some mechanical problems.
Our team was supposed to continue with the Tulambule campaign to places like Fort Patiko in Gulu, but I was not about to go to curious-sounding places with people with curious-sounding names like Gae, Golola, Salvador and Fabiano, so I decided to return to Kampala.
As I exited the park, my head was swimming with scintillating Murchison Falls National Park facts: the park features the world’s most powerful waterfall and it’s the oldest and biggest national park in Uganda.
Jackson’s heartbeats are endemic to Murchison Falls National Park and it’s the best place to view the endangered Rothschild’s giraffes.
The last sighting of a black rhino in Uganda’s wild was in Murchison Falls National Park about 40 years ago, and there are about 250 lions currently roaming the park – the highest number in a single reserve in Uganda – according to a 2014 census.
