Lake Mburo National Park Guide

Lake Mburo National Park - a little gem of a park is located in the western region of Uganda; approximately 260kms south west of the capital - Kampala. Lake Mburo National Park is Uganda’s smallest savannah national park covering a total area of 370sqkms. The park is named after the largest lake – Mburo. Together with other 13 lakes found within and around the park, the lakes form a wetland system that is linked up by a swamp.  

Lake Mburo National Park was gazetted in 1983 and a year later – 1984, was opened to tourism. The park has numerous flora varieties including wide open savannah, scattered rocky ridges, busy thickets, a forest, swamps and lakes that make it an admirable home to 370+ bird species and over 68 mammals. It is the only park in Uganda where the eland, impala and klipspringer are found.

How to get to Lake Mburo National Park:

Lake Mburo National Park is easily located close to the Kampala – Masaka – Mbarara highway; approximately 240kms from the capital and about 4½ hours of average tourist driving through Masaka town. The entire drive from Kampala or even Entebbe is virtually a paved smooth road driving through beautiful landscapes.

The park has two different gates; Sanga and Nshara (Kanyinshara) gates.

Sanga Gate: This is the easiest entrance to Lake Mburo National Park for one approaching from Mbarara side. Mbarara is the major commercial town in the region and is just 36kms to Sanga trading center which is the turn off from the main Mbarara – Masaka highway. Sanga trading center is 15km away from the park entrance called Sanga Gate. Here visitors to Lake Mburo National Park can make park entry payments and also book for different park activities.

Nshara gate (Kanyinshara gate): The Nshara park gate is the ideal entrance to Lake Mburo National Park for visitors arriving from Kampala. The Nshara park gate is only 8km away from the Kampala – Masaka – Mbarara main highway and still here, visitors can effect park entry payments as well as book for the various park activities.

Both Sanga and Nshara gates can be used as points of entry and exit from the park depending on your accommodation location or your next destination.

For visitors proceeding to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Lake Mburo is an absolute choice to break the long journey and experience this hidden jewelry.

Activities to partake whist in Lake Mburo National Park:

Lake Mburo National Park is a home to a diversity of wildlife including 68+ mammals, 370+ bird species and a variety of reptiles. The eland, impala, zebra and the recently introduced Rothschild giraffe make the park very lively and entertaining to its visitors.

Lake Mburo offers several activities for visitors to choose from during their stopover to this compact jewel;

Game Drive: Lake owing to the varied vegetation types, Mburo National Park has a variety of animals such as zebra, impala, eland among others not overlooking the amount of birds both in number and diversity. Most satisfying game drives are done early mornings and late afternoons. Having a ranger guide from the park and a private 4x4 safari vehicle is perfect for an excellent game viewing experience in the park.

Night Game Drive: This begins at nightfall and prior booking for an armed ranger guide is necessary. The night game drive in Lake Mburo National Park is charged $30 per person for foreign nonresidents & foreign residents living and working in Uganda and 50,000 Uganda shillings for East African Nationals. The day-game drives are charged $20 per vehicle irrespective of the number of occupants (Uganda Wildlife Authority Tariff 2020-2022). This safari offers you a chance to see wildlife that you may not see during day time; these nocturnal sightings include various elusive animals such as leopard, hyena, bush baby, genet, and pangolin. You may also see some hippos out of their puddles.

Boat Trip: There are timetabled boat trips and prior booking is necessary. The charge for the 1½ hour boat tour is $30 per person for foreign nonresidents & foreign residents living and working in Uganda and 30,000 Uganda shillings for East African Nationals. This fascinating yet tranquil guided boat trip on Lake Mburo offers a guest an opportunity to get really close to the hippos. Other animals to see during the boat tour are crocodiles, buffalos, antelopes and a multitude of birds – the common one being the African Fish Eagle.

Nature Walk Safari: This is a guided safari nature walk that gives you a unique experience to walk in the park amongst the wildlife. The nature walk starts at 6:30am from Rwonyo park office where the visitor meets with the armed ranger guide to start this exciting nature walk that lasts roughly 2 hours. A face to face encounter of wildlife whilst on foot is such an amazing and adventurous safari experience!

Horse Riding Safari: This is an additional opportunity to explore Lake Mburo National Park on a horse. This is completely a different experience that will bring you very close to nature especially the most frightened wildlife. Horse rides are reserved with Mihingo Lodge and is exclusive to residents of Mihingo. Guests wishing to do a horse ride safari stand a higher chance if staying at Mihingo than those staying elsewhere as they have the first priority. Only 6 visitors are taken at a time for the horse riding experience and the maximum weight allowed is 100kg.

Cycling Safari: Lake Mburo National Park is the only Ugandan national park that can be explored on a bike! Arrangements can be done with Rwakobo Rock Lodge that has a range of mountain bikes for hire. Besides, they have developed a range of cycling routes to choose from depending on your interest.

Birding Lake Mburo: The Park is home to 370+ bird species including savannah, swamp and forest breeds. Besides and interestingly, the Rare Red Faced Barbet can only be found in this park. There are exclusive birding spots and viewing platforms to make your birding experience a rewarding one here in Lake Mburo National Park. Please remember to book your bird guide with the park office in advance.

Top 10 animals to see at Lake Mburo National Park:

There is a diversity of animals in Lake Mburo national park nevertheless here we list the top 10 animals that the visitor must not miss during their stay to the park;

1. Impala – medium sized antelope with a long neck
2. Burchell’s Zebra – the African kind of a horse
3. Common Eland – the largest African antelope and with a cattle like look
4. Rothschild Giraffe – the tallest mammal in the world
5. Topi – an antelope with a body built for speed and endurance, higher in the forequarters and lower at rear.
6. African Cape buffalo – a huge and strong animal with unrigged horns
7. Leopard – shy, secretive, nocturnal and a sturdy cat
8. Hyena – both a scavenger and predator with a dog-like appearance
9. Defassa waterbuck – a large antelope with a hairy coat
10. Hippopotamus

 Lake Mburo National Park Accommodations:

One can select from the different accommodations located both in and around the park;

Mihingo Lodge - mihingo-lodge.com/

Rwakobo Rock Lodge - rwakoborock.com/

Mburo Eagles Nest - naturelodgesuganda.com/eagles-nest/

Tips on how to enjoy top activities at Lake Mburo National Park:

• For higher possibilities to see the leopard and hyena, opt for the night guided game drive.
• During game drives, visit the water dams for chances of seeing bigger numbers of animals
• For rewarding day game drives, the best time is early morning from 6:30am and late afternoon from 4pm.
• Game drives are more productive if you take a ranger guide and by use of a 4x4 open roof safari vehicle.
• The best boat schedule is at 4:30pm as it is more adventurous with the sunset awaiting.