Lake Mburo National Park
Lake Mburo National Park ; At 370 km wide, Lake Mburo National Park is not amongst large African wildlife reserves but gets the nod because of her outstandingly rich diversity. Lake Mburo is generally a flat plateau 1220m-1828m of open woodland, bush, grassland, swamp and wetland vegetation along the shores of the lake. In dry season, it is common to get bare soils most especially tip of the plateaus. What Lake Mburo National Park lacks in size, she compensates for in stunning landscape and land feature beauty.
More than anything else, the beauty of Lake Mburo National Park lies hidden in the wildlife species. Lake Mburo National Park boasts of unique collection of mammals, multiple in species and high in population density. Buffalos are the largest land species, while elands, giraffe, zebras, waterbucks, bushbucks, reedbucks, sitatunga, warthogs, leopard, hyenas, jackals and Impalas from which Kampala the capital city of Uganda gets her name are a common sight. Hippos and crocodiles are residents on many lakes and water bodies within the park.
With more than 330 bird-species record sightings, Lake Mburo National Park is a birding safaris dream destination for travelers on tour of Uganda. The flat terrain with open woodland, bush and grasslands make spotting of birds easy. Some species of birds as Shoebill, Tabora cisticola, Papyrus gonolek, African finfoot and many others rare are harder to spot in other areas but quite easy in Lake Mburo.
Boat cruises and canoeing on Lake Mburo National Park are a popular way of exploring the aquatic wildlife species, adventuring and an easy form of relaxation. Afternoon boat cruises are competitive because there are high possibilities of spotting large game congregating on the shores of the lake to drink water and quench their burning thirst. The morning cruises are popular for spotting unique bird species feeding in the cool temperatures before the heat of the day. Whatever the timing, boat cruise and canoeing in Lake Mburo National Park offer wildlife photographers and videographers in the film industry on tour of Uganda maximum opportunities to capture top magazine cover photographs.
Quite unique and exceeding exciting on tour of Uganda in Lake Mburo are horseback riding wildlife safaris. Touching borders with Lake Mburo are livestock ranching farms and wildlife graze alongside large herds of livestock. In some way, the herdsmen are traditional conservationists who have shared the wilderness habitat with wildlife. The population of large cats in Lake Mburo is at minimum and many travelers on visit to Uganda find horseback riding wildlife game viewing safaris an exciting way of wandering in the wilderness and exploring the nature given beauty.
Lake Mburo National park is generally flat terrain with undulating landscapes of scattered plateaus. The largely lush savannas, wetland and woodland vegetations teem with large populations of beautiful mammals and birds. Lake Mburo has all qualities of a travel destination with unique impressions that entice travelers on safari to Uganda to immerse in the greenery of wilderness to explore and discover the beauty of authentic Uganda wilderness safari. Nature walks and sightseeing expeditions little wonder are some of the Uganda safari activities that make Lake Mburo an unforgettable Uganda tour destination.
The adventure in Lake Mburo fully reaches the desired climax when travelers have visited the herdsman’s homestead to interact with the indigenous people and share life experiences. To the herdsman life and survival in the world rotate around the long horned Ankole cow; a local breed of cattle. The cow is a cultural symbol, the size of the cattle herd is a sign of wealth and social status while cattle and dairy products are medium of business transactions and have an important commercial value in the neighboring communities. The travelers on tour of Uganda get to experience cattle milking, grazing, processing and preserving dairy products for use in unforeseen future.
Location; Lake Mburo National Park spreads into Lyantonde, Kiruhura, Mbarara and Isingiro districts in western Uganda. Travel to Lake Mburo is averagely 4-hours drive on a smooth road from Kampala that connects to Rwanda and DR Congo. Public transport is readily available either way to the nearest urban centers; Lyantonde, Sanga and Mbarara close to the park entry points. An airfield at Nyakisharara in Mbarara district has scheduled light aircraft flights, while it is possible to arrange private charter flights from Entebbe and Kajjansi in Kampala.
