History of Murchison Falls National Park; During the 1960s, Murchison Falls was not only the most visited safari destination in Uganda, but was also among the most popular in all of Africa. In fact, Murchison Falls National Park is renowned for its oldest and largest populations of the Big5 ‘’leopards, lions, elephants, buffaloes and rhinos as well as chimpanzees.
Before the park was called Kabalega Falls National Park and later had to be named as Murchison Falls National Park by a prominent traveler sir Samuel White Baker who visited the falls in the mid-1860s and named the waterfalls after the geologists Roderick’s Murchison, then after the president of the Royal Geographical society. Unfortunately, between 1907 and 1912 the inhabitants of an area covering 13,000 square kilometers were evacuated due to sleeping sickness spread by tsetse flies.
In 1910, the Bunyoro Game Reserve was established south of the river Nile and area roughly extends to the part of the Murchison Falls to the district of Buliisa, Masindi and Kiryandongo. Late on, in 1928 the boundaries were corresponded to the north of the river into the modern day Nwoya district.
In 1952, the British administration had to create the National Parks Act of Uganda. Today, the area which is described as Murchison Falls National Park measures about 3,893 square kilometers. The total land for the park is bisected by the Victoria Nile from east to west for a distance of about 115 kilometers.
Today, the park became a great location of the Murchison Falls where the waters of the Nile flow through a narrow gorge only 7 meter wide before plunging 43 meters. More so ,the remaining protected area all together forms the Murchison Falls Conservation Area ‘’MFCA’’ with the adjacent of Budongo Forest Reserve which is home to over 76 species of mammals as well as Uganda’s largest population of Nile crocodiles and other species like lion ,elephants ,buffalo ,Jackson hartebeest among others .It is also home to over 450 species of birds including the unique shoe-billed stork ,dwarf kingfisher ,white-thighed hornbill ,Goliath heron and great blue turaco among others.
More facts, 2005 the area was considered as a Lion Conservation Unit and in 2010 a number of about 250 giraffes were in the park and more of about 37 Rothschild giraffes were transferred from the north side of the might Nile River to the south side in 2016 and 2017 when their population was over 1,500 species.
Despite the fact, Murchison Falls National Park is famously known as Uganda’s remarkable game park thus attracting annual number of visitors in the country. Visitors who visit the park tend to engage in activities like game drives, night drives, boat cruises to the delta and Murchison Falls waterfall, nature walks, bird watching, sport fishing and Chimpanzee tracking among others. Getting there; Murchison Falls National Park estimates about 5 hours and 40 minutes’ drive from Kampala to access the park through taking a short drive via Kampala to Masindi. Alternatively, you can choose to connect the park by daily domestic flight from Entebbe International Airport which lands at Pakuba Airstrip and Bugungu Airstrip within 1hour. Murchison Falls National Park known as Uganda’s largest national park in northwestern region, followed by Queen Elizabeth National Park in southwestern Uganda region.
History of Murchison Falls National Park : Where to stay; Murchison Falls National Park has got number of perfect accommodations ranging from Luxury, Mid-range and Budget. So, there is worry of where to stay while on visit for safari in the park; Sambiya River Lodge, Pakuba Safari Lodge, Twiga Safari lodge, Paraa Safari Lodge, Red Chill Rest camp, Parkside safari lodge, Murchison River Lodge, Murchison Backpackers among others.
Best time to visit the park; The park can be visited all year around though the best time without interruption of heavy rains starts from June to September and December to February.
