Lake Mburo National Park – now home to Rothschild’s Giraffes too!

Lake Mburo National Park is the closest National Park to Kampala and thus a popular weekend break. Lake Mburo is also en route to Bwindi and Mgahinga Gorilla National Parks so is a common stopover for people wishing to break up the rather long road journey to see the gorillas.

Lake Mburo is one of the few national parks in Uganda where you can track on foot, with an armed guide. It’s also possible to have a walking safari outside the Park, for a fraction of the price, if you are staying at Rwakobo Rock Lodge, for example. I just loved walking through the zebra!

Lake Mburo is unique in being the only National Park in Uganda where you can enjoy a horseback safari. The Uganda Wildlife Authority allows night games drives in Lake Mburo. UWA runs a boat cruise on the lake for those in search of water birds and hippo!

Keep your eyes peeled before you enter the Park. You can often see zebra amongst the trees along the roadside as you approach the area. Zebra abound at Lake Mburo, as do the famous impala, hippo, buffalo and (elusive) eland (and even domestic cattle and goats in some areas of the Park). In 2015, Uganda Wildlife Authority translocated a number of Rothschild’s giraffes to Lake Mburo from Kidepo.

Lake Mburo has an impressive bird list. On a visit there with Nature Uganda, I scored new ticks for my bird list that included: Yellow Rumped Tinker bird, Grey-backed Cameroptera, Striped Kingfisher, Fork-tailed Drongo and a Bare-faced Go Away Bird.

Dung beetles win the prize for best teamwork! Lake Mburo National Park

Look out for the dung beetles too! These groovy insects crack me up. For the best view, get down on your hands and knees and watch them roll the ball of dung towards you!