Lake Mburo National Park — Attraction in Kiruhura

This is one of the smaller national game reserves in Uganda and one of the only ones with a larger population of Zebras. It has an acacia woodland landscape and other species other than the zebra, while on safari, I was able to see the eland antelopes. The eland antelopes are a larger species of antelope, they are big and look a little different from the regular antelope. However, Lake Mburo is famous for its Zebras, a large herd of Zebras call this park home.

As the name suggests, there is a lake within the park called Mburo. Lake Mburo is the largest if five lakes in the region. The lake allows for crocodiles to breed, and have attracted hippos through the years. Not only will you be able to see the Zebras, but you can now add hippos, buffalo, crocodiles and a variety of bird species. Bird watching safaris are popular so are fishing trips. It is a park is a Savannah grassland, but being in the tropics it is green, colorful and filled with nature's noise

The park has accommodation options, should you choose to spend a night in the park. A day safari is all you need unless you plan to fish or go on a weekend getaway. Most tour companies in Kampala offer day safaris or three days safaris to Lake Mburo. I did the day safari on a return journey from Bwindi Impenetrable National Park where I went gorilla tracking.

From Kampala, it is a three and a half hours drive...

January is probably the least ideal time to visit (for us it was a pitstop on the way on our roadtrip). It seems this is right after the rainy season, so the vegetation was way too overgrown and we could not see anything past the roads/paths we were driving on. The animals are also more 'wild' and less accustomed to people/vehicles so they are shy in comparison to what we experience in Masai Mara, so they will run off when you approach in the vehicles.

There is also very little information regarding the different activities on their website - i.e. nature walk through the park, biking through the park. We wanted to do the biking safari but as we could not get adequate information before getting to the safari gate we did not have the opportunity to do that. (You have to have a ranger to go with you, the bikes need to be rented at a nearby resort, pricey for what it is, and they recommend doing it in the morning).

I think the park is great, but do make sure it is the right season to go there. And for bike safari early morning is the best option.

As for the resorts/lodging, there are quite a few options on both sides/entry gates that are nearby. We chose for Eagles Nest, it is a great place, high up, good scenery views, clean. The service could be somewhat better. But overall good place.

(Photos include view of Mburo from...

Lake Mburo National Park is a beautiful park and one of two places in Uganda to see zebras (the other is Kidepo Valley National Park). We also visited the Masai Mara on this same trip and this park is by FAR much less crowded. In fact, we only saw one other safari vehicle while on game drives. So in this sense it's nice to escape the crowds and observe animals in the wild. Another benefit of the park is that you're allowed to participate in night game drives which really improves your chances of spotting a leopard or hyena. There is plenty of wildlife but a severe lack of predators. At the time of our visit, it was estimated that only a single lion inhabited the park. There are supposed to be hyenas and leopard but we were not lucky enough to spot either of them. I certainly recommend a short visit and due to it's location between Bwindi and Kampala, Lake Mburo National Park is a wonderful half-way...