Walking through Lake Mburo National Park

Walking through Lake Mburo National Park: Lake Mburo National Park located in Kiruhura district in the western part of Uganda is the only park in Uganda offering tourists can opportunity to observe magnificent wildlife on foot. The national park is safe from dangerous wild animals allowing tourists to move freely around the park.

On foot through the wilderness of Lake Mburo National Park is an activity which comes with an opportunity to observe and learn about the behaviors of wild animals in their natural habitats. Shy animals may be seen from a distance while others can be seen from a close range under the guidance of armed ranger guides.

Walking safaris in Lake Mburo National Park are a once in a life time activity, while booking your next safari to East Africa or Uganda you need to talk to your local tour operator to add it on the list of activities to do. The activity is only carried out in Lake Mburo National Park giving tourists an opportunity to get close to the animals under the guidance of armed ranger guides.

While on a walking safari in Lake Mburo National Park, you will be able to encounter several animals, and listen to sounds of resident and migrant bird species. Animals to encounter include impalas, vervet monkeys, elands, side stripped jackals, leopards, zebras, giraffes, hippos, cape buffaloes, waterbucks, topi, warthogs, and Nile crocodiles to mention but a few.

How are walking safaris done in Lake Mburo National Park

To carry out walking safaris in Lake Mburo National Park, you need to have accessed the park. To access the park it requires park entrance fee which costs 40usd for foreign non residents, 30usd for foreign residents, 25usd for rest of Africa and members of East African citizen states pay UGX20,000.

Once the entrance fees is paid, now tourists need to pay for the walking activity which is 25usd for foreign non residents, 20usd for foreign residents and Rest of Africa while members of East African citizen states pay UGX20,000. This fee can be paid at Uganda Wildlife Authority headquarters in Kampala or at the park gate.

Walking safari experience in Lake Mburo National Park

On the day of walking, tourists drive to the park to meet the armed ranger guides who take them through the activity. While at the park, tourists are briefed about the rules and regulations of the activity before entering the safari vehicle to start the drive. The tourists are driven to the starting points of the walking activity and left to head in the jungle with the armed ranger guide.

Lake Mburo National Park is safe from dangerous wild animals making the activity safe for tourists. The armed ranger guides move around the park showing tourists different animals with information about them. Among these include the zebras, giraffes, antelopes, birds, monkeys, buffaloes, hippos, and a few bird species to mention but a few. Walking safaris take about 2 hours in this park and tourists get to see a variety of wildlife species.

Best period to walk through Lake Mburo National Park

As travelers plan a walking safari in Lake Mburo National Park, the activity can be done all through out the year however there are months better than others. The dry season months from June to September and December to February are the best times for such as an activity in this park. The dry season gives an opportunity to observe animals clearly since the vegetation is short and scattered.

Tourists in the dry season find the walking trails dry and easier to navigate which makes the activity interesting. Locating the animals becomes very quick since tourists move with out any difficult. There is little or no rainfall and plenty of sunshine which make a perfect weather for the activity.
Tourists can also walk through the wilderness of Lake Mburo National Park on foot during the rainy season. March to May and October to November the park is open for all activities including the walking safaris. Tourists traveling in that period should know about the plenty of rainfall and little sunshine in the region.

On days when rainfall is plenty, tourists may not enjoy the activity since its difficult to move in the rain. The vegetation grows vert tall during the rainy season which leads to unclear view of small animals. The walking trails tend to be slippery causing difficult in walking around the park.

Other popular activities in Lake Mburo National Park

Game drives

You need a game drive to encounter most of the animals in Lake Mburo National Park. Moving around the park in the morning, evening or night hours will come with an opportunity of seeing animals such as zebras, buffaloes, hyenas, leopards, lions, hippos, topis, defassa waterbucks, impalas, elands, side stripped jackals, warthogs, giant forest hogs, and a few bird species.

Boat cruises

Lake Mburo National Park has several lakes spread across the national park. Lake Mburo is the biggest and this is where boat cruises are carried out during day time which could be morning or afternoon hours. The activity enables tourists to feel the fresh breeze from the waters as they watch animals such as hippos, crocodiles, lizards and water birds like the African fin foot, African jacana and the shoe bill on lucky day.