Boat cruises in Lake Mburo national park
Boat cruises in Lake Mburo national park: Boat cruises in Lake Mburo national park take place on Lake Mburo which is situated inside the park. While on a safari in Lake Mburo national park, boat cruises are the best way to relax as you sight different wildlife and nearby attractions. For bird lovers, a boat cruise on Lake Mburo is the best way of seeing water bird species.
For tourists who are planning to visit Lake Mburo national park, a boat cruise is one of the activities that doesn’t need to miss out on the lots of activities to do. A boat cruise on Lake Mburo provides a thrilling safari experience as you get to have beautiful sightings on the lake and the surrounding areas.
Boat cruises in Lake Mburo national park
Lake Mburo boat cruise experience
The boat cruise experience on Lake Mburo is carried out in the morning and afternoon hours. The activity starts and ends at Rwonnyo jetty at 08:00 am and 3:00 pm The experience is done on Uganda Wildlife Authority boats and normally take 2 hours of beautiful views. A well-trained personnel does ride the boat and you are asked to put on life jackets. Tourists are taken around the lake passing near the shores for 2 hours and then brought back to the starting point.
There are over 68 mammals, 3 primate species, and 350 bird species living in Lake Mburo national park. During the boat cruise, tourists do get an opportunity to see water birds, primates in the swamps and nearby bush, and if it’s the dry season most of the park animals are around the shores drinking water or feeding in fresh vegetation cover.
During the boat cruise exercise on Lake Mburo national park, tourists do get an opportunity to see animals such as hippopotamus, crocodiles, impalas, elands, giraffes, zebras, warthogs, topis, olive baboons, black and white colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys, and buffaloes among others.
Tourists who love birds will see so many different species during the boat cruise on Lake Mburo. The birds on Lake Mburo include the shoebill stork, malachite kingfisher, black-bellied bustard, Abyssinian ground hornbill, conqui francolin, white-winged warbler, southern red bishop, yellow-throated long claw, African fish eagle, African fin foot, and lilac breasted roller to mention but a few.
What is the best time to have a boat cruise in Lake Mburo national park?
Boat cruises on Lake Mburo can happen at any time of the year you visit the park because weather conditions are not always that bad. The dry season from June to September and December to February are the best to have boat cruises on Lake Mburo because the water levels are normal. The water levelers and the wind won’t affect the movement of the boats and when it comes to vegetation around the lake it’s short with good views of surrounding areas.
Tourists can still have boat cruises on Lake Mburo during the rainy season and will be able to see hippos and crocodiles. Because water is plenty in most areas of the park, a few animals will be seen on the shores. The rainy season has got the vegetation around the lake to be too tall which makes unclear views of animals and birds.
How much are boat cruises on Lake Mburo
To have a boat cruise in Lake Mburo, you pay a certain amount of money some of which is use to maintain the boats and pay workers. A boat cruise does cost $30 for foreign non-residents, $25 for foreign residents, and UGX30,000 members of East African citizens.
Other activities in Lake Mburo National Park
Boat cruises are not the only activities taking place in Lake Mburo national park. Tourists visiting Lake Mburo can do more activities like game drives where they will see most of the park animals, bird watching where they have chances of seeing more than 350 bird species, guided nature walks, and horse riding among others.
Accommodation in Lake Mburo National Park
While on a boat cruise safari in Lake Mburo national park, there are a lot of places where tourists can stay if they want to spend a night in the park. There are budget, mid-range, and luxury options in Lake Mburo national park where travelers can stay and they do include Rwakobo Rock Lodge, Mburo Safari Lodge, Mihingo Lodge, Kigambira Safari Lodge, Arcadia Cottages, Mburo Eagle’s Nest, Rwonyo Rest Camp, Ihamba Lakeside Safari Lodge, and Kasenyi Lake Retreat Lodge and Campsite among others.
Accessing Lake Mburo national park for boat cruise safaris
Lake Mburo national park is the closest protected area from Kampala and tourists can only access it using road transport. The national park can be accessed from Entebbe/Kampala via Mpigi, Masaka, Lyantonde and then you branch off to the park using any of the entry points to the park (Sanga and Nshara gate) From Kampala to Lake Mburo national park, one takes 3 to 4 hours depending on the nature of the roads.
