Why visit Lake Mburo national park
Why visit Lake Mburo national park: There are so many reasons why you should visit Lake Mburo national park. Lake Mburo national park is a protected area in Kiruhura district western part of Uganda. The national park was gazetted in 1983 to protect vegetation and wildlife that were living in the park. Lake Mburo national park has so many attractions that you need to see that is why you should visit the park.
The 260 sq.km piece of land is a home to 68 mammals, 3 primates and 350 bird species. These live in different areas of the park and to see them you need to take part in different activities organized in the park. The activities of Lake Mburo national park include horse riding, boat cruses, game drives, bird watching, sport fishing, nature walks and community tours among others.
Reasons why you should visit Lake Mburo national park
The mammals
Tourists need to visit Lake Mburo national park in order to see different mammals that live here. Lake Mburo national park is a home to over 68 mammal species and tourist have a chance to see most of them when they take part in different activities of the park. These activities include game drives, nature walks, horse riding and boat cruises among others.
On your game drives on a safari to Lake Mburo national park, you will see mammal species such as the lion, cape buffaloes, giraffes, spotted hyenas, side stripped jackals, buffaloes, bush bucks, leopards, zebras, impalas, sitatungas, giant forest hogs, topis, warthogs, crocodiles, and hippos among others.
The bird species
If you love bird watching then Lake Mburo national park is an area to visit. The national park has over 350 bird species so far recorded and visiting the park gets you an opportunity to see most of them. Birds in Lake Mburo national park live in the savannah vegetated area across the park, Rubanga forest, and areas around the small lakes.
If you happen to visit Lake Mburo national park, you will see bird species such as red faced barbet, African finfoot, greater painted snipe, shoebill stork, blue headed coucal, hairy breasted barbet, African finfoot, tabora cisticola, southern ground hornbill, yellow rumped tinkerbird, greater painted snipe, mosque swallow, Abyssinian ground hornbill, and common scimitar bill among others.
Horse riding
Lake Mburo national park is the only national park in Uganda where horse riding safaris are carried out. Horse riding activities are offered by Mihingo Lodge Limited to give tourists an opportunity of getting close to the wildlife in the park. Led by a professional guide, tourists on the horse backs visit different areas of the park and this increases their chances of seeing animals, birds, and other park attractions.
The horse riding activities will give you an opportunity to get close to animals such as zebras, buffaloes, waterbucks, bushbucks, side stripped jackals, spotted hyenas, crocodiles, hippos, leopards, warthogs, topis, impalas, and giraffes among others. Still on the horses, if you love birding you will encounter bird species such as African finfoot, white winged barbet, grey cormorant, papyrus yellow warbler, tabora cisticola and much more.
Culture tours
Lake Mburo national park is surrounded by two tribes and these are Banyakore and Bahima. These people used to live in the park but when it was gazetted they decided to live at the park boundaries. Tourists who love African culture can always take part in the community tours organized in the park. During the community tours, tourists visit homes of the locals to see how they live their day to day life.
A visit to the community of Bahima will give you an opportunity to see the long horned Ankole cattle. You will take a visit to where the cows live and you will be taught the milking process. You will see how milk in got from the cow, and kept well in wooden cans. You will see products got from mile such as ghee and you will see those got from cows like skins.
Lake Mburo
Tourists need to visit Lake Mburo national park to explore Lake Mburo the largest lake with in the park. Lake Mburo is famous for boat cruise activities and sport fishing while on a safari in Lake Mburo national park. Sport fishing is done by tourists who live to spend their time catching different types of fish.
The boat cruise activities are done by those tourists who would want to have cool breeze while exploring the lake and the park itself. Boat cruises on Lake Mburo will give tourists an opportunity to encounter crocodile, and hippos in the water. Tourists will also see water birds such as shoebill stork, African eagle, grey crowned crane, brown chested lapwing, and pied kingfisher among others.
When to visit Lake Mburo national park?
Visiting Lake Mburo national park can be done at any time of the year however there are months better than the rest. The dry season months are the best to visit Lake Mburo national park and they do happen from June to September and December to February. During the dry season, the park receives little or no rainfall which keeps the game tracks dry, the vegetation is short with good views of wildlife and roads leading to the park are passable.
Tourists can still visit Lake Mburo national park in the rainy season from March to May and October to November. The rainy season in Lake Mburo national park favors budge travelers who find lodges and tour packages discounted. During the rainy season, the park receives too much rainfall therefore tourists should be ready to find game tracks muddy and slippery, vegetation is tall with unclear views of animals and roads to the park are muddy.
