The Murchison Falls National Park - Uganda

Murchison Falls National Park is situated at the northern edge of the Albertine Rift Valley, where the Bunyoro escarpment meets the vast plains of northern Uganda. One of the country’s oldest protected areas, it was gazetted in 1926 to preserve a savanna landscape once described by Winston Churchill as “Kew Gardens and the zoo combined on an unlimited scale.” The park is dramatically divided by the Victoria Nile, which rushes through powerful rapids before plunging 40 metres through a narrow gorge at the iconic Murchison Falls, then flowing calmly toward Lake Albert.

Covering 3,893 square kilometres, Murchison Falls is Uganda’s largest national park and part of a wider protected area that includes the Karuma and Bugungu reserves. The park offers outstanding wildlife viewing, with elephants, giraffes, buffalo, hippos and Nile crocodiles commonly seen along the riverbanks. Highlights include boat cruises to the base of the falls, excursions to the Lake Albert delta—one of the best places in Africa to spot the elusive shoebill—and chimpanzee tracking in nearby Rabongo and Budongo forests.