Animals of Murchison Falls National Park

Animals of Murchison Falls National Park

Murchison Falls National Park is well endowed with 76 mammal species dwelling within its riparian forest, open savannah plains and woodland and along the banks of the Victoria Nile. A game viewing safari in this park isn’t just like an adventure in any other park. This is majorly because here you can see four members of the Big 5 in one place, an opportunity that is quite hard to come by.

In addition, while you are here look out for some special animals like barrels of the extremely rare Patas monkeys within the forest area and the Defassa waterbucks within the open savannah plains. On this Uganda safari Murchison Falls National Park, you get to see huge herds of Rothschild’s giraffes grazing within the lush grassy plains of the park.

You will continue to discover more animals with every game area you explore; for example; look out for Leopards, hyenas and herds of Buffalos when in Buligi Area. When you are amidst the golden savannah plains, you can expect animals like Elephants, Uganda Kobs, Oribi, Jackson’s hartebeest and bushbuck. Paraa region is more of a Lion and Warthog territory.

A game drive following the Victoria trail will explore the banks of the Victoria Nile where you can see animals like Hippos, crocodiles and Kudu. Within the Mahogany and ironwood trees of Budongo, Kaniyo Pabidi and Rabongo forests, primates like Blue monkeys, red tailed monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, Olive baboons, Patas monkeys and Chimpanzees are abounding.

Birdlife

Why not combine a birding adventure with a Uganda safari Murchison Falls National Park. There are over 400 bird species within the park inclusive of special birds like the Shoebill stork, Grey crowned crane, the Yellow footed Kingfisher, Papyrus gonolek, White thigh ground hornbill, the Goliath Heron and Puvel’s Illadopsis that you will not quite find anywhere else in East Africa.

Other birds that you can enjoy in Murchison Falls National Park include; Abyssinian ground hornbill, Red throated bee eater, Black billed barbet, Marabou Stork, Giant Kingfisher, Open billed stork, Pied Giant Kingfisher, ducks, geese and Malachite Kingfisher among others. The top birding spot in the park is the Nyamsika gorge and Nyamsika cliff.

How to see the animals of Murchison Falls National Park

The best way to meet the animals in Murchison Falls National park is to book a game viewing adventure. Game drives are mainly conducted in two shifts; early morning game drives and late afternoon game drives. Each game drive session takes between 2 to 4 hours and maximum 5 hours. Morning game drives kick off at 6.30am and are great for catching animals leaving their nests and heading out to find food. 

Late afternoon game drives on the other hand start at 4.00pm and can run to 7 or 8.00pm. These game drives are meant to lend you a glimpse into nocturnal animal life and how animals set up nests for the night. In the late afternoon after animals have endured extreme heat, you might be lucky to find them in a struggle with crocodiles at the water’s edge. 

When to go?

Seeing as Uganda has fair weather all year round, we would say game viewing can be done anytime of the year. However, there are specific months where the safari would be affected; for example, in the rainy months of March to May and August to September. Other dry months and fairly rainy months should be okay for you to view game for Uganda safari Murchison Falls National Park.

What to Pack?

You might need to have the following items to enhance the quality of your Uganda safari game viewing adventure:

• A hat and sunglasses
• Binoculars
• Enough drinking water
• Comfortable shoes
• Light breathable clothes in case it gets really hot