Boat cruise safaris on Lake Mburo National Park

Looking for boat cruise safaris on Lake Mburo National Park? Lake Mburo is one of the few lakes found within Lake Mburo national park. Lake Mburo is one of the smallest parks in Uganda and is located in the western part of Uganda in the Kiruhura district. The Park is the nearest to Kampala city and reaching there takes you about 4 hours. Lake Mburo national park is strategically located on the route to all national parks found in the west and southwestern Uganda such as queen Elizabeth national park, Mgahinga gorilla park, and Bwindi impenetrable forest national park. On your way to or from any of the above national parks, you can have a stopover at Lake Mburo national park for game viewing, boat cruise, or horse riding.

Lake Mburo national park has got so many wild animals but what makes the park unique from others is that game viewing can be done on foot because the park has no elephants and the lion in the park is not common. The park has the highest population of impalas and Bachelle’s Zebras. Lake Mburo national park as small as it is has over 5 lakes but the largest is Lake Mburo and this is where boat cruises are done.

The boat cruise in Lake Mburo national park is one of the most done activities organized by the Uganda wildlife authority. The boat cruise takes only 2 hours and it starts on the western side of the lake at Rwonyo Jetty. Boat cruises on Lake Mburo are done in two sessions the mid-morning cruise at 11 am and the evening cruise at 2 pm. The boat cruise of Lake Mburo gives tourists opportunities of seeing different water animals such as crocodiles, fish, and hippos, water birds like rare shoebill stork, African fish eagles, bare-faced go-away-bird, cormorants, papyrus gonolek, African jacana, yellow-rumped tinkerbird, pelicans, herons, white-winged warbler, kingfisher, and different park animals like the antelopes, buffaloes, zebras on the lake shores most especially in the dry season when they come to drink water.

How much does is the cost to have a boat ride in Lake Mburo National Park

Being part of the boat cruise safaris on Lake Mburo requires one to pay a ticket and these are bought at a fee of $30 both foreign nonresidents and foreign residents and East African citizens pay UGX30, 000.

What are some of the activities that you can do after boat cruise safaris?

There are so many activities you could engage in after boat cruise safaris on Lake Mburo and these include guided nature walks, bird watching, horseback riding, game viewing, and visiting local communities.

Night game drives

The night game drives in Lake Mburo national park begin from 7:00 am and last for 2 – 3 hours with opportunities of seeing some of the nocturnal animals such as bushbabies, hare, honey badger, pottos, white-tailed mongoose, hyenas, serval cat, side stripped jackal, civet, thick-tailed galago, and you can even come across a leopard in night game drives. Night game drives in Lake Mburo lead by UWA guides and this is mandatory. With the park entrance fee paid, the game drives cost $30 for both foreign non-residents and foreign residents while East African citizens pay 30,000.

Game drives

Game drives in Lake Mburo are the most done activities in the park and these are done in the morning session, evening session, and night session. Game drives are best done in a comfortable 4×4 safari vehicle with a pop-up giving you clear views of the animals and the best photography. During the game drives in Lake Mburo, you can see animals such as zebras, impalas, duikers, leopards, topis, hippos, crocodiles, warthogs, buffaloes, waterbucks, topis, elands, and giraffes which have been recently introduced among others. Only the park entrance fees will guarantee you to have the game drives in Lake Mburo national park

Birding

Lake Mburo national park is one of the best birding spots in Uganda with over 315 bird species. The bird species in Lake Mburo national park include the rare shoebill stork, African-wattled lapwing, Tabora cisticola, great snipe, African fish eagle, saddle-billed stork, African finfoot, papyrus yellow warbler, grey crowned crane, papyrus gonolek, emerald spotted wood, African finfoot, long-tailed cisticola, African jacana, striated swallow, white-winged tit, common scimitarbill, black papyrus gonolek, Nubian woodpecker, sand Abyssinian ground hornbill among others.

Horseback riding

The horse-riding activity is one of the exciting activities organized by Mihingo lodge and it’s done under the guidance of expert horse riders with the help of the park rangers. The horseback riding is done for 1-3 hours and it takes you around the park with chances of seeing different park animals such as leopards, duikers, zebras, hippos, lions, crocodiles, warthogs, elands, waterbucks, topis, buffaloes, giraffes, and impalas among others. Horse riding is only done by people that use Mihingo lodge for accommodation and it’s done at a fee of $130 per person per 3 hours

A safari to Lake Mburo national park can be extended to other Uganda safari destinations such as Bwindi for mountain gorilla trekking experiences, Queen Elizabeth national park for wildlife encounter and Kibale forest national park for chimpanzee tracking.