About Lake Mburo National Park

About Lake Mburo National Park : Lake Mburo national park is a known destination that is close to the capital city of Uganda. It is a quick gateway for travelers who have less time and want to see wildlife. Many people want to know About the conservation area, and here is a thought! Lake Mburo national park is the smallest savannah national park in Uganda covering an area space of approximately 33.7 square Kilometers.

It is on the left along the Kampala Masaka highway. Small as it is Lake Mburo National park is full of life.  It is commonly called the “home of Zebras”.

More about Lake Mburo National Park

The national park is in a great location. Most of its area space is in the water bodies inside and around the national park. Examples of lakes there include Lake Mburo, Lake Bwara, Lake Kazuma, Lake Kachira, Lake Mutukura, and Lake Ruma to mention a few. The park was the first gazette in 1933 as a watched hunting space and later upgraded into a game reserve by 1963. This conservation area is under management of the Uganda wildlife authority. It has for long gotten animal-human conflicts which put most of the park mammals at risk. However, this turned thanks to the Uganda wildlife team. There is an increase in the animal population. Those that were missing from the park have been relocated like the Rothschild’s giraffes.

Legend of Lake Mburo

Lake Mburo is the largest lake in the national park after which it takes its name. It is believed that a long time ago there lived two brothers called Mburo and Kigarama who used the area for keeping their Long-horned cattle grazing on this land. According to legend, there was a time Kigarama had a dream that the land with the fertile soil for their grazing purposes had been filled with water. He told the brother Mburo about this disastrous dream and he didn’t believe him.

Kigarama then decided to pack up his property and migrated to the nearby hill. Mburo on the hand, kept in the valley doing his daily duties. It wasn’t long before it began to rain and the floods swallowed him and all his property containing in the same place as a Lake. The remaining water flowed and flooded the other patchy areas which have today formed a continuing water body area joined by a swamp. These places have attracted many animal species. The Descendants of the two brothers chose to name the Lake that Swallowed Mburo by his name and hence the today Lake Mburo national park. The hills also take their name after the other brother Kigarama.

Why is Lake Mburo National Park famous?

Lake Mburo national park has old-aged Precambrian metamorphic rocks dating to over 500 million years ago. These have a sprouted vegetation cover containing savannah grassland, acacia woodland, shrubs, forest, and many dotted trees. These act as home to the wildlife species that call this home.

Present animal kinds include Zebras, antelopes, African buffaloes, elands, topi, Uganda Kobs, warthogs, olive baboons, Rothschild giraffes, oribi, impalas, Hippos, Nile crocodiles and over 350 bird species are present in the national park. These are mostly sighted south of the conservation area in the Rubanga forest.The presence of the attractions of animal and bird species has presented an opportunity to do safari activities like game drives, guided nature walks, horseback riding, boat cruises on Lake Mburo, visiting the salt lick, Cultural experiences and bicycle tours.

The park is approximately 200km taking a 4-5 hour drive the Kampala Uganda’s capital. There can be a stopover at the equator the park for a picture moment and experience the Latitude 0. The latitude 0 divides the earth into two parts.  The northern and southern Hemispheres. One can visit the park all year round. It is best during the dry seasons between June- September and December –February. For birders probably the wet season would be a time although there are birds through the year. It is situates between 1220m-1828m above sea level.

Park accommodation is precisely beautiful and travelers can stay inside the park or outside the park in Mbarara town. They range from Luxury, and midrange to the best budget. These facilities offer travelers amenities and space to stay while on safari. For example, Mihingo Lodge, Rwonyo rest camp, Lake Mburo safari lodge, Rwakobo rock.