5 Days Murchison Falls National Park Uganda

Day 1: Welcome to Uganda!

Getting to a new destination can be stupendous as your senses take in queer sights of the ambience for your first visit to this country.

• You’ll be received at the airport by a Silverbird representative that will take you to the hotel as you get accustomed to the country and the people, a memory that remains forever.
• Check into your accommodation, have meals depending on your arrival time and with an option to visit the Botanical gardens or the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC).
• Please note, all activities and extra transportation today are at an extra cost.

Day 2: Kampala Tour And Transfer To Murchison Falls National Park.

You’ll start the day after breakfast with a visit to the Buganda king’s palace in Mengo. Kampala is the home of the famous Buganda kingdom’s palace.

Buganda is the most organized kingdom in East Africa and has a special history.

Mengo Palace that was built in 1922, this palace was a home to the king of Buganda, it has remained empty since 1966 when Prime Minister Milton Obote ordered an attack to banish Kabaka Mutesa II the president of Uganda then.

The building’s interior cannot be visited, but the notorious underground prison here is open to tours.

An adjacent site in accessible main building became a prison and torture-execution chamber built by Idi Amin in the 1970s.

• You’ll be led to the dark concrete tunnel with numerous dark, damp cells, which were separated by an electrified passage of water to prevent escape.
• Original charcoal messages written by former prisoners on the walls are still seen as one reads ‘Obote, you have killed me, but what about my children!’.
• Continue to Bulange Royal building. This is the perfect place for culture of the Buganda Kingdom. Move inside the parliament building, providing interesting stories and details about the 56 clans.
• Buganda Parliament is held twice a month on Monday mornings, though it is conducted in Luganda.
• Buy your ticket at the adjacent Buganda tourism center which also sells bark-cloth clothing and books on Buganda culture.
• A few yards from the Palace lies a manmade lake locally called Akayanjakaa Kabaka (The king’s small lake).
• The kabaka’s lake is the largest manmade lake in Africa made by Kabaka Mwanga and was supposed to connect to Lake Victoria as an escape route for the Kabaka in case of any attack to the throne but was not finished and only remained as a royal lake near the palace which is home to some birds and least a fishing sport as well as a leisure to many people.
• Proceed for a local meal to have a feel of the Ugandan delicacies as presented by some of the restaurants in the city.
• On arrival you will drive to the top of the falls where you will have a tour around the falls; hear the roaring thunder of the river Nile and feel the force of the River Nile under your feet as the half a kilometer-wide river narrows through just 7m wide and cascades down through a 45m drop.
• Murchison Falls National Park has 76 mammal species and 451 bird species. Reptiles like the Nile crocodile, hippo and the rare semi-aquatic Sitatunga antelope.
• The big game mammals that you may have a glimpse at include; Lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, Rothschild’s giraffes, warthogs, giant forest hog, Uganda Kob, topi and waterbuck to mention but a few.

Dinner and overnight: Sambiya river lodge

Day 3: Game Drive And Launch Cruise.

You wake to sounds of weavers, hornbills, doves singing from Budongo forest as the sunlight begins to find its way from the Horizon. It’s the perfect time to be on a game drive in a savanna park.

• It’s time to grab some coffee and bites as this is not  an experience typical of Murchison.
• There couldn’t be a better way to reconnoiter a savanna park than in the Morning when the animals are making their last hunt before the scorching sun intensifies.
• Divulge into the mystic with a morning drive to the Northern sector of Murchison falls National Park that takes you through numerous habitats.
• On the drive, you view some of Africa’s intact Savanna and probably the BIG 5 game including lions, elephants, buffaloes and leopards. Other wildlife to see includes giraffes, Hartebeest, Bushbucks, Jackal, hyena, oribis, Uganda kobs and many others.
• Return to the lodge for a late breakfast and lunch with an opportunity to relax before taking a boat trip in the afternoon, which takes around 3 hours and sailing to the bottom of the falls along the River Nile.
• The Nile hosts large concentrations of Hippos and crocodiles. For the birders, Murchison Falls is a birder’s paradise with concentration is many birds including the rare shoebill stork, Fish Eagle, African Skimmer, Grey-crowned Crane, Black-headed Gonolek, Goliath Heron, Green-winged, Long-toed Plover, Saddle-billed Stork.
• The boat cruise will leave you at the bottom of the falls where you will start the hike from to the bottom of the falls for an enthusiastic view of the magical Murchison falls.

Dinner and overnight: Sambiya river lodge

Day 4: Transfer To Kaniyo Pabidi And Chimp Trekking.

Check out of the lodge after an early breakfast and transfer to Kaniyo Pabidi arriving in time for the chimp trekking briefing.

• Budongo forest is one of the few remaining strongholds for chimpanzees in Uganda. They’re more difficult to locate during food scarcity but the chance to locate them is still very high and only second to Kibale national park.
• You’ll spend an hour with them upon locating them.. As you search for Budongo’s resident chimpanzees, keep an eye out for other primates such as red-tailed monkey, blue monkey, and olive baboon.
• Your expert guide will share the secrets of the forest’s flora and fauna, ensuring that the trail is both informative and enjoyable.
• You’ll then have breakfast and driveoff to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for lunch and Rhino trekking later in the afternoon.
• A conservation area established to breed Rhinos. It’s because of this conservation site that the phrase big 5 returned to Uganda.
• While tracking rhinos on foot sounds a bit foolhardy, the fact that they’re in the company of armed anti-poaching rangers 24 hours, means they’re well and truly used to human presence.
• Other animals living inside the 6ft-tall electric fence include leopards, hippos, crocodiles, bushbucks and oribis. It’s also home to 350 species of bird.
• Depart from Zziwa Rhino sanctuary and transfer to Entebbe for dinner and overnight.

Day 5: Relaxation And Airport Transfer

You’ll have an opportunity to relax at the beach or the hotel as you wait for a complimentary airport transfer depending on your flight schedule.

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