Lake Mburo National Park Boat Cruise Safari, Uganda

You are aware of how exhausting the journey to the southwestern Ugandan gorilla highlands may be. A boat ride safari at Lake Mburo and a traditional night in Uganda’s smallest national park would be a great way to split up the trip between Entebbe International Airport and Bwindi.

The smallest of Uganda’s ten national parks, Lake Mburo is roughly 240 kilometers from the country’s capital. It is also one of only three to have Bachelle’s Zebra and the only one that is home to impala, slender mongoose, and giant bush rats. Before or after your safari trip in southwestern Uganda, explore this underappreciated jewel, which is dominated by five lakes (Lake Mburo is the largest), wetlands, an undulating topography, open grassland, and acacia woodland.

During a two-hour boat ride on Lake Mburo, you may get up close and personal with the large and little wild creatures that swarm the beaches. From the engine boat’s vantage point, buffalo, hippo, and other waterbird species, including the ancient shoebill, graze at arm’s reach. Then, to get your heart rate up, consider going on a guided walking safari.

It’s the greatest location in Uganda to see savannah wildlife up close. To reach herds of impala, zebra, and eland scattered throughout the area, an armed ranger guide leads you via well-traveled paths and off-the-beaten-path. Since lions and elephants aren’t as common at Lake Mburo National Park, they might not frighten you as much as they are in other parks. Because of this, Mabura is a fantastic place to observe the smaller mammals at a leisurely and satisfying pace.

While the boat cruise safari is one of the most popular activities at Lake Mburo National Park, visitors may experience more of the park’s excitement by going on a walking trip or riding a horse and getting up close to the animals.
Spend a night or two in Lake Mburo National Park if you’re coming back from an exciting gorilla trekking or impenetrable forest adventure. It’s a small park that’s ideal for a private safari retreat for a contemporary nature lover.

 Experiences and Activities Done in Lake Mburo National Park

1. The Boat Cruise

Every day at 8:00, a boat trip on Lake Mburo leaves from the Rwonnyo jetty and travels around the lake’s eastern shores for two hours. The launch excursion consistently offers good sightings of hippo, crocodile, buffalo, waterbuck, bushbuck, and otter in addition to the picturesque settings and basic joys of floating in a boat surrounded by wild creatures.
The African fish eagle, shoebill stork, pied kingfisher, several egrets, herons, Ross’s turaco, Narina trogon, and the elusive African finfoot are some of the more noticeable waterbirds that birdwatchers may see while on the Mburo boat excursion.

How much is the boat cruise on Lake Mburo?

It costs around $20 per person for visitors and 30,000 Uganda Shillings per person for locals to take a two-hour boat tour on Lake Mburo in a small boat with room for four to eight passengers. Additionally, a larger boat cost roughly $30 per passenger. Capacity affects prices.
You can take a wildlife drive, horseback safari, bicycling safari, or the most thrilling of all, a guided walking safari, to explore the vast expanse of the park in addition to taking a boat tour on Lake Mburo. Because of its distinctiveness, Lake Mburo National Park lets you see animals without missing the large savannah game players.

2. Guided Walking Safari

One of the main attractions of Lake Mburo is the guided hikes, which are also a fantastic complement to your boat tour. You may surprisingly get up close and personal with wild creatures, including as zebra herds and impala, on foot during a walking safari in Lake Mburo National Park.
You follow an armed, knowledgeable ranger off the usual route through breathtaking savannah scenery until you come across a herd of peaceful ungulates.
About 2km from Rwonyo camp, there is a walking track that leads to a viewing platform that overlooks a salt lick. If you are a sucker for stunning landscape views, here is a great site to see the park’s vastness and a diversity of wildlife.

In the southeast section of the park, the Rubanga Forest route is a thrilling trek for anyone who enjoy the outdoors, especially birdwatchers. The salt lick trail, lake shorelines, and the trek to the hilltop viewpoint are some of the park’s other worthwhile walking routes.

3. Game Drive

Although wildlife viewing in Lake Mburo may not be as good as in other large safari parks, the park’s modest size and leisurely pace make for a reasonably satisfying private safari game drive. With 68 mammal species, the park is small enough for a game drive to find some of the usual creatures, such as zebra, impala, topi, eland, bushbuck, buffalo, warthog, leopard, hyena, and jackal.
Tourists can see significant populations of impala, zebra, waterbuck, topi, and buffalo within a 4-kilometer radius, despite the inconsistent quality of game viewing along the park’s well-traveled paths, especially during the rainy season.

A boat excursion on Lake Mburo National Park would be incomplete without a quick game drive in the savannah plains. Even more fascinating are the late-night wildlife drives that take you up close to nocturnal creatures like bushbabies and night hunters like the elusive leopard and hyena. The Park offers four-hour guided night game drives that begin at 18:30.

4. Horseback Safari in Lake Mburo National Park

After your boat tour, get on horseback and explore the savannah wild on the back of an animal if you’re not impressed by the luxury of a 4×4 safari truck. When a human is riding a horse, other ungulates are more amiable and often remain in awe. As a result, you might get closer to them than you anticipated—a singular way to encounter Uganda’s natural treasures.
With a knowledgeable instructor, horseback rides typically last four hours and depart from the Mihingo Lodge stable. Even children may enjoy the fun with the ponies, and afterwards they can join the sundowner to have a glass of wine while watching the golden sunset from the hilltop overlooks.

5. Birding in Lake Mburo National Park

The wetlands and acacia woodland of Lake Mburo National Park are great places for birdwatchers to locate the more than 300 bird species known to exist there. You can explore the park’s bird richness on foot, on bicycle, or in the luxury of your car after your boat cruise. Additionally, the park features observation platforms built alongside salt licks and inside the Rubanda woodland to make bird watching easier for novices.
The prehistoric Shoebill can be seen in the swampy valleys of Waruki and Miriti, and the route up to the Rwonyo jetty offers some amazing views as well. The indigenous red-faced barbet of Lake Mburo, the bateleur, the black-bellied bustard, and the Rufous-bellied heron are common bird species.

6. Biking

After your boat ride on Lake Mburo, ride a mountain bike through the surrounding settlements of the park and burn off some calories on the savannah wildlife routes. Located at the Sanga gate entrance on the park’s northern border, Rwakobo Rock Lodge has a decent collection of mountain bikes and provides great guided rides into the savanna plains and neighbouring settlements.
You may experience the local way of life and culture while cycling through the communities, which also gives you the opportunity to venture into the Mburo wilderness off the usual route.

When is the best time for the boat cruise?

The drier months of June to August and December to January are the ideal times for a boat cruise safari on Lake Mburo because most tourists would want to avoid the high likelihood of being soaked in the rain during the wet seasons.
However, because the animals will be gathered in huge numbers, the wet seasons of March to May and September to November still provide superb wildlife viewing opportunities. You may still enjoy this little savannah park and the boat tour at any time of year.

 Where to stay in Lake Mburo National Park

At roughly $175 per person per night, Mihingo Lodge is an ideal option for the affluent tourist who want to experience the finest wilderness facilities. The mid-range lodging options include Rwakobo Rock, Acadia Cottages, Mburo Eagle’s Nest, and Lake Mburo Safari Lodge cost between $90 and $160 per person per night, including meals.
For those on a tight budget, cosy lodging is available at Lake Mburo Campsite, Rwonyo Rest Camp, and Hyena Hill Lodge west of the park for $5 per person per night.

Lake Mburo National Park Safari

In order to provide a respite from the lengthy trek between Entebbe and the mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Africa Reveal Safaris typically incorporates a visit to Lake Mburo National Park into most of the safari itineraries in southwest Uganda. Our guests can take a boat trip around Lake Mburo, walk over the untamed savannah plains, and climb to the top of the summits to take in the stunning scenery during a day or two of leisurely excursions.
It’s also a fantastic substitute for those who want to experience some of the thrills of savannah gaming without delving too far into the western circuit and aren’t really keen in the lions or elephants that aren’t present in the little park.

 Our local safari experts will assist you in creating a great vacation itinerary and exploring your wild fantasy of Africa, regardless of how you choose to customise your Uganda safari trip. Contact us by phone at the numbers shown in the footer, via email at info@africarevealsafaris.com, or by using the large green button in the lower right corner to chat with a local.

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