There are many ways to travel around Murchison Falls National Park, on your own private transfers, but if you select the treasure to hunt experience, there are some travel tips to Murchison Falls you will need to know. There is nothing more like traveling with the most pampered service of all, when you are well aware and equipped with all the necessary information you need to know about.
Murchison Falls National Park is the largest national park in Uganda that lies at the northern end of the Albertine Rift Valley. The Park is famous for its wildlife safaris where the sweeping Bunyoro escarpment tumbles into vast, palm-dotted savanna.
First gazetted as a game reserve in 1926, it is Uganda’s largest and oldest conservation area, under the management of the Uganda Wildlife Authority. It is in north-western Uganda, spreading inland from the shores of Lake Albert, around the Victoria Nile, up to the Karuma Falls with 3,840 sqkm acre of land.
Murchison is the only park in Uganda’s where you can see all the “big five”. That is, buffaloes, elephants, lions, leopards, which are best to be seen in the northern part, and rhinos at the nearby Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary.
Craft yourself with the following travel tips to Murchison Falls
For a wonderful travel experience with lasting memories, the following travel tips to Murchison Falls will be help when planning your next safari to Murchison Falls National Park.
- You’re always advised to drink bottled mineral water, because tap water may seem clean but not healthy. You can also purify your water by boiling or adding iodine or chlorine tablets to make it safer.
- Use your discretion when eating local foods and peel off or wash all fruits and vegetables with clean water, before eating. This is important to avoid diarrhea, typhoid, dysentery, stomach upset and cholera.
- Planning, talk to an expert or safari planner who has been to Murchison Falls and who knows a range of safari product, activities, and weather conditions. This will help to steer a safari experience that will best suit you.
- Establish that your booking agent has personally visited the park and properties they are recommending to you.
- Craft yourself with the right shoes. Bring shoes with hard rubber soles; thorns penetrate soft rubber easily, so hard rubber is far more suitable for bush trekking. Wear your shoes in for at least a month before you go on safari, so you know how comfortable they are.
- Always check out your shoes before putting them on in the morning. You never know what could have made them its home during the night, especially when you’re on a camping safari.
- Consider travelling in the low season. Prices at most safari lodges can be as much as 30-40 per cent cheaper during this period. This is also arguably the best time of year for game viewing in Murchison Falls National Park because the vegetation is not so thick and animals are more reliant on rivers and waterholes, and therefore easier to find.
- Take your sense of adventure, disconnect, and don’t even think about Wi-Fi. Put your phone and watch away, take as many photos as possible and immerse yourself in nature, culture and in new experiences. These are memories that will last a lifetime, but the rest will still be there when you get home.
- Leave your black camera bag at home; choose one that’s light in color, not black. Dark bags will heat up your equipment. Bring a shower cap. A shower cap is perfect for protecting your camera in the rain, and a T-shirt will help keep the dust off your camera when you’re driving.
- Clothing colors should be chosen based on landscape and vegetation, wear darker green or grey, since it’s in line with nature.
- Travelers serious about taking great pictures on safari should be selective of the people they travel with. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you’re being hurried along by people who don’t appreciate what you want to achieve with your camera.
- If you are concerned about your arrival after a long-haul flight, why not consider a VIP meet-and-greet service at the airport? They’ll meet you at the bottom of the aircraft’s steps and handhold you all the way through passport control, customs and on to your awaiting transfer at arrivals.
- Parents should consider picking lodges or camps that run special programs for children. Remember, they are also part of the tour group, their experience matters a lot in choosing the destination and accommodation.
- Group safaris can offer a price advantage; they can also be activity-oriented and therefore attract like-minded travelers (such as specialist birding or photographic groups). Travelling individually offers more flexibility. The ultimate luxury is to reserve a private vehicle, which gives you full control of how much time to spend at game sightings.
- Bring the right attitude as one of travel tips to Murchison Falls. Guests who come with ‘wide-eyed wonder’ at all the amazing things (big and small) that nature has to offer end up having a far more enjoyable safari. Soak it all up and learn as much as you can from the folk who live there.
More travel tips on your safari
- Try and talk to the locals as much as possible – your waiter, driver, guide, street vendor. You’ll be surprised how much you can learn from them.
- Have your camera ready at all times, not packed away in your bag, or you could miss out. If you are afraid of dust, cover it with something that can be removed quickly.
- Dehydration is serious and can ruin your safari. It is not just about drinking enough water; it is about replenishing the salts you lose from the action of wind and sun. So, bring your own powdered Gatorade (lots of it) and take some each day.
- The best thing to stop the itch from a mosquito or tsetse fly bite is, would you believe, hemorrhoid cream or any other insect repellant.
- When self-driving, familiarize yourself with points where you can get fuel. Not all villages shown on the map have service stations, so you need to budget carefully how much you will need and where you will get it.
- Pack a pair of binoculars before you pack anything else. They will greatly enhance your game-viewing experience. Those with image stabilization are recommended. Don’t go for too much magnification if you want to cut down on weight and expense.
- Pens, pencils and notebooks. It’s great to keep a simple diary, jotting down your sightings and the feelings you experienced. Take a few extras though, as they are readily welcomed by the locals and can be used to barter in many rural areas.
- Carry sunglasses, huts it will protect your eyes and head from sun heat as Murchison seem to be hot some time, especially during hiking to the top of falls.
- Carry a bottle or enough water when heading for a hike to the top of the falls s he heat seems to be much and demands refreshment.
- For those going on a safari for the first time, go game viewing with a guide rather than self-drive otherwise you’ll miss out on learning about and seeing a lot of wildlife through the eyes of an expert. Guides know the routes and the hide out.
- 4WD vehicle with a pop up is more ideal for a safari game drive as it give you a chance to pull out your head and see beyond the glasses as you take the shades of the wildlife.