Lake Mburo National Park: Uganda’s Compact Gem
Lake Mburo National Park may be Uganda’s smallest savanna park, but it is rich in biodiversity, scenic beauty, and cultural significance. Conveniently located near the highway linking Kampala to western Uganda, the park offers an accessible yet immersive safari experience.
Despite its size, wetlands cover 20% of the park’s surface, forming part of a 50km-long wetland system connected by swamps and five lakes within the park’s borders. These diverse ecosystems support an incredible variety of wildlife, birds, and aquatic species, making Lake Mburo a must-visit destination for nature lovers and birdwatchers.
A Park with a Resilient Past
Lake Mburo National Park has faced several challenges throughout its history, with wildlife being nearly wiped out multiple times due to:
Attempts to eliminate tsetse flies
Conversion of land into ranches
Subsistence poaching
However, conservation efforts have restored the park, ensuring its survival and sustaining wildlife populations for future generations. Today, 20% of the park’s entrance fees are reinvested into local community projects, funding schools, health clinics, and infrastructure development to benefit neighboring communities.
A Haven for Wildlife and Birds
Lake Mburo’s mosaic of woodlands, savannas, lakes, and rocky outcrops provides a unique habitat for wildlife not commonly found in other Ugandan parks.
Key Wildlife Species:
Zebras – Lake Mburo is one of Uganda’s best places to see zebras
Impalas – The park boasts Uganda’s only population of impalas
Elands – Africa’s largest antelope species is frequently spotted here
Buffaloes, Defassa waterbucks, and reedbucks roam the open savanna
Hippos and crocodiles dominate the lakeshores
Leopards and hyenas lurk in the woodlands, though sightings are rare
Bushpigs, warthogs, and topis add to the park’s diversity
A Landscape Shaped by Time
Unlike Uganda’s other savanna parks, Lake Mburo lacks elephants, allowing woodlands to thrive without being tamed. The park features:
Expansive savanna, dotted with rocky ridges and forested gorges in the west
Lush riparian woodlands along the lakes and rivers
Patches of papyrus swamp, providing a habitat for wetland species
This variety of landscapes creates breathtaking scenery and supports a thriving ecosystem of plants and animals.
A Birding Paradise
Lake Mburo is home to over 315 bird species, making it one of Uganda’s best birdwatching locations. The park is renowned for acacia-associated birds, with some of the best viewing areas found around Rwonyo.
Notable Bird Species:
Mosque swallow
Black-bellied bustard
Bare-faced go-away bird
Rüppell’s starling
Southern ground hornbill
Black-throated barbet
Whether exploring on foot, by boat, or on a game drive, Lake Mburo National Park offers an up-close and personal safari experience, where visitors can enjoy stunning wildlife encounters without the crowds.
Why Visit Lake Mburo National Park?
Uganda’s most accessible savanna park, close to Kampala
One of the best places to see zebras and impalas
Incredible birdwatching opportunities with over 315 species
Unique landscapes featuring wetlands, savanna, and woodlands
Boat safaris, game drives, and guided walking safaris
A conservation success story, benefiting both wildlife and local communities
Despite its small size, Lake Mburo National Park is a true hidden gem, offering unforgettable wildlife encounters, stunning scenery, and a peaceful safari experience away from the crowds
Located basically equidistant between Bwindi Impenetrable Forest and Entebbe, the woodlands, waters and grasslands make for the perfect break in a road journey either to or from the gorillas.
If returning from the gorillas, try to stay a night longer than you initially think necessary; Mburo is the perfect place in which to relax as well as explore.
If you live in Kampala or Entebbe, then Mburo is also a great location for a long weekend getaway.
Although just 260km², Mburo provides a wonderful variety of habitats, with 20% of its surface area made up of lakes and marshland.
Discover the park
Although there are no elephants and only one lion (a lonely visitor from Tanzania), there are impala, Burchell’s zebra, eland, buffalo, leopard and wonderfully diverse birdlife.
The landscapes and wildlife can be explored in game drives, by boat, on horseback and by mountain bike in the continuous ranch lands outside the park. These options make Mburo a very modern safari destination, attractive to visitors with a wide variety of interests.
Like Queen Elizabeth National Park, Mburo was born from the rinderpest and tsetse fly epidemics of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But unlike Queen Elizabeth, the communities that historically utilised Mburo were displaced, destroying local support for the park.
Happily, the creation of the Mburo Community Conservation Unit in 1991 has helped mitigate past grievances and now ensures that 20% of the income generated by park fees is used to fund local community projects.
Things to do at Lake Mburo National Park
Game Drives
The park has a network of game drive tracks. The wildlife densities will vary depending on the time of year, plus the lack of elephants is allowing thick scrub to grow where there were grassy plains.
However, each drive normally has a great chance of finding substantial concentrations of impala, zebra, waterbuck, topi and buffalo.
The re-introduced giraffe are more commonly seen from the Kazuma and Ruroko tracks. You may also see the shy eland, who now number over 100.
It is now also possible to experience the park in darkness on two to three-hour night game drives. These normally start about 6:30pm and are a wonderful way to see nocturnal animals like bushbabies and potto, plus leopard and hyena at their most active.
Walking Safari
In Mburo, the whole park is available to explore on foot, as long as you take a guide with you. Favourite trails are to the salt lick at Rwonyo, the lake shorelines, Rubanga Forest and viewpoint hill tops.
Walks are the most exciting way to discover the park because visibility is often restricted by the undergrowth and it is difficult to see buffalo holding their ground or hyena loping back to their dens after a night on the prowl.
Walks are also the best way for birders to track down the more elusive species.
Boat Safari
Taking to the water is always a welcome, peaceful, part of any safari. You escape the dust and the tsetse flies and see life in the bush from another angle.
A 90-minute morning boat safari takes you along the shore of Lake Mburo, including sightings of crocodile, buffalo, hippo, kingfishers, fish eagles and hammerkops.
The boat safaris start at 8 am and depart every two hours until 4 pm.
Birding
The acacia woodland and wetlands of Mburo make it a popular destination for birders. Searching by vehicle and on foot, sightings are also facilitated by viewing platforms constructed within the forest and by salt-licks.
The swampy valleys of Waruki and Miriti, plus the roadsides approaching the jetty provide the best birding spots.
Species seen here include the Rufous-bellied heron, bateleur, black-bellied bustard, and the red-faced barbet, the latter found only in Lake Mburo National Park.
Horse Riding
Amazing close: a dazzle of zebra in Lake Mburo
Mburo is the only place in Uganda where you can ride horses in a national park. Operating out of the Mihingo Lodge stable, all abilities and ages are catered for.
Buffalo and zebra react very differently to a human on horseback and so this is a special way to move among the wildlife.
The rides last for four hours and often include hill-top sundowners or bush breakfasts.
Mountain Biking
Rwakobo Rock maintains a good selection of well-maintained mountain bikes and offers guided rides through the savanna that borders the park.
This is the perfect way to burn off some energy while also enjoying wildlife and meeting members of the local community.
In 2012, the Uganda Wildlife Authority opened mountain biking trails.
Geography & Geology of Lake Mburo
Uganda’s smallest savanna national park is located in the southern Ankole region halfway between Bwindi and Entebbe/Kampala. It is 260km² of lakes, swamps, grassland and acacia woodland. With low hills rising from the lake shore, it is reminiscent of parts of Zululand and Akagera National Park in Rwanda.
The underlying Pre-Cambrian bedrock dates back over 500 million years and supports sandy, well-drained, soils. Located in the ‘rain shadow’ between Lake Victoria and the Rwenzori Mountains, Mburo has a relatively low annual rainfall of 800mm, similar to Kidepo.
Despite this 20% of the park is made up of wetland habitats, most notably five lakes, the largest of which being the 13km² Lake Mburo. Aside from grassland, the other main habitat is acacia woodland.
The altitude of the park ranges from 1,220m to 1,828m above sea level.
Flora & Fauna of Lake Mburo
Mburo is home to several species that, although common elsewhere in Africa, are found only in the park or otherwise rarely within Uganda. It is the only place you will find impala and one of only two places in the country you will find Burchell’s zebra and eland.
There are 68 mammal species. In additional to buffalo, hippo, giraffe, warthog and the previously mentioned zebra and eland, other commonly seen antelope species are topi, common duiker, oribi, Defasa waterbuck, Bohor reedbuck and bushbuck.
Eland are elusive, but present in large numbers and are a majestic sight when spotted. Sitatunga occupy wetland interiors, while klipspringer are seen around rocky outcrops. You will see vervet monkey and olive baboon. While guests at Mihingo Lodge may be lucky to see the extremely rare greater galago.
Predators are present in good number, but there is only one lion - a solitary male who is reputed to have entered the park from distant Tanzania. However, spotted hyena are often seen in large groups and leopard are increasingly visible.
Around 315 bird species have been recorded to date. The swamps and the acacia forests are the habitats with the greatest diversity. The Red-faced Barbet is only seen in Lake Mburo; the endemic African Finfoot is a popular sighting, and the swamps are home to six papyrus endemics.
When to Visit and How to Get There
The best time for general wildlife viewing is in the dryer seasons from June to August and December to January.
However, Lake Mburo National Park is still wonderful to visit in the wetter seasons from March to May and September to November.
Mburo is only accessible by road. Entebbe/Kampala's journey takes about five to six hours; the journey to Buhoma, Bwindi is the same.