Murchison Falls National Park lies at the northern end of the Albertine Rift Valley, 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.

The park is bisected by the Victoria Nile, which plunges 45m over the remnant rift valley wall, creating the dramatic Murchison Falls, the centerpiece of the park and the final event in an 80km stretch of rapids. The mighty cascade drains the last of the river’s energy, transforming it into a broad, placid stream that flows quietly across the rift valley floor into Lake Albert. This stretch of river provides one of Uganda’s most remarkable wildlife spectacles. Regular visitors to the riverbanks include elephants, giraffes, and buffaloes; while hippos, Nile crocodiles, and aquatic birds are permanent residents.

Murchison Falls is notably blessed with over 144 mammals,556 bird species,51 reptiles, and 51 Amphibians. With a great number of African elephants, Murchison falls is impressive all year round. The aerial survey noted over 900 individuals and 1,330 and is at an increase. Historically Giraffes exclusively inhabit the northern sector of the park. Buffalo populations have spiked to over 10,000 while Uganda kobs have leaped to more than 35,000.

The bird checklist with the shoebill as the most common along the river stretch approaching the Albert delta and many profolic bird species occupy the park.The white crested turaco,red winged grey warbler,all asociated with woodland in the southern bank.

Notable visitors to the park include Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, and several British royals.

Murchison Falls, also known as Kabalega Falls, is a waterfall in Uganda, located at the apex of Lake Albert on the White Nile. At the top of Murchison Falls, the Nile forces its way through a gap in the rocks, only 7 m (23 ft) wide, and tumbles 43 m (141 ft), before flowing westward into Lake Albert. The outlet of Lake Victoria sends around 300 m³/s (11,000 cu ft/s) of water over the falls, squeezed into a gorge less than 10 m (33 ft) wide.

Some historians believe that a party of Roman legionaries dispatched by Nero to explore the Nile may have reached Murchison Falls in 61 AD, but there is major controversy about the feasibility of what would have been a very difficult achievement.

Samuel Baker and Florence Baker were the first Europeans who officially sighted the falls. Baker named them after Roderick Murchison, the President of the Royal Geographical Society.^[3] The falls lend their name to the surrounding Murchison Falls National Park.

During the regime of Idi Amin in the 1970s, the name was changed to Kabalega Falls, after the Omukama (King) Kabalega of Bunyoro, although this was never legally promulgated. The name reverted to Murchison Falls following the downfall of Amin. It is still sometimes referred to as Kabalega Falls.

Ernest Hemingway crashed a plane just downriver from Murchison Falls in 1954. In August 2019, Uganda rejected a hydropower project by South Africa’s Bonang Power and Energy in order to preserve the falls, one of the country's most lucrative tourism sites.

Overview

Murchison Falls National Park is Uganda's largest national park with approximately 3,893 km² (1,503 sq mi). The park is bisected by the Victoria Nile from east to west for a distance of about 115 km (71 mi).

The park is the location of the Murchison Falls, where the waters of the Nile flow through a narrow gorge only 7 m (23 ft) wide before plunging 43 m (141 ft).

Also in the park, adjacent to the Masindi-Gulu Highway, are the Karuma Falls, the location of the 600 megawatt Karuma Power Station, which will be Uganda's largest power station when it comes online circa 2022.

As of 2022, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline being built includes the construction of 10 oil well pads, a feeder pipeline, and a refinery in and around the Murchison Falls national park.

Wildlife

Since 2005, the protected area is considered a Lion Conservation Unit. In 2010, it was estimated that only 250 giraffes were in the park. A population of 37 Rothschild's giraffes was transferred from the north side of the Nile River to the south side in 2016 and 2017, when population was around 1,500.

Murchison Falls National Park and the adjacent Bugondo Forest Reserve host 76 mammal species such as chimpanzees as well as Uganda's largest Nile crocodile population. There are 450 known bird species including the shoe-billed stork, dwarf kingfisher, Goliath heron, white-thighed hornbill and great blue turaco.