A Final Visit to Murchison Falls

One of our favourite places to visit in Uganda over the past 2 years has been the Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) Since we bought the annual pass for the parks last September we have been able to get into all of the parks as often as we like. Overall we've visited the MFNP 5 times, with what will almost certainly be our final visit last weekend.

MFNP has everything. A spectacular waterfall, the river Nile, interesting wildlife, both in the park and by the river, and a favourite place to stay at the Red Chilli camp.

The Murchison Falls waterfall is very narrow and therefore very fast flowing with the Nile squeezing through a narrow gorge 7m wide and plummeting down a 43m drop. The water level was very high when we visited this time making it even more spectacular.

The river Nile cuts through the Park with the north bank the place to see the animals and the south bank largely forested. The way across the river is the slightly dodgy Paraa Ferry. However, all was well in both directions and we arrived safely across the river. We rewarded ourselves with a chicken and pineapple salad by the pool at the smart Paraa Lodge on the north bank.

As usual we found plenty of animals to watch and photograph in the savannah area on the northern bank of the Nile. We have never been disappointed with the wildlife viewing in the Murchison Falls Park.

View of Lake Albert 

At the edge of the park we found a large single elephant blocking the road. We just had to bide our time until he decided to wander off!

On the way back through the park we stopped for the night at the Red Chilli camp on the south bank. We always love sitting in their banda over dinner watching the sun set over the Nile and lights coming on in the Paraa Lodge just on the other side of the river.

In the morning we watched some cheeky baboons climbing up on the safari tents!