LAKE MBURO NATIONAL PARK
Lake Mburo National Park is a compact gem, covering only 260 sq. km. Located just south of the equator and near Mbarara town, its prime location conveniently places it close to the highway that connects Kampala to the parks found in western Uganda. The Park is a popular weekend getaway for city dwellers and is increasingly a common stop on the Western safari circuit.
It is home to 325 bird species including martial eagle, red-faced barbet, papyrus yellow warbler and African finfoot; and a wide variety of wildlife including Burchell's zebra, impala, eland, buffalo, oribi, Defassa waterbuck, leopard, hippo, hyena, topi, eland and reedbuck. It's the only place in southern Uganda to see zebra and giraffe, which were recently reintroduced. It's also the only park in the country with impala, slender mongoose and giant bush rat. Bird watching and game viewing boat rides are offered on the lake.
Together with 13 other lakes in the area, Lake Mburo forms part of a 50km-long wetland system linked by a swamp. Five of these lakes lie within the park's borders. Once covered by open savanna, Lake Mburo National Park now contains much woodland as there are no elephants to tame the vegetation. In the western part of the park, the savanna is interspersed with rocky ridges and forested gorges while patches of papyrus swamp and narrow bands of the lush riparian woodland line the many lakes.
