Top 5 National parks to visit in Uganda in 2023
Uganda is a beautiful country engulfed within the East African Community in Africa. Uganda is blessed with many National parks that are homes to the many arrays of ecosystems and also have some of the few extinct animals in the world and are really a must and fascinating to explore. Here are the top 5 National Parks to Visit in Uganda in 2023
Queen Elizabeth National Park.
It lies in the western part of Uganda and was founded in 1952 as Kazinga National Park but was later renamed to Queen Elizabeth National Park after two years to commemorate a visit by Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. Queen Elizabeth National Park is Uganda’s most visited and popular Savanna National Park. The National park is a home to more than 600 bird species and ranked in the sixth position for highest diversity in the world and best for game drives. It is also a home to over 90 mammal species and that abundant wildlife includes; Ugandan kob, the climbing lions, Hippopotamus, waterbuck, warthog, elephant, Leopard, Buffalo and spotted Hyena among others. It is also famous for its Volcanic features and many crater lakes such as Katwe craters where salt is extracted.
Murchison Falls National Park.
This park is in the northwestern part of Uganda and at the end of the Albertine Rift Valley. Murchison Falls National Park is the largest park in Uganda. It is famously known for having the most powerful waterfall in the world and also for its large number of wildlife species and during the game drive you will have an amazing opportunity to spot Warthogs, Jackson hartebeests, Antelopes, bushbucks, Lions, Uganda Kob and many other wildlife species.
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
The park lies in Southwestern Uganda on the edge of the Rift valley. It offers an ultimate Gorilla experience with nine groups that are habituated for tourism. The national park has one of Uganda’s oldest rain forests that is to say the ‘’impenetrable forest’’ which has over 350 species of plants and also protects an estimated 459 mountain gorillas. The national park is also a home to a further 120 mammals such as baboons, elephants, antelopes and chimpanzees among others and also harbors over 150 butterfly species and also over 300 bird species are hosted in the national park.
Rwenzori Mountains National Park
The park is located in Kasese the southwestern part of Uganda in the ‘’ Mountains of the Moon’’ as called by Alexandrine Geographer. The Rwenzoris are a world -class hiking and mountaineering destination. Rwenzori Mountains National Park is well known for its wonderfully unique botany and distinct vegetation zones and hence was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1994. The national park is also a home to reptiles and about 65 mammal species for example Rwenzori otter, duiker, bushbucks, blue monkeys and leopard to name but a few, and bird species such as Rwenzori Turaco, Handsome Francolin, and Cinnamon-chested Bee- eater and contains over 15 beautiful lakes.
Mgahinga gorilla national/ Mgahinga gorilla national Park
It is in southwestern Uganda and is the smallest national park in Uganda. It happens to be one of the few national parks in the world that harbor and protects the endangered Mountain Gorillas the rest being in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. It is home to about 39 mammals that include; buffalos, elephants, giant forest hogs and golden monkeys among others. One can also see the Carama cave, Mount Gahinga, Virunga volcanoes, Mount Muhavura and can-do birding also, mountain climbing, Mount Muhabura Hike and nature walks
