Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda

Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda

Murchison Falls National Park Uganda

Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) is a national park in northwestern Uganda managed by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. It stretches inland from the shores of Lake Albert, along the Victoria Nile, up to Karuma Falls. Together with the adjacent 748-square-kilometre (289 sq mi) Bugungu Wildlife Reserve and the 720-square-kilometre (280 sq mi) Karuma Wildlife Reserve, the park forms the Murchison Falls Conservation Area (MFCA). The explorers John Speke and James Grant were the first Europeans to visit the present-day MFCA in 1862. It was more thoroughly explored by Samuel and Florence Baker in 1863–64. Baker named the falls Murchison Falls after geologist Roderick Murchison, then president of the Royal Geographical Society. Between 1907 and 1912, the inhabitants of about 13,000 square kilometres (5,000 sq mi) were evacuated due to sleeping sickness spread by tsetse flies. In 1910, the Bunyoro Game Reserve was created south of the Nile River. That area roughly corresponds to the part of MFNP located in the districts of Buliisa, Masindi, and Kiryandongo. In 1928, the boundaries were extended north of the river into the modern-day Nwoya District. In 1952, the British administration established the National Parks Act of Uganda, and the area described above became Murchison Falls National Park.
Recommended airport
Pakuba Airport (PAF)
Nearby destinations
  • Lake Albert a 39.43 km