Lake Mburo National Park: A Half-Day Trip from Mbarara

Lake Mburo is roughly 30km from Mbarara, about 45 minutes by road, which makes it the easiest national park to combine with a stay in the city. Unlike Uganda's bigger, more forested parks, Mburo is open savanna and acacia woodland, small enough to explore properly without committing several days to it.

It's also the only park in the country where you can spot Burchell's zebra and impala in the same place, alongside eland, topi and Rothschild's giraffe. Because the terrain is more open and the wildlife less dangerous on average than in the bigger parks, Lake Mburo is one of the few places in Uganda where guided walking and horseback safaris are allowed: a genuinely different way to see the bush than from a vehicle window.

A boat trip on the lake itself rounds out a half-day visit well: hippos, crocodiles and, if you're lucky, the rare African finfoot are all regularly seen from the water.

Getting there: there are two gates. Sanga gate is the more direct approach coming from Mbarara; Nshara gate suits visitors arriving from the Kampala side. Ask at reception and we'll point you to whichever suits your plan.