Night Game Drives in Murchison Falls National Park.
Night game drives in Murchison Falls National Park are the most exciting way of discovering the park’s hidden wonders after sunset. It’s one of the most popular and oldest national parks in Uganda, covering an area of about 3893 square meters, situated in the northwestern region of the country. Murchison Falls Park is among the four national parks that offer night game drives, where visitors can explore the savannah plains at night with a knowledgeable park guide and spotlight torches for clear viewing of nocturnal animals.
Murchison Falls Park is known for hosting over 144 mammal species, including the four big five members: elephants, leopards, buffalo, and lions, giraffes, hippos, waterbucks, Oribi, bush bucks, Uganda kobs, along with over 453 bird species, including Forest birds, Nocturnal birds, migratory birds, and water birds. A night game drive gives visitors a chance to see nocturnal animals and birds, which rest during the day and are active at night. This is such a unique and memorable experience that must be added to your bucket list while on a safari in Murchison Falls National Park.
Night Game Drives Experience in Murchison Falls National Park.
Night game drives in Murchison Falls National Park offer a rare and thrilling way to explore the open savannah after sunset, which often takes place in the northern sector of the park due to its highest numbers of wildlife species. This is done in a 4x4W vehicle led by an experienced park guide who gives important information about the park’s inhabitants that you may encounter and an armed park ranger who protects the tourists while in the wilderness. The drive takes between 2 to 3 hours.
Night game drives are commonly known as nocturnal game drives, which give visitors a chance to see animals and bird species which are hard to spot during the day such as leopards which are shy and hunt after sunset and its very rare to see them during the normal game drives if you happen to see them consider yourselves lucky, hippos which spend the most of the day in water protecting themselves from sun but they can be spotted while grazing at night, hyenas while grazing, lions some times are active at night and they can be spotted while carrying a prey, bush babies, civets, genets, porcupines.
Bird lovers will spot various nocturnal bird species such as the standard winged nightjar, White-backed Night Heron, Bates Nightjar, Verreaux’s Eagle Owl, and more.
Cost of a Night Game Drive in Murchison Falls National Park.
A night game drive in Murchison Falls National Park costs $40 per person for foreign non-residents, $35 per person for foreign residents, and 50,000UGX per person for members of the East African community using a Uganda Wildlife Authority Vehicle. While using a private vehicle, it costs $30 per person for foreign non-residents, $20 per person for foreign residents, and 40,000UGX for members of the East African Community.
Best Time to Visit the Park.
Murchison Falls National Park can be visited year-round, but the best time for night game drives is from June to September and December to February. During these months, there is little rainfall, the roads are dry, and the vegetation is shorter, providing clearer views of animals in their natural habitats.
You can also visit the park from March to May and October to November, although these months tend to have heavy rainfall, which makes the roads wet. However, this time of year can be beneficial for budget travelers, as accommodations often offer discounts.
