Uganda (5/2012) - Murchison Falls National Park

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• published: 24 Jun 2012
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Murchison Falls National Park is a national park in Uganda. The park lies in north western Uganda, spreading inland from the shore of Lake Albert around the Victoria Nile. It is named for the Murchison Falls waterfall, itself named for a president of the Royal Geographical Society. The park is known for its wildlife which has partly recovered from a massacre by poachers and troops under Idi Amin. Together with the adjacent 748 square kilometres Bugungu Wildlife Reserve and the 720 square kilometres Karuma Wildlife Reserve, the park forms the Murchison Falls Conservation Area. The park is sometimes referred to as Kabarega National Park. Kabarega was the Omukama of the Kingdom of Bunyoro, around the end of the 19th century. He resisted colonization by the British, was arrested and was exiled by the British to the island nation of the Seychelles. Kabarega died in Jinja, in 1923 en-route to Bunyoro from exile. Murchison Falls National Park is Uganda's largest national park. It measures approximately 3,840 square kilometres. Together with the adjacent Bugungu Wildlife Reserve and the Karuma Wildlife Reserve, the park is part of the 5,308 square kilometres Murchison Falls Conservation Area. The park is bisected by the Victoria Nile from east to west for a distance of about 115 kilometres. The park is the location of the famous Murchison Falls, where the waters of the majestic Nile River squeeze through a narrow gorge, only 7 metres wide, before plunging 43 metres below.