National Parks Africa » Lake Mburo National Park

Lake Mburo National Park (LMNP) is the latest Ugandan national park it was officially gazetted in 1982. However, the original 642 square kilometres (256 square miles) have turned into a political hotbed which has overshadowed its great potential as a holiday resort both for the local urban population and foreign tourists.

Earlier this century, the area was such an attractive place for wild animals that in 1936 the government was forced to declare it a controlled hunting area. The Kenyan born writer Brian Herne vividly describes those days when the park boasted many lions in his book, Ugandan Safaris. In 1964 the area was turned into a game reserve, having been cleared of tsetse fly in preceding years.

Conflicting interests:
The clash of human and wildlife interests started in the mid 1970s. Cattle ranches blossomed at the edge of the reserve, and during the Amin years, ranch owners were able to claim huge tracts of land for themselves. At the same time the prevailing lawlessness opened up the reserve to Bahima herdsmen who immediately took over the good grassland and watering holes, and even poisoned the game which were competing for grazing pasture. When the reserve was declared a national park, no less than 6,000 people and 40,000 head of cattle had to be evicted. Lack of compensation and subsequent unrest in the country worsened the situation.

Tight negotiations between the ranchers, herdsmen, government, park authorities and conservationists finally resulted in an agreement to divide the park into two: 386 square kilometres (154 square miles) for the people evicted in 1982, and 256 square kilometres (102 square miles) for the wildlife. A task force is currently working to establish the exact boundaries.

Worth the effort:
Despite its problems, LMNP remains worth visiting, if only for those animals that cannot be found elsewhere south of the Nile impala, klipspringer, eland, roan antelope and oribi. Other species of game include numerous topi, waterbuck, bohor reedbuck, sitatunga, bushpig, bushbuck, porcupine, baboon, vervet monkey, greater galago, leopard, hyaena, hippo and buffalo. This is one of the few places in the country where numbers of animals increased between 1982 and 1985.

Already 258 species of birds have been identified. Future discoveries are likely to bring the actual number closer to 400. Six bird species cannot be found in any other park. These include rufous bellied heron, black-throated barbet, red-faced barbet, tabors cisticola, green-capped eremomela and southern red bishop.

The slowly rolling hills and bright green plains have become dominated by Acacia gerrardii and Acacia hockii at the expense of grass. This alarming trend has been attributed to overgrazing by cattle. Grass becomes too short for regular burning, resulting in the unimpeded spread of acacia trees. Park authorities are considering reintroducing giraffe, which feed on acacia, in the hope of halting any further advance.

One advantage of LMNP is that the absence of lions makes it reasonably safe for visitors to walk through the park, although they should be cautious of the occasional lone buffalo.

Depending on the outcome of negotiations with the herdsmen, LMNP has the potential to become a short trip holiday resort, especially for the urban populations of Kampala and nearby Masaka and Mbarara. It is only a short drive to the park from all these towns. Roads and tracks have been badly damaged by the weather and lack of maintenance, but the current park staff are doing a commendable job in making the main circuits manageable again. Although facilities are somewhat lacking, this should not discourage anyone from visiting. There are excellent natural camping sites near the lake.