Uganda national parks are the top safari destinations in Uganda. 10 Uganda national parks are well endowed with unique wild attractions ranging from wild mammals, primates, water bodies and countless beautiful birds.
Visiting Uganda’s national parks includes a visit to Bwindi Impenetrable National park, well known for gorilla trekking, and Kibale Forest Park famous for chimpanzee tours. Mountain Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is the second home to mountain gorillas and volcano hiking experiences. Lake Mburo National Park for zebras, Queen Elizabeth National Park for savannah game safaris and Murchison Falls well known for the spectacular Murchison Falls.
Other Uganda national parks include Rwenzori mountains, famous for mountain hiking safaris, and Semuliki National park – a unique spot for bird watching in Uganda. Mount Elgon National Park and Kidepo Valley National Park are located in far northeastern Uganda.
TOP 10 Uganda National Parks
Bwindi Forest National Park
Bwindi Forest Uganda National Park is strategically located on the edge of the steep ridges of the Albertine Rift Valley, South Western Uganda, and was recognized as a World Heritage Site in 1994. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is home to roughly half of the world’s mountain gorillas. Gorilla trekking safaris are the main tourist activity that the Gorilla forest is well known for in Uganda and a cross the entire globe. Bwindi actually means impenetrable!
Murchison Falls National Park Safari
Murchison Falls Uganda National Park is Uganda’s largest and most spectacular National park in Uganda and indeed in the Whole of Africa. This derives its name from the dramatic Murchison falls where the World’s longest River Nile explodes through a narrow crevice and flows down to become a placid river whose banks are thronged with hippos, crocodiles, waterbucks, and buffaloes and protects a chunk of untamed African savannah bisected by the mighty river Nile.
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Queen Elizabeth National Park
Queen Elizabeth Uganda National Park was gazetted in 1979; Queen Elizabeth National Park was designated as a biosphere reserve and is now regarded as Uganda’s most popular game reserve for Uganda Safaris with numerous wildlife, wetlands, and natural resources. Queen Elizabeth stretches from the crater-dotted foothills of the Rwenzori range in the north, along the shores of Lake Edward to the remote Ishasha River in the south, holding a wide variety of habitats that range from savannah to rainforest, from dense papyrus swamps and brooding crater lakes to the vastness of Lake Edward, it is little wonder that Queen Elizabeth boasts one of the highest biodiversity ratings of any game reserve in the world.
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Mountain Elgon National park
Mt. Elgon is the fourth highest mountain in Eastern Africa, with the second-highest peak in Uganda (Wagagi Peak – 4321 meters). Mountain Elgon has been an extinct volcano that first erupted more than 24 million years ago. With the largest surface area of any extinct Volcano in the world (50km by 80km), It contains the largest intact caldera, a collapsed crater covering over 40 km at the top of the mountain, surrounded by a series of rugged peaks.
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Kibale Forest National Park
Kibale Forest Uganda National Park is an extensive National Park, it’s the most accessible of Uganda’s major rainforests protecting some excellent forests for bird watching. Kibale is home to a remarkable 13 primate species, including the much localized red Colobus and Lhotse’s monkey. It also holds the greatest variety and concentration of primates found anywhere in East Africa. Numerous birds and primates combined with easy access, due to good infrastructure and a variety of interesting activities make this forest a worthwhile safari destination.
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Kidepo National Game Park
Kidepo Valley Uganda National Park, just located in the rugged, semi-arid valleys of Karamoja Tucked into the corner of Uganda’s border with Sudan and Kenya, Kidepo Valley is Uganda’s most remote national park covering about 1442 Km2 with a huge latitudinal range of 914m on Kidepo valley floor to 2749m a top of Mount Morungole. Kidepo is an ideal destination for Uganda safaris featuring a variety of Wildlife. For the birder, Kidepo Valley National Park boasts a bird list of over 475 species, a total second only to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Amongst the specials not found in any other Ugandan national park are some of East Africa’s rarest and most sought-after birds such as the Black-breasted Barbet and Karamoja Apalis.
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Mgahinga Gorilla National Park
Mgahinga Gorilla Uganda National Park is located in South Western corner of Uganda, bordering Rwanda and Congo, about 540 km from Kampala and an additional of 14 km from Kisoro town, this is the smallest in the country with an area coverage of about 33.7 km 2 but very vital in Uganda’s tourism Industry, as it is one of the only two parks in Uganda that offer habitat for the endangered Mountain gorilla. The Park covers the northern slopes of the three northernmost Virunga Volcanoes: Mt. Sabyinyo (3,645 m). Mt. Muhavura (4,127 m), and Mt. Gahinga (3,474 m), The
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Semuliki National Park
Semuliki Uganda National Park situated in the extremely remote corner of western Uganda in Bundibugyo district is an eastern extension of the vast Ituri Forest and forms part of the forest continuum during the climatic upheavals of the Pleistocene, this is one of the richest areas for both flora and fauna in Africa. (Especially for birds)
Semuliki Uganda National Park lies along the Uganda/ Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) border within the western arm of the East African Rift Valley. In the southeast are the Rwenzori Mountains, to the west is the Democratic Republic of Congo and to the north are the Semuliki flats and Lake Albert further on.
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Lake Mburo National Park
Lake Mburo Uganda National Park is situated in the Mbarara district. It is about 3.5 hour drive from Kampala. Lake Mburo is the best place in the country to see the gigantic eland antelope, as well as zebra, topi, impala, and several acacia-associated birds. The numerous lakes within the park attract lots of aquatic life such as hippos, crocodiles, and a variety of water birds, while fringing swamps hide secretive papyrus specialists such as the sitatunga antelope and red, black, and yellow papyrus gonalek.
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Rwenzori Mountains National Park
Rwenzori Uganda National Park lies along the western border of Uganda and rise regarded to be the legendary snow-capped Mountains of the Moon, described by Roman geographer Ptolemy in AD150. Reaching an elevation of 5,109m and lower slopes blanketed in moorland and rich montane forest, it is also Africa’s tallest mountain range, exceeded in altitude only by the free-standing Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro. Mountains of the Moon, a World Heritage Site – and these incomparable, beautiful, mist-shrouded peaks provide a unique backdrop to one of our most magnificent national parks.
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