Walk to Murchison Falls in Uganda

A short trip to Murchison Falls, in the Uganda park of the same name

Starting point

The trip starts at the entrance to the park Murchison Falls, there is an entrance fee of 45 USD / person. The permit is valid for 24 hours, you can also pay by card, but don't count on it.

Better take enough cash. Keep the permit afterwards, it will be checked at the checkpoints. You can drive your car all over the park.
 

Description of the hike

An easy and really short hike, which can be done even by untrained people and small children, leads along a paved path. For us, the weather was not good for exploring another part of the trail, but I still highly recommend this hike. No special equipment is needed for the trail, perhaps just repellent for the evening.
 

Difficulty

The road from the entrance to the park to the parking lot by the waterfall is newly built by engineers from the People's Republic of China (friends who visited the park about 10 years ago describe it as a totally inaccessible and wild place, where the road from the entrance to the waterfall took several hours and a few years of life in nerves, whether the car can make it). 

It took us about one hour to get there after the "four stream". There are baboons all around the road along the way. There's a shelter for hikers in the parking lot by the waterfall and a little next door for rangers, and you'll find a covered toilet.
 

Water availability

I recommend to have bottled water with you, unless you have tablets and want to test the water from the White Nile. The possibility to refill liquids is then for example in the Chilli rest camp.
 

Sleeping options

We have a Red Chilli rest camp where you can stay in tents or cabins. You can book accommodation directly on their website Red Chilli. Parra is underwater and we haven't tested any others.
 

Danger

At the waterfall, beware of the slippery surface. While it's easy to forget, keep in mind that you're in a park and surrounded by wildlife.

There are mosquitoes in the evening - high risk of malaria. Hippos - you can't escape, a hippo is faster than Usain Bolt.
 

Food

Food can be purchased at Red Chilli or you can bring your own. You will not buy anything at the place itself (meaning cooking supplies).

Dinner at the camp costs 21,000 UGX (130 CZK), and they have an excellent local Nile special beer for 6,000 UGX (37 CZK, 2021).
 

Attractions

I definitely recommend the great film The Last King of Scotland (2006), which shows the cruel reign of Idi Amin. You can soak up the atmosphere, as almost nothing has changed in the remote villages since the film. In general about Murchison Falls National Park also called Kabalega or Kabarega - it is a waterfall on the lower Victoria Nile River in northwestern Uganda.

32 km east of Lake Albert. The Victoria Nile passes through many kilometres of rapids, then narrows to a width of about 6 metres and drops about 120 metres in a series of three cascades. The initial drop of 40 metres is generally considered to be the Murchison (Kabalega) Falls. The turbidity forms the focal line of Murchison Falls National Park (established 1952), which covers 1,440 square miles (3,840 square kilometers) of rolling grasslands.

The English explorer Sir Samuel White Baker visited the falls in the mid-1860s and named them after the geologist Sir Roderick Murchison. You can read all about the park on their website here. The ferry below Red Chilli is not working, the Nile level has risen by about 1.6m in the last two years, flooding both Parra and the other side of the falls. The only option left is to buy a boat trip on the Nile. The Chinese have built a mega-bridge on the site of the ferry, which is not yet operational (it can be used) and therefore not marked on the maps. Do not rely on buying petrol.

Only diesel could be refuelled in Parra. Here, too, you will see first-hand the People's Republic of China's plan to "modernize Africa" in action, from the mega road (ending in mud huts in some districts), to urinals, Western style :-)

Uganda for adventurers without a travel agent and personal driver. Or a few things we didn't find on the Internet before we left that may be useful to someone:  
 

Tips for travellers to Murchison Falls in Uganda

1. Visa - US$50/person - no need to use the Ministry's non-functioning booking system.
    
2. We got our visa upon arrival at the airport.  
    
3. COVID - bribe to armed men to release the car to another district (20,000 - 50,000 UGX).  
    
4. COVID - At the airport Test and Fly - PCR test, result within 4 hours for 65 USD.  
    
5. COVID - Food shops and parks are operating normally.  
    
6. COVID - PCR check only at the airport.  
    
7. Car and travel - rent a car from roadtripafrica.com and allow about 1x more time for travel than the maps indicate. Some of the dirt roads are really a massacre.  
    
8. Don't rely on card payments and ATMs - rather, count on the fact that even at places where you look at the big sign at the entrance we accept cards you won't pay with it - because the network, power, or something else is not working right now.  
    
9. If you're going to take USD, make sure you have the latest versions of the notes. They won't take older dollars, I think 2013 and down, almost anywhere, and that includes banks and exchange offices.