Murchison Falls National Park holidays

Uganda's largest national park is located in the north-west of the country and was named after the dramatic Murchison Falls where the Nile explodes through a narrow cleft in the Rift Valley escarpment. It protects a large section of untamed African savanna divided by the mighty Nile. Regarded as one of the best parks in Africa during the 1960s, the park was harmed initially by overpopulation and subsequent habitat destruction and then poaching. Since the 1990s, the animal populations have recovered, with herds of several hundred elephants occasionally sighted and lodges re-opened to tourists. Today, in the lush borassus grassland to the north of the Nile, elephants, buffaloes, lions, giraffes and a variety of antelopes are regularly encountered on safari drives, making it one of the best places in Africa to view plains wildlife. The Nile itself is also home to one of Africa's densest hippo and crocodile populations as well as a variety of water birds, including rare shoebill storks. Boat trips depart from the park headquarters at Paraa to the falls, taking around three hours, but afford close up views of one of the most powerful surges of water in the world