The most visited tourist sites in Uganda are its national Park because they harbor lots of wild life. If you’re to visit Uganda, you should not overlook these tourist sites with good sceneries and world life, the misty green forests, snow peaked mountains, beautiful lakes and sprawling savannah and mountain gorillas that attract most of the tourists. These parks include;

LAKE MBURO NATIONAL PARK

Lake Mburo is found in Kiruhura district located along kampala-mbarara highway in Western uganda. It is a home to a variety of leopards, hippos, zebras, hyenas, impalas, bush buck, buffalo, warthog, topi, eland and recently Introduced giraffe from Queen Elizabeth national Park. There are no elephants and lions and this makes it a very ideal park for walking safaris (Nature walks)

This park is also a home to over 350 species of birds around it and its wetland. It has a number of bird species; like brown chested wattled, plover, African fisheagle, African fin foot, shoebill, stork, saddle billed stork among others.

When in the park, you will be able to do Horse Riding, Birding, sport fishing, Fishing, Bicycle touring, Boat Rides, forest walks, quad biking, wildlife Game driving,  lakeside tracking , have a magnificent safari experience and see the Rwakobo Rock.

QUEEN ELIZABETH NATIONAL PARK

Queen Elizabeth National Park lies in western Uganda. Its 386.7km through Mbarara approximately 8-9 hours’ drive from Kampala the capital of Uganda. It is one of the most visited national parks because of its name, location and nature it provides.

This park was named after the royal queen Elizabeth 11 of England and was established in 1954. It was famous for its exotic wildlife, a home to many elephants, African leopards, lions, chimpanzees, hippos, buffalos and over 500 species of birds. It also has volcanic cones and deep craters especially on the side of Rubirizi district. It also covers districts like kasese, Mitoma and Kamwenge.

In this park, the lions is the key attraction and one of the best parks to encounter lions in Africa. Mostly, tourists get in touch with the lazy lions and swinging Chimpanzees seen in Maramagambo and grassy Savannah.

The park is open all year but wildlife is at its best from January to febuary and june to july since its dry season though it’s at its beautiful scenery in wet season.

RWENZORI MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK.

Rwenzori mountain national park is located in the south western part of Uganda. It’s along the Borders of Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It’s found in Bundibugyo, Kabarole and Kasese districts.

It is the home for one of the most beautiful landscape in the whole world and it is located in Rwenzori mountains thus its name. The park has high glaciers, breath taking water falls, a valley of lakes and a variety of flora and fauna and is one of Africa’s most beautiful mountain areas.

The park has camping sites, a good trail network, and huts for hikers. It still offers trekking and climbing routes, several with unusual scenery. The most popular trek is a seven-day circuit of the park.

The park has diverse species of plants and trees. It had over 89 bird species, butterfly and different primates. It harbors the monkeys, forest elephants, turaco, chimpanzee, hyrax and colobus.

BWINDI IMPENETRABLE NATIONAL PARK.

This national park forms part of Bwindi impenetrable forest, one of the richest eco systems in Africa. It has over 200 different species of trees, 120 species of mammals like gorillas, elephants, 348 species of birds, species of butterflies, 27 species of frogs, chameleons, geckos, and many endangered species. It is found in Kanungu district the southwest of Uganda.

The park is best known for harboring the endangered mountain gorillas, hadituated mountain gorilla groups, colobus monkeys, chimpanzees, hornbills and turacos.

SEMILIKI NATIONAL PARK.

This national park is famous for Sempaya hot springs with water temperature over 1000c. People have always tested and boil eggs in just 10 minutes. This park has animals like red tailed monkeys, chimpanzees, elephants, pygmy antelopes, buffalo, leopard, hippopotamus, bush babies water chevrotain and different species of birds among them are; the lyre-tailed honey guide and the rare oberlanders ground thrush hornbill. It is found in Bundibugyo district in the western part of Uganda.

MURCHISON FALLS NATIONAL PARK.

Murchison falls National Park is the largest national park in Uganda. This makes it one of the most toured national park in Uganda. It covers approximately 3840 square kilometers.  It’s located in the north Western part of Uganda. It extends to districts of Bulisa, Nwoya, Kirandongo and Masindi which is the nearest town to Murchison falls national park.  From Kampala its 305km approximately 5-6 hours to Murchison falls national park.

For those that cherish a scenery of river Nile, then, Murchison falls provides all with a magnificent scenery of falls where the waters of the Nile squeeze through a narrow gorge to make a beautiful waterfall. This park is also a home for elephants, lions, leopards buffalo, giraffe, chimpanzee, antelope and many other mammals like birds.

When to visit.

Overall; December and February the dry season

Low seasons; April to May and October to November the area experiences heavy rains causing inaccessible roads.

High seasons; June and September that’s when the most tourists are visiting the site. Likely to enjoy relief from both heavy rains and high temperature.

KIBALE NATIONAL PARK

Kibale National Park is located in the western part of Uganda about 348km (5 hrs drive) from Kampala and about 26km south-east of the beautiful Fort Portal town – one of Uganda’s most lovely places to explore ; Kamwenge district.

It is a home for chimpanzees and other endangered species in their natural habitat, it still harbors buffaloes, leopards, bush pigs, elephants, and duikers. A keen viewer may also be able to spot some amphibians, reptiles and a variety of colorful butterflies.

KIDEPO VALLEY NATIONAL PARK.

It is the most isolated national park in Uganda  in Kaabong district with in Karamoja region in the northern part of uganda. Kidepo valley lies in the rugged savannah between Uganda’s borders with south Sudan and Kenya. Kidepo valley national park is a home for over 70 species of mammals and over 470 species of birds. It is very ideal for game viewing.

It is commonly known as a home to Elephants, Zebra, Bush Pigs, Rothschild Giraffes, Eland, Jackson’s Hartebeest, Buffalo, Oribi, Lion, Leopard, Spotted Hyena, Black-backed and Side-backed Jackal. Kidepo is the best park in Africa for great buffalo herds!!

Birding safaris in Uganda are best done at Kidepo valley national park. The park has over 450 bird species and a dream Uganda tour destination for bird watching expeditions. A dozen out of the 50 birds of prey species in Uganda are endemic in the Karamoja region.

MGAHINGA GORILLA NATIONAL PARK.

Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is located in the southwestern corner of Uganda. The Park covers the northern slopes of the three northern most Virunga Volcanoes: Mt. Muhavura, Mt. Gahinga, and Mt. Sabinyo. The Park is about 10 km south of Kisoro and is bordered to the south by the Volcanoes National Park of Rwanda and to the west by the Virunga National Park of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This park is a dense forest and a natural habitat for the rare mountain gorillas and the endangered golden monkey. When you visit this park, you get an opportunity to have a cultural experience of the indigenous batwa pgymies, a tribe of hunter gatherers and they were the forest’s first people.

Mgahinga’s three conical extinct volcanoes provide an outstanding back drop to the already beautiful scenery that the park possesses

Activities in mgahinga are; Gorilla Tracking, Volcano Hiking, Golden Monkey Tracking, Batwa Trail, Bird Watching and Garama Cave Exploration.

MOUNT ELGON NATIONAL PARK

It is an extinct volcano with the largest surface area in the world. This park is in the border of Kenya and Uganda and it covers 430 square miles. It has a variety of birds and mammals. There is a cave with ancient paintings near the trail head, hot springs in the former volcano craters.

The park is a home to Elephants,Buffalo (found on the lower slopes the park)number of small antelope, monkeys, the Black-and-white Colobus and Blue Monkey. It is also home to over 300 bird species including the endangered Lammergeier, African Goshawk and Baglafecht Weaver.