SAVE MURCHISON FALLS NATIONAL PARK

BACKGROUND ABOUT MURCHISON

Murchison Falls National park is situated in the northern part of Albertine Rift Valley, place where the massive Bunyoro escarpment amalgamate into the enormous plains of Acholi land. It is well known to be one of Uganda's ancient conservation areas. In 1926, it was known as a game reserve set up to protect the savannah grassland that was talked about by Winston Churchill in 1907 as the great Kew Gardens along with the wildlife blended on a restricted land. The park covers an area of about 3,893km2 and its known to be one of Uganda's well protected area. This area is an addition to Murchison falls thus covering an area of about 5,072km2 including Bugungu as well as Karuma wildlife reserves.

The park is acknowledged for receiving prominent international visitors. Winston Churchill is a great man who is accredited for having done activities such as boat cruise, hiking as well as cycling along the Nile corridor of the falls. Later on, he was followed by his predecessor who is believed to have spent a lot of money around US$1.8m on his hunting safari in Uganda.

In 1951, a movie was shot with background scenery of the Murchison falls that was Humphrey Bogart in John Huston's prominent movie. Another movie was the African Queen which was shot on the vicinity of the Murchison Nile along with Lake Albert. Other vital visitors include the Prince of Wales, Edward VII in 1930, Queen Mother in 1959 and the British royals

In 1954, Ernest Hemingway also visited the park. The aim of his visit was to enjoy the adventure waterfalls although his plane got a problem on his way to venture the beautiful scenery of the Park. Hemingway and the wife survived and were taken to Butiaba hospital for some treatment.

Besides the wildlife safari in the northern part of the park where game such as lion, giraffes, elephants, buffalos, bushbucks among others are seen roaming in the vast savannah, Murchison Falls National Park also covers a big part of Budongo Forest which is a hub for various primates. Chimpanzee tracking, which is one of the most exciting primate tracking adventure after gorilla tours is done here in Budongo Forest.

Murchison Falls National park, formely known as Kabalega National parkderives the name from Murchison Falls, which is a 7 meter Canyon where the mighty Nile river forces itself from this narrow gorge powering down with a thunderous roar. These falls are the most powerful falls in the world and are amazing to watch and take video shoots.

The Delta area which form part of Murchison Falls national park is the best place to see the rare shoebill stock. A boat cruise to the Delta area where the shoe bill is sighted offers great opportunity to see game as hippos, crocodiles, lots of bird species among others.

There are different cultural set ups around the park and cultural walks to these unique cultures always offer insight into the different cultures in Uganda.

Murchison Falls National park is thus, the most inclusive park which offers best of wildlife safari in Uganda which can be combined in three days.

CURRENT SITUATION/ PROBLEM

I love my country uganda, I think it's very beautiful and I have great belief in its natural richness.

One of my greatest beliefs is that tourism is the most sustainable industries which feed our economy, even with very little government effort, interest and investment. We are reaping big in the form of government revenue through taxes, GDP figures, Foreign Exchange, job creation; with very little prioritization from the government. Imagine if we did it more deliberately?

It's because of the thunderous falls in this park that the Government of uganda is trying to put up a Hydro electricity Dam ! Which we as Environmentalists and Tourism lovers have decided to use all our resources and power to save this national park from destructions.