Night game drives in Uganda National Parks: These thrilling and daring excursions give visitors the chance to explore the grasslands of Uganda’s national parks at night under the guidance of a qualified and armed tour guide who is equipped with spotlight torches for a clear view of primates and other wildlife.
There are ten national parks in Uganda, each offering a variety of activities to visitors. However, only three of these parks Lake Mburo National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, and Murchison Falls National Park offer night game drives.
One of the most well-known and popular destinations in Uganda that provides an intriguing game drive activity is Queen Elizabeth National Park, which is a protected savannah region and the country’s second biggest national park after Murchison Falls National Park.
Approximately 420 kilometers from Kampala, Queen Elizabeth National Park is situated in the Kasese area in western Uganda. It takes roughly 6-7 hours to go there by car from Kampala to Kasese via the Fort Port or Mbarara routes.
There are many different wild animals in Queen Elizabeth National Park, including leopards, chimpanzees, water bucks, red-tailed monkeys, hippos, elephants, Uganda kobs, giant forest hogs, and a variety of birds, including the shoebill, pink-backed pelican, palm-nut vulture, and great blue turaco. The park is also well-known for housing the tree-climbing lions in the Ishasha sector.
Only the Great Mweya Peninsula is used for night game drives in Queen Elizabeth National Park since Kasenyi Plains sees a lot of people during the day. A UWA armed game ranger guide leads the night game drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park, which begins at 19:00 pm.
The guide helps you identify various nocturnal wildlife creatures, particularly those belonging to the cat family, such as leopards, lions, hyenas, bush babies, and mongoose, among others. These creatures are easier to identify at night since they often hunt at night.
Night game drive in Lake Mburo National Park: The 470-kilometer-long Lake Mbuo National Park, Uganda’s smallest savannah grassland national park, is situated in the Mbarara district in the country’s west. It takes around four to five hours to drive from Kampala to the park because it is close to the Masaka-Mbarara Highway.
With an estimated 5000 zebras, Lake Mburo National Park is well-known for having the greatest zebra population in Uganda. It also has the highest concentration of leopards in the country.
White-tailed pelicans, long-tailed cisticolas, and several others. White-tailed mongoose, bush pigs, black galagos, honey badgers, side-stripped jackals, and other nocturnal animals that are typically invisible during day game drives can be seen during Lake Mburo National Park’s night game drives, which begin at 18:30 pm and are led by park rangers equipped with spotlight torches.
In Murchison Falls National Park, nighttime game drives: The largest national park in Uganda is called Murchison Falls National Park, and it is well-known for the powerful falls. It is separated into two halves, one in the north and one in the south, and is mostly made up of green wooded areas and savannah grasslands.
The park stretches inland from the coasts of Lake Albert, the Victoria Nile, and Karuma Falls in northwest Uganda. The park is well-known for providing refuge to a variety of wildlife, including chimpanzees, olive baboons, colobus monkeys, elephants, lions, buffalos, oribis, Uganda kobs, and other primates.
It also supports a variety of birds, including the grey-crowned crane, Abyssinian ground hornbill, and shoebill, among others. Since the north part of the park has the biggest concentration of animals, it is the primary location for night game drives at Murchison Falls.
The park ranger leads the night game drive at Murchison Falls, which always begins at 19:00 pm. Spotlight lights are used to provide an excellent view of the many wildlife species, including lions, hippos grazing, nightjars, leopards, and bush babies.
The price of wildlife drives in Uganda’s national parks at night
According to a decision made by the Ugandan government under UWA, foreign residents are expected to pay $20 USD per person for a nighttime wildlife drive in Uganda. Using a private vehicle for a nighttime game drive costs 30 USD for foreign nonresidents and 50,000 UGX for each member of the East African community; however, using a UWA vehicle costs 40 USD for foreign nonresidents, 35 USD for foreign residents, and 100,000 UGX for each member of the East African community.