WATERFALL CRUISE – MURCHISON FALLS Murchison Falls National Park is Uganda’s supreme and largest gazetted area in northwestern Uganda. It can be accessed by road, taking 5-6-hour drive and covering a distance of 380km. The park is famous for its waterfall cruise down to the bottom of the falls.

The park’s name was originally Kabalega Falls, named after a famous King that ruled in the area. However, in the colonial age, Sir Samuel and Florence Baker renamed the falls after Roderick Murchison who was head of the royal geographical society at the time. That’s how the worlds strongest waterfall emanated to be termed.

Uniquely Ugandan

The falls are known to have a narrow gorge through which water thrusts with intense pressure tumbling down 43m and into a pool known as “The Devil’s Cauldron”. There after it is recognized to flow into Lake Albert. The park is bisected by the Victoria Nile into the northern and southern sectors, each popular for a specific item. The Victoria Nile connects to the Albertine Nile.

The Park covers 3,893km² with over 76 mammals and over 450 bird species. The northern sector of the park hosts most of the wildlife species making it favorable for game drives. Most, if not all Ugandan safari to Murchison falls national park have their climax to falls bottom by way of waterfall cruise. This is by far one of the best experiences for anyone visiting this beautiful park.  

Boat Cruise aka Waterfall Cruise

Boats cruises in Murchison falls start at Paraa as the major point. There are two boat cruises at the Nile. The first boat cruise is upstream of the river to the bottom of the falls and the second is downstream to Victoria Nile delta stretching as far to Lake Albert.

The upstream boat cruise to the bottom of the falls is the most admired and starting point to hike on top of the falls. The boat cruise starts from Paraa dock as mentioned earlier. It then sails by hippos, elephants showering of the river, antelope communities grazing on fresh grass, water birds and crocodiles. The boat-ride is a perfect photography opportunity, and we recommend it for all on photography trips. This is the best chance for wildlife shots up-close on a boat.

The downstream boat cruise (delta boat cruise) also starts from Paraa floating slowly down to Lake Albert; the speed of the river goes on reducing creating numerous rivers with floating islands of papyrus. Bird lovers get opportunities of spotting a number of water of birds like the shoes bill which dwell in the swamps. The delta boat cruise is awesome and fantastic because it is referred to as a sun downer boat cruise because it is done in the evening. The evening makes the activity romantic as you can imagine and mostly enjoyed by lovers.

This is where we step in…

The two waterfall cruise options can be encountered while on a Love Uganda Safari. Ideally the activity starts at 2pm and lasts for 3 hours. We seamlessly reserve spots for all our clients on a boat of their choice. During the boat-cruise, travelers have greater opportunities of sighting wildlife species like; elephants, crocodiles, hippos, birds and antelopes. Some of the game comes to the river to cool the irritating temperatures, others grazing on the fresh grass along the river and other like hippos and crocodiles call it home. 

Uganda wildlife Authority boats have been operating for quite some time with a team of experts taking tourists on a memorable cruise. The boat cruise for the park has specified time for the activity. We also handle visitors with special bookings for any obtainable time.

Combining a safari to Murchison Falls can be with a gorilla trekking trip down south is possible with us. There are two options to do this, either by road (with other parks stopovers) or flights via Entebbe. Have a wildlife safari to Murchison falls national park and enjoy a waterfall cruise on the Nile as one of the activities on your package.