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After the launch of a valentines trip to Lake Mburo National Park, “Love in the Wilderness”  by the ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities together with a tourism promotion company Breathtaking Uganda, www.iandm-media.com brings an insightful view of what the Park harbors.

Hon. Wilson Kajwengye, MP Nyabushozi County at the launch of Love in the wilderness at Uganda Media Center on Friday.

The four day trip launched on Friday 8th February will run from 14th to 18th at the captivating Lake Mburo National Park, the Uganda’s Wildlife parlance

Dubbed “Whispers of wild”, Lake Mburo National Park is a compact jewel of its own kind. Ideally placed for an overnight break between Kampala and the protected areas of western Uganda.

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Lake Mburo is Uganda’s smallest Savannah National Park covering 260 square kilometers. The park habits 332 recorded bird species, huge numbers of zebras, Impalas, Elands, Hippos, Defassa waterbuck, Topis, Oribi, Buffalos, Giraffes, Reedbuck among others.

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Initially covered by Savannah, Lake Mburo National Park currently contains woodland since there are no elephants to destroy the vegetation.

Herbivores in the seasonal wetland valleys and acacia grasslands that surround Lake Mburo include species such as topi, eland, and zebra that are rare or absent in other parks in Uganda.

With 332 species recorded, birding is also rewarding with papyrus and acacia species being particularly well represented.

Visitors need not to limit themselves to game drives; the Park can also be explored using mountain bikes, by boat, on foot and on horseback.

Seeing the long horned Ankole cattle graze alongside wildlife is one of the most exciting moments a tourist would enjoy to set eyes on while on a tour through Lake Mburo National Game Park.

It’s a rare experience seeing zebras, Uganda Kobs, Impalas, Elands, Buffalos among others grazing alongside the world’s famous long horned Ankole cattle.

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Animals move beyond the park boundaries into the cattle grazing fields. The relationships between the cattle and Zebras has over the years grown creating a unique sight for tourists who visit Lake Mburo.

Lake Mburo National Park gives a rare and an exciting opportunity to tourists to view wildlife while walking, cycling, and horse riding due to the absence of many fierce predators.

BACKGROUND

Gazetted in 1933 as a controlled hunting area and upgraded to a Game reserve in 1963, Lake Mburo gained a national Park status in 1983.

The move by the then ruling Obote government to gazette the area was not welcomed by the Banyankole and Bahima herding communities who lost grazing land without compensation.

The evicted  pastoralists evenly staged hostile attitudes towards the formation of the park. After the fall of Obote II government in 1985, native residents of Lake Mburo re-occupied the Park land.

In the process, they expelled park staff, destroyed park infrastructure and killed hundreds of animals.

However, In 1986, the current ruling government re-gazetted the park and restored it’s original land. The action never solved the evictees grievances for compensation. In 1995, The park land was again de-gazetted to accommodate war affected displaced people in Luwero Triangle under the Kanyaryeru resettlement scheme.