Top Uganda Safari Lodges to Visit This Festive Season

Are you travelling to Uganda this Christmas for a safari in Uganda with family? What Uganda safari destinations have you included in your itinerary? Are you going for a Uganda wildlife safari? A chimpanzee trekking safari in Uganda? A Uganda bird watching safari? A Group tour in Uganda with friends? Or a Uganda gorilla safari in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park? Travel and do all those activities during your Uganda tour but then don’t miss out on visiting Lake Mburo National Park because it is one of the top tourist hot spots in Uganda.
There are lots of things that make Lake Mburo National Park Uganda a very special Uganda safari destination ranging from its virgin rolling hills to the traditional game drives done in 4×4 safari vehicles for hire in Uganda, walking safaris in Uganda, boat trips in Uganda and hiking that all combine to give you an interesting short Uganda wildlife safari. Lake Mburo National Park is one of few parks where everyone can find a Uganda safari tour activity to do.
Gazetted in 1933 as a regulated hunting area, this area was upgraded to the status of a game reserve in 1963 and later transformed into a Uganda National park in 1983. Located in Kiruhura District, in the Western Region of Uganda, Lake Mburo National Park is the smallest of Uganda’s savannah national parks with an area of about 370km². The park has a combination of acacia woodland, open grassland and wetland making it the ideal place for many species of wildlife.
Lake Mburo National Park is rich in biodiversity and has over 357 different species of birds including the crowned crane, the papyrus yellow warbler and the rare shoe bill stork, over 68 mammal species including zebras, elands, waterbucks and buffalos. Predators are present though rarely seen. The best to see animals in this park during a Uganda wildlife tour game drive is early in the morning or late evening.

Hippos and crocodiles can be seen during a boat cruise safari on Lake Mburo. As part of your adventure, you will be able to spot other wildlife animals quenching their thirst along the river banks. On some occasions, it is also possible to find herds of the famed Ankole long-horned cattle freely feeding with zebra and the impala.
It is about 30 kilometres, by road, east of Mbarara, the largest city in the sub-region and is approximately 240 kilometers, by road, west of Kampala, Uganda’s capital city.
One you decide to stay there, don’t be worried about Uganda safari accommodation in Lake Mburo National Park because there are many places to stay depending on your budget and these range from luxury Uganda safari accommodation, Mid-range Uganda safari accommodation and budget Uganda safari accommodation. Many of these Uganda safari lodges have different room types that suit families, single travellers, friends, as well as group travellers.
We, Prime Safaris & Tours Ltd, an Uganda and Africa safari tour operator, have visited many lodges in this park and have the following to recommend for this festive season. The recommended places of stay include those within and outside the park.

1. Mihingo Lodge

Mihingo Lodge is one of the Uganda luxury safari lodges in Lake Mburo National Park set in magical setting adjacent to Park. Perched high on a rocky kopje, whose pre-Cambrian granite boulders were formed over 500 million years ago, Mihingo lodge gives you spectacular views over a vast savannah landscape. This lodge was designed to blend in with its delicate surroundings hence building it as in an environmentally friendly way to offer comfort, relaxation and the experience of being at one with nature.
The lodge has an infinity pool overlooking the valley below where buffalo, eland, impala, warthogs, bush buck and zebra can be seen at the waterhole. Klipspringers are visitors of rocks close to the lodge.

2. Emburara Farm Lodge

Emburara farm lodge is strategically situated along Mbarara-Ibanda road; this eco-luxury lodge is built on a farm of long-horned Ankole Cattle. Emburara contains about 27 en suite spacious rooms that uniquely designed to give you a nice stay. It comprises of a bar and lounge, restaurant and 2 gazebos, a spa which includes a swimming pool, salon, gym, steam room and sauna, beautiful green lush gardens and 2 conference rooms that sit about 40 -170 people.
The farm lodge offers its guests a Life on the Farm experience with the Long Horned Ankole Cattle being at the center of it. Some of the activities guests to the lodge can engage in include; “okukama” –Milking, “okweshera”- taking the cows to water, “okuhembera”- lighting a small camp fire for the cows, “okwagaga” – massaging the cows to create friendship, “Okucunda”- the process of churning ghee and yoghurt. Aside from the cattle, you can participate in a cycling on the farm or workout by of swimming in the pool or work out in the health club.

3. Igongo Cultural Centre & Hotel

Located 12km from Mbarara town along Masaka – Mbarara highway, Igongo Cultural Centre & Country Hotel has one of the best museums in Uganda, Eriijukiro (the museum of South Western Uganda), a traditional restaurant that offers tasty local food, a bar and other great hotel facilities. Your visit or stay here is the ultimate destination for lovers of history, art, culture and comfort.
A staple of ultimate African luxury, Igongo merges comfort, relaxation and recreation in an environment offering great scenery and beautiful gardens that capture the imaginations of both the young and the old. The complex is an attraction to a diversity of people and cultures both local and international.

4. Mantana’s Lake Mburo Camp

Ideally situated within Lake Mburo National Park, this facility is a small and intimate luxury camp, in a beautiful setting with a relaxed atmosphere. It is an ideal place to enjoy the African wilderness and to start or finish a safari to Uganda.
Fitting perfectly with the environment, the luxurious and spacious tents on wooden decks with their large bedrooms, en-suite facilities and verandahs overlooking the lake and valley are complemented by a luxurious sitting room, bar and dining area.
Each of the camps nine guest tents are set on wooden platforms with veranda, twin/double bedroom, dressing room and en-suite bush shower and toilet. The dining and bar facilities are also set on a raised wooden platform that provides stunning views of Lake Mburo.
This facility is indeed an ideal place to relax with a cold drink after a hot and dusty game drive, a walking trip or a visit to the lake with its various activities.

5. Hotel Triangle Mbarara

Lying a few metres above the new Mbarara Southern by-pass is the recently opened Hotel Triangle – an imposing gem with 106 rooms. This hotel has facilities that include a presidential suite, conference centers, three swimming pools, children play centre among others.
Sitting on 160 acres, Hotel Triangle Mbarara that is approximately 25-minutes’ drive to Lake Mburo National Park also offers wedding and honeymoon services.

6. Lake View Hotel

Lake View Resort Hotel Mbarara offers accommodation in 70 tastefully designed rooms with adjoining Rooms for Families, air-conditioning and ensuite Bathroom.
Among the other hotel facilities are; a swimming pool, health club, conference facilities as well as a tennis court.

7. Rwakobo Rock

Set in the pristine Ankole ranchlands surrounding Lake Mburo National Park, this eco-friendly, family-run hotel is nestled on a scenic outcrop at the edge of Lake Mburo National Park.
It has 8 comfortable and spacious cottages, dotted around the hill, all very private and offering great sunset views. The main dining area overlooks an expanse of rock that adjoins the park.
Rwakobo offers a variety of both easy and challenging walks offering the chance to get close to nature. It also offers mountain biking and caters for night drives, while the park can be discovered by vehicle, foot or boat.
Every night (weather permitting) the friendly Rwakobo staff stoke up a camp fire so you can watch the sunset explode into a brilliant starlit sky.

8. Mburo Safari Lodge

Nestled on a hill, overlooking and bordering Lake Mburo National Park, has cottages and honeymoon house all raised on a wooden platform and covered by a grass-thatched roof, perfectly blending with the natural environment.
The lodge’s 10 luxury and spacious cottages (suites) have furniture in distinctive African style and luxurious bathrooms with hot water and a flushing toilet. Each cottage has its private balcony where you can sit and enjoy the scenery.
There are also honeymoon cottages that enable guests a romantic hideaway with greater privacy and space perfect for that extra special treat.
Two family cottages are also available and are located near the restaurant and ideal for people with children.

9. Arcadia Cottages

Located 2km from the park headquarters at Rwonyo, Arcadia Lodge is an ideal base from which to explore the park on a game drive, spot crocodiles and hippos on the launch trip or really get close to nature on a guided walking safari.
The lodges eight self-contained cottages are arranged around a central lodge building, where guests can enjoy stunning views of the park from the newly built raised deck.  In the evenings, guests can wind down from an exciting day’s safari around the lodge’s open fire, sipping on a cold drink from the bar while impala, warthog and the occasional hippo munch on the grass just yards away.

10. Mpogo Safari Lodge

Mpogo Safari Lodge is a peaceful and exclusive facility conveniently located on top of a hill, in the outcasts of Lake Mburo National Park, western Uganda.
This 16 room facility offers midrange accommodation at affordable prices. Originally a family farm house, Mpogo Lodge has two private grass-thatched cottages with two rooms each, in built showers rooms and toilets, at the top most of the hill, which gives guests a spectacular view of the park.
The Uganda safari lodge is designed to make you feel at home in the neighbouring wild. From the main dining area, guests can enjoy the view of the stunning evening sunsets over Lake Mburo National Park.