Murchison Falls Conservation Area is one of Uganda’s largest and
oldest protected areas lying at the northern end of the Albertine Rift
Valley. It is named after the breath-taking spectacular water falls on the
Great River Nile which in 1864, a British explorer Sir Samuel Baker
chose to christen Murchison, in honor of the distinguished President of
the Royal Geographical Society.
The dramatic waterfalls which is the main stay of the national park
is where the Nile, the world’s longest river contracts from a grand
stream to explode violently through a narrow six meter gorge into the
cauldron of turbulent water 40 meters below, popularly known as the
Devil’s cauldron. According to Samuel Baker, the water falls is the most
important object throughout the course of the river.
The river banks are throngs with hippos, crocodiles, water bucks and
buffaloes. The vegetation characterized by savannah, riverine forest
and woodland. Wildlife includes lions, leopards, elephants, giraffes,
buffaloes, hartebeests, or ibis, Uganda Kobs, chimpanzees and many
bird species including the rare shoebill. Sport fishing is possible in the
river sections above and below the falls.
