MURCHISON FALLS NATIONAL PARK

urchison Falls National Park (MFNP) is a national park in Uganda managed by the Ugandan Wildlife Authority. Located in north-western Uganda, it spreads inland from the shores of Lake Albert around the Victoria Nile up to the Karuma Falls.^[2]

Together with the adjacent 748 km² (289 sq mi) Bugungu Wildlife Reserve and the 720 km² (280 sq mi) Karuma Wildlife Reserve, the park forms the Murchison Falls Conservation Area (MFCA).^[3] As of 2022, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline being built includes the construction of 10 oil well pads, a feeder pipeline, and a refinery in and around the Murchison Falls national park.^[4]

Location

The park straddles the Ugandan districts of Buliisa, Nwoya, Kiryandongo, and Masindi.^[2] The driving distance from Masindi, the nearest large town, to the Kibanda area of the national park is about 72 km (45 mi).^[5] This area is about 283 km (176 mi), by road, north-west of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda.^[6] The coordinates of the park near the Kibanda area are 02°11’15.0″N, 31°46’53.0″E (Latitude:2.187499; Longitude:31.781400).^[7]

History

The explorers John Speke and James Grant were the first Europeans to visit the present day MFCA in 1862. It was more thoroughly explored by Samuel and Florence Baker in 1863–4. Baker named the falls Murchison Falls after the geologist Roderick Murchison, then the president of the Royal Geographical Society.^[8]

Between 1907 and 1912, the inhabitants of an area of about 13,000 km² (5,000 sq mi) were evacuated due to sleeping sickness spread by tsetse flies. In 1910, the Bunyoro Game Reserve was created south of the River Nile. That area roughly corresponds to the part of the MFNP that is in the districts of Buliisa, Masindi, and Kiryandongo. In 1928, the boundaries were extended north of the river into the modern-day Nwoya District.^[3]

In 1952, the British administration established the National Parks Act of Uganda. The area described above became Murchison Falls National Park.^[3]