Lake Mburo National Park Fees: Entry, Game Drives, Boat Trips and Getting There (2026)

Lake Mburo National Park is the closest savanna park to Kampala and one of the cheapest to visit. It is a compact mix of acacia grassland, rocky ridges, swamps and lakes where zebra, impala and eland graze within a short drive of the main Kampala to Mbarara highway, which makes it an easy first or last night on a western Uganda safari. This guide sets out the Lake Mburo National Park fees you will pay for entry and each activity, what is not on the official tariff, and how to get there, using the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) conservation tariff, as of October 2026.

A word of caution before the numbers. UWA's published tariff is the July 2024 schedule, and the tariff itself says prices can change without notice. UWA has announced revised fees for several activities from 1 January 2027, but none of the changes reported so far concern Lake Mburo; they cover gorilla habituation and chimpanzee and lion tracking elsewhere. Even so, confirm current prices with UWA reservations or your tour operator when you book.

The park at a glance

UWA describes Lake Mburo as a 370-square-kilometre park in Kiruhura District, lying between Kampala and Mbarara at an altitude of roughly 1,220 to 1,828 metres. Five lakes lie within its boundaries, and wetlands make up about a fifth of the park, part of a wider 50-kilometre wetland system linked by swamps.

The park has a long history of land use. It was set aside as a controlled hunting area in 1933, became a game reserve in 1963 and was upgraded to a national park in 1983. The surrounding Ankole rangeland is cattle country, and the park's past includes evictions and the later re-gazetting of a smaller area in 1986.

Wildlife is the draw. UWA lists zebra, impala, eland, buffalo, Defassa waterbuck, topi, reedbuck, warthog and bushpig, with hippos and crocodiles along the lakeshores. Leopards and hyenas are present but rarely seen, and there are no elephants. Rothschild's giraffes have lived in the park since 2015. Birders come for more than 315 recorded species, according to UWA, with acacia specialists around Rwonyo, the park headquarters.

Park entrance fees (as of October 2026)

Entrance is charged per person for each 24 hours in the park, counted from the time you enter. Time beyond 24 hours is charged as another day. Children are those aged 5 to 15, and under-5s enter free. Park gates are open from 7am to 7pm.

Foreign non-residents: 40 US dollars per adult, 20 dollars per child.

Foreign residents of Uganda: 30 dollars per adult.

East African citizens: 20,000 Uganda shillings per adult, 5,000 shillings per child.

Ugandan school groups pay 3,000 shillings per pupil, university and college groups 5,000 shillings and Uganda Wildlife Clubs 2,000 shillings.

Entrance fees are separate from activity fees, so add them to everything below.

Activity fees

These are UWA's charges for Lake Mburo, quoted for foreign non-residents, then foreign residents, then East African citizens.

Guided day game drive: 20 dollars, 15 dollars, 20,000 shillings per person.

Night game drive: 30 dollars, 15 dollars, 50,000 shillings per person. Night drives are only for visitors sleeping inside the park, and a UWA guide is compulsory.

Self-drive game drive without a guide: 10 dollars, 10 dollars, 10,000 shillings.

Boat trip on Lake Mburo: 30 dollars, 25 dollars, 30,000 shillings per person, with a Rest of Africa rate of 20 dollars. The tariff sets a minimum charge of 120 dollars, or 120,000 shillings for East Africans, which covers four people, so couples and solo travellers should ask whether they can join another group.

Bird watching and nature walks: 25 dollars, 20 dollars, 20,000 shillings. Walks are led by armed UWA rangers and are one of the main reasons to come, because Lake Mburo is one of the few Ugandan parks where you can explore savanna on foot.

Cycling: 30 dollars, 25 dollars, 30,000 shillings.

Sport fishing: 15 dollars for one day or 25 dollars for four days for foreign visitors, and 20,000 or 60,000 shillings for East Africans. Permits do not include park entry.

What is not on the UWA tariff

Horseback safaris, which take riders out among zebra and eland, do not appear on UWA's tariff. They are arranged separately, so ask your lodge or operator for a quote and check whether park entrance is included. The same applies to private lodge activities outside the park boundary.

Vehicle entry fees

Vehicles pay separately for each 24 hours. Ugandan-registered saloon cars pay 20,000 shillings, minibuses and pick-ups 30,000 shillings, and tour company vehicles and four-wheel drives 30,000 shillings. Foreign-registered vehicles pay 40 dollars for a saloon car, 50 dollars for a minibus or pick-up and 150 dollars for a tour vehicle or four-wheel drive.

Staying at Rwonyo

UWA runs simple accommodation at Rwonyo, the park headquarters. Its tariff lists a double room in the guesthouse at 130,000 shillings including breakfast, with an extra person at 65,000 shillings, tents at 35,000 shillings for one person or 60,000 shillings for two, and dormitory beds at 25,000 shillings for adults. Local taxes are extra. Private lodges and tented camps in and around the park cost more and vary widely.

Getting there

By road, Lake Mburo is about 228 kilometres from Kampala, around three and a half hours' drive along the Masaka to Mbarara highway, according to UWA. Two gates serve the park, both about 2 kilometres from Rwonyo once you are inside. For Nshara Gate, take the first left turn off the highway and drive about 5 kilometres. Sanga Gate is at Sanga Trading Centre, about 13 kilometres from the highway.

There are no scheduled flights to the park. UWA notes that you can charter a flight from Entebbe or Kajjansi to Mbarara airstrip, roughly an hour and a half, and continue by road.

Sample costs per person

For a foreign non-resident adult on a one-night stop, a typical UWA bill is two park days at 40 dollars, one guided game drive at 20 dollars and one boat trip at 30 dollars, a total of 130 dollars before transport, accommodation and tips. Adding a guided walk brings it to 155 dollars. East African citizens doing the same pay 40,000 shillings in entry, 20,000 shillings for the game drive and 30,000 shillings for the boat, or 90,000 shillings in total. These figures are our arithmetic from UWA's published rates and assume the boat runs with at least four people.

Planning a visit

Lake Mburo works well as a break in the long drive between Kampala and Bwindi or Queen Elizabeth National Park. Arrive in the afternoon for a game drive or boat trip, take a guided walk early the next morning when animals are most active, and continue west. For the rest of the route, see our Queen Elizabeth National Park fees guide, our Uganda gorilla permits guide and our guide to the best time to visit Uganda.

Photo: Alvinategyeka / Wikimedia Commons (CC0).