Explore Bunyoro escapades leave domestic tourists marvelling at the iconic beauty of spectacular Murchison Falls

Waterfalls are some of the most majestic creations of Mother Nature. The violent current, overwhelming mist and crashing sounds of spluttering awaken the instincts inside.

This is the feeling you get when you visit Murchison Falls which is located in the north-western side of Uganda. Murchison Falls, a scenic wonder, is regarded as the most powerful waterfall in the world. Murchison Falls distinctly covers parts of Buliisa, Nwoya, Kiryandongo and Masindi district

According to the Global Conservation Organization, every second, the equivalent of 200 bathtubs full of water is forced through a gorge less than seven paces wide. The pressure is so great that the Murchison Falls ground trembles.

Explore Bunyoro

In an attempt to revamp the tourism sector after the coronavirus pandemic, Ugandans last week participated in the Explore Bunyoro campaign. One of the places visited was Murchison Falls on Saturday 30th September 2023.

A group of more than 100 domestic tourists made a trip to the top of the Murchison Falls to view the water that plummets 43 meters before flowing out towards into Lake Albert.

Emma Drago, a ranger guide at the Murchison Falls National Park, revealed that despite the falls being the most powerful in the whole world, no human being has drowned there for the twelve years he has worked.

According to Drago, the waterfall flowing between a narrow gauge of between 6 and 7 meters wide was formed by tectonism. Tectonism is the deformation of the earth’s crust to form continents and ocean basins, plateaus and mountains, folds of strata, and faults.

Why the name Murchison?

“In 1952, this area was gazetted as a national park. Initially in the year 1926, this side of the southern bank was named Bunyoro Game Reserve, then at the north bank was called Gulu Game Reserve,” Drago narrated bits of the place’s history.

“As the locals were here, especially the Banyoro, Bagungu, Acholis and Luos, there was an outbreak of tsetse flies which causes sleeping sickness. The disease killed most of the locals,”

“Since during Uganda was still under the British protectorate, the British government decided to combat the disease. The British moved people from both sides of the Victoria Nile which bisects the National Park into two,” he added.

The iconic feature was renamed Murchison Falls National Park when English traveller Sir Samuel White Baker visited the falls in the mid-1860s. He named the falls after geologist Sir Roderick Murchison.

Known to be covering 3,893 square kms, Murchison Falls National Park is home to 76 mammal species and 451 birds.

Safety measures put in place

To prevent any accidents from happening at the top of the falls, Drago noted that as guides they have planted rails along the gauges of the falls to prevent any sudden accidents.

“Nothing like an accident has ever happened because of the safety measures put in place. We also usually brief whoever comes here on safety measures. We give them a briefing about the place and they follow what we tell them,” he explained.

Pride of Uganda 

Charmar News interacted with some tourists who participated in the Explore Bunyoro campaign and shared their experiences at the top of the spectacular falls.

It was the first time for Hellen Nakato, a student at Makerere University Business School to visit the falls. You can hear the sound of the waters miles away, she said, astonished that Uganda has been having such beauty for hundreds of years.

Ashraf Male, another tourist on the escapade, expressed pride that Uganda owns the world’s most powerful falls.

While at the top of Murchison Falls, one can see, hear, and feel the Nile’s unleashed power as the river pours into the Devil’s Cauldron and down the Western Rift Valley Escarpment.