Murchison Falls National Park

Murchison Falls National Park is Uganda's largest and oldest conservation area, bisected by the Victoria Nile as it carves its way from Lake Victoria toward Lake Albert. The park's centrepiece is Murchison Falls itself, where the entire volume of the Nile is forced through a gap just seven metres wide before exploding 43 metres into a churning pool below — creating what is arguably the world's most powerful waterfall.

The boat safari upstream from Paraa to the base of the falls is one of East Africa's great wildlife experiences. The riverbanks teem with hippos, Nile crocodiles (some enormous), elephants bathing in the shallows, and extraordinary birdlife including the prehistoric-looking shoebill stork — one of Africa's most sought-after bird sightings.

Game drives on the northern bank reveal open savanna populated by giraffes (the endangered Rothschild's subspecies), lions, leopards, buffalo, Jackson's hartebeest, and Uganda kob. A recently reintroduced rhino population at Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary (en route from Kampala) completes the Big Five experience.