Climate Change and Murchison Falls National Park

Climate Change and Murchison Falls National Park

Murchison Falls sits at the northern end of the Albertine Rift, a landscape defined for millennia by the rhythm of the Victoria Nile and by rains that arrived, more or less, on schedule. That predictability is loosening. Over the past decade guides and rangers have watched the park behave in unfamiliar ways — later rains, sharper floods, longer dry spells and animals turning up where they seldom used to.

This guide looks honestly at what climate change means for Murchison Falls and the wider Albertine region: how the weather is shifting, how the Nile and Lake Albert are responding, what it does to wildlife, and how oil development adds a second layer of pressure. It also covers the practical work Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and its partners are doing, and why a well-run safari is part of the solution rather than the problem.

A shifting climate in the Albertine Rift

Uganda’s conservation assessments describe the pattern plainly: higher average temperatures, more erratic rainfall, and more intense downpours when rain does fall. Seasons that guides once set their watches by have become harder to predict, with the transition between wet and dry blurring at the edges.

Longer, hotter dry spells are the most visible effect on the ground. When the grass cures early and water points shrink, vegetation is slower to regenerate and grazing pressure concentrates. Uganda’s climate-risk work notes that grazers such as hartebeest, kob and buffalo bear the brunt first, and because they are prey, the predators that depend on them feel it soon after.

When the Nile rose: floods and water variability

Murchison’s great advantage is a permanent river, yet even the Nile has been unsettled. Between 2019 and 2021 a run of exceptionally wet seasons across the Lake Victoria basin drove the lake above its 1960s record. That excess water propagated downstream, filling Lakes Kyoga and Albert and keeping the Victoria Nile running high well into 2021.

The consequences reached the park directly. In 2020 the Nile burst its banks and submerged the ferry landing points at Paraa, and UWA suspended boat trips to the base of the falls while advising visitors to reach the northern bank through the Tangi and Wankwar gates instead. Lake Albert acts as a reservoir that holds and slowly releases water, so flooding and drought can now swing further from the long-term average, with the timing of each harder to forecast.

What the changes mean for wildlife

The clearest documented casualty has been the Nile crocodile. UWA ecologists report that the 2020–2021 floods washed away the sandbanks where crocodiles lay their eggs, replacing sand with mud and disrupting breeding cycles. Hippos, too, were displaced, and some animals became trapped in mud as waters rose and fell — losses that conservation staff have openly acknowledged.

Away from the water, drought drives a different problem. When parts of the park run short of water, animals move beyond the boundary in search of it, straying into farmland and raising the risk of human-wildlife conflict along the park edge. Warmer, more variable conditions can also increase contact — and disease transmission — between wildlife, livestock and people.

Invasive plants compound the stress. The fast-spreading tree Senna spectabilis has colonised parts of the Murchison Falls landscape and neighbouring Budongo Forest, crowding out the native grasses and shrubs that grazers and browsers depend on, and a warming climate tends to favour such aggressive colonisers over slow-regenerating natives.

Oil development adds pressure

Climate change is not the only force reshaping Murchison. The Tilenga project, operated by TotalEnergies with CNOOC and the Uganda National Oil Company, is developing the Lake Albert oil fields, with around 400 wells planned across 29 locations. One of those fields lies inside the national park, where drilling began in 2023.

TotalEnergies states that it has limited the number of well locations inside the park and that the permanent operating footprint covers less than 0.03% of its area, alongside measures such as buried pipelines, no flaring and restrictions on night work. Independent monitors, however, have mapped tens of kilometres of new roads and several well pads within the park and warn that vibration, light and traffic can disturb wildlife well beyond the physical footprint.

The two pressures interact. Roads and clearings fragment habitat just as a changing climate is already forcing animals to move, so conservationists’ central worry is cumulative impact — the combined effect of climate stress, oil infrastructure and poaching on a single ecosystem.

How UWA and partners are responding

UWA treats the challenge as both adaptation and mitigation. One practical response has been the digging of permanent water holes scattered across the park, designed to hold water through drought so that animals stay within the protected area rather than drifting into surrounding communities. Ecological monitoring teams track water levels, animal movements and breeding sites to spot problems early.

Around the boundary, UWA and conservation partners work on human-wildlife conflict measures and community engagement, while research groups tackle invasive species and monitor forest health. None of this reverses a warming climate, but it buys resilience — keeping wildlife populations robust enough to absorb shocks such as a flood year or an early, harsh dry season.

How responsible tourism helps

Tourism is not a bystander here; it is a large part of how conservation gets paid for. Park entry and activity fees and the wages of guides, rangers and lodge staff all help keep Murchison protected and monitored, and a share of revenue reaches neighbouring communities to ease the pressures that push people toward the park’s resources.

Travellers can tilt their trip toward resilience in simple ways: choose operators and lodges that invest in conservation and local employment, keep to designated tracks, and respect wildlife distances. A thoughtfully run game drive or Nile boat cruise still delivers extraordinary wildlife while directly funding the people protecting it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Murchison Falls still worth visiting given these pressures?

Yes. Murchison remains one of East Africa’s great wildlife destinations, with thriving populations of elephant, buffalo, lion, Rothschild’s giraffe and abundant birdlife. Visiting responsibly is one of the more direct ways to support its long-term protection.

Has climate change changed the best time to visit?

The traditional dry seasons — roughly June to September and December to February — still offer the strongest game viewing, but rains have become less predictable. It is worth checking current conditions when you book; our guide to the best time to visit Uganda for safari explains the trade-offs.

Will the oil project affect my safari?

Tourist activities on the Buligi circuit, the falls and the Nile continue to run, and traffic management is meant to limit interference, though you may notice service roads or vehicles in some areas. The 2020–2021 floods disrupted crocodile nesting and displaced some animals, but the park’s core populations remain and UWA continues to monitor breeding sites to aid recovery.

Plan Your Safari

A visit to Murchison Falls is a genuine vote for its future. We can build you an itinerary that pairs classic game drives and a Nile cruise with responsible lodges and local guiding, and combine the park with the chimpanzees of Budongo Forest or the birdlife of the Nile Delta. Get in touch and we will help you plan a trip that gives back as much as it takes.