Lake Mburo National Park
Mihingo Lodge
Rating: Luxury
Price range: $175 pp/fb single
Perched high on a 500 million-year-old rocky kopje, Mihingo Lodge is a magical setting of wilderness luxury accommodation on the edge of Lake Mburo National Park. Design to blend beautifully with the natural surroundings, this family-owned its guests a quietude stay with spectacular views over the park’s vast savannah landscape.
A tranquil pool overlooks a sweeping wild valley below the water where buffalo, impala, zebra, eland, warthogs, and bushbuck converge for an afternoon quench. A resident klipspringer family lounges every evening on the rocks to give guests company while watching the sunset over the far distant savannah plains.
If you fancy classic game viewing on the back of a horse, you’re in for an authentic African bush treat. The lodge is the only property to offer day and night horseback safaris in Uganda. You may catch sight of the elusive leopard on one of your game escapades. Lake Mburo National Park is known to host an impressive number of these shy cats.
Mihingo Lodge has 12 luxury tented rooms with unique charm and character nestled in the forest, some overlooking Lake Kachira, perched on a rocky outcrop, and others down by the water hole. All offer excellent privacy and stunning views of the airy bush sanctuary.
With stretching views of the plains, high on the rocky kopje sits the spacious dining and living area where all meals are served, and guests get social. A calming breeze from Lake Kacheera makes it one of the coolest places in the lodge on a hot day. It’s a perfect spot to watch wildlife and joy Sarah’s three-course meals. Sarah’s menu is a fusion of different cultures, herbs, and spices from around the world with produce grown organically from the onsite garden.
Show more
How To Get There
Guests can connect to Mihingo Lodge using one of the two access roads from the main Mbarara-Masaka highway. The Sanga gate northern park access road, 37 km east of Mbarara, coming from western Uganda (or coming from gorilla trekking in Bwindi) and branching off to the south, is the longest of the two routes.
Driving from Kampala, it’s easier to use the road branching south, to the northeast of the park, from the 50 km marker for Mbarara (see a blue milk factory), about 20 km past Lyantonde town. It’s about 9 km to Nsanga gate entrance to the park, but you’ll turn off to the left and continue for another 13 km to the Mihingo Lodge.
The drive from Kampala to Lake Mburo is about four to five hours. The access roads from the highway are both dirt and rough, which may require a 4×4 vehicle during the wet seasons. It may take about an hour’s drive between the highway and Mihingo Lodge.
Show less
Accommodation
Mihingo Lodge has 12 luxury tented rooms, each presenting its unique charm and character. Each private safari tent reflects where it sits in a forest, overlooking the lake, perched on a rocky outcrop or down by the water hole. All rooms have stunning views of the airy sanctuary.
Each spacious canvas tent has an en-suite bathroom and is meticulously styled to complement the local environment with great attention to detail. The doorways are framed by stunning pieces of dead olive wood found on the property.
The lodge’s walls reflect the colors of the African soil, inspired Lamu Island’s living style and design. Several of the rooms dramatically incorporate the granite boulders into the design of the bathrooms. To preserve the environment, the lodge is powered entirely by solar energy.
Dining
Sitting high up on the rocky kopje, the dining and living area showcases the sweeping views of the expansive Mburo plains. A steady breeze from Lake Kacheera makes it one of the coolest places in the lodge on a hot day. The main area also overlooks the waterhole and saltlick, it is a perfect spot to watch the unfolding wildlife dram and tease your pallette’s sensations.
Mihingo Lodge guests are treated to Sarah’s exceptional menu that has earned the lodges its reputation for serving the most delicious meals on Uganda safaris. Sarah’s exceptional taste for food and travel led her to gather recipes, over the years, from family and friends around the world to create a menu that attracts travelers to this small lodge.
Sarah’s menu is a fusion of different cultures, herbs, and spices served in three courses to every guest. The starter is often a delicious chilled soup, followed by a selection of crisp, fresh salads, cold meats, and vegetarian quiches, and then there is always a scrummy pudding.
Some of the lodge favorites are the feta and coriander samosas with home-made tomato pickle, smoked Nile Perch from Lake Victoria served with a simple olive oil, lemon juice and caper dressing, grilled beef fillet from the famous Ankole cows, and sticky toffee pudding.
Mihingo Lodge’s breakfast will set you up for the day. There is always a selection of fresh fruit, fruit juice, cereals and muesli, homemade yogurt, pancakes with a hint of lemon zest, eggs of your choice, and the full fry up with homemade bread.
The chef can cater to any dietary requirements, including vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, and lactose intolerant. Early suppers are arranged for children and babysitters and set in their rooms so parents can eat later and relax.
At the lounging area, the coziness of the Lamu-styled setting invites guests to evening chats with a variety of coffees, teas, and hard drinks for late evening safari chats.
For the summer afternoon after an adventurous Uganda Safari game drive, dive into the cool waters of the pool or busk on at the poolside with outstanding sounds and views of Lake Kachira waters.
Booking Mihingo Lodge
To enjoy the magical wilderness of Mihingo lodge, you have to stay at least two to three nights. You can have this lodge on your Uganda Safari Itinerary and get great rates with Nkuringo Safaris, taking advantage of our excellent partnership with Mihingo Lodge.
This lodge is COVID-19 compliant with facemask, and hand sanitizing compulsory in public areas. Please read our policy on COVID-19 for this lodge.
Mihingo Lodge Rates
Room Details | High Season Rack Rates (Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar & June, July, Aug, Sep, Oct) | Low Season Rack Rates (Apr, May & Nov) |
---|---|---|
Twin/Double Occupancy | $140 pp | $130 pp |
Single Occupancy | $185 pp | $175 pp |
Single Person Supplemet | $90 pp | $80 pp |
Children (3-12 years) | $50 pp | $50 pp |
Prices are all inclusive of meals (Full Board)
Amenities
Laundry services
En-suite Bathroom
Restaurant & Bar
Swimming Pool
Outside Area
Wi-Fi (complimentary)
Childcare Activities
Spa & Massage
Mosquito net
USB charging points
Activities
Horseback Safaris
Watching animals from a horse is so peaceful and a totally airy experience compared to game driving; zebras come towards you to check out the strange relative without stripes. Even the eland that is usually bashful look curiously at the horses without running away but keep their distance.
Riding a horse without the deafening engine sounds means you often get the chance to see the more timid animals. If you’re lucky, you might catch sight of the shy leopards.
The maximum weight on each horse is about 100 kilos, an adjustable helmet, riding chaps, and English-style saddles. You get at least two experienced riders to escort you on each ride through the exhilarating e grassy Warukiri hills that take 2-4 hours.
Biking Safari
If you like to test your adventurous muscles, grab a bike and explore the sandy tracks outside the Park. You can hire one of Mihingo’s guides to take you around. Trails are suitable for a gentle family to ride out, taking in the wildlife all around, but there is plenty for the more extreme riders to explore. Dive off the larger roads to narrow animal paths and clamber over termite mounds.
Nature Walks
Nature walks are a magical way to experience the African bush on foot and catch the wilderness details at your pace.
All walks in the park must go with an armed UWA guide. From the lodge, take a two-hour loop that will take you around the valleys and ridges and back. The swamp walk has a couple of raised platforms from where you can look over the swamps; if you are fortunate, you may even see a Sitatunga or Uganda’s famous Shoebill stork.
Safari Game Drives
hire the lodge’s rover with a guide and take a riveting game drive around the park’s famous tracks to meet Lake Mburo National Park’s protected inhabitants. For spectacular views, park at the bottom of Kazuma look-out and walk up to the top; from here, the view across the plains is breathtaking.
It is both a cultural and a wildlife experience going on a game drive outside the park. You will pass homesteads, farmers herding their cattle, kids walking to school, and motorbikes ferrying people to and fro. In amongst this, wildlife roams about freely; zebras, impalas, topi, warthogs, waterbuck, and even the shy eland are all possible to spot.
The birdlife is also prolific, with many water birds living at the livestock dams. Large groups of crested cranes take up residence in the rainy season and even spot the shoebill in the wetlands. A game drive outside the park is helpful if your park entry has expired and you would like to go for a bit of spin!
Night Game Drives
Lake Mburo National Park is one of the few parks that offer night game drives. Nocturnal mammals like bush pigs, genet cats, and white-tailed mongoose become active during the dark hours, which is the best time to catch sight of these elusive creatures.
Also, the best chance of sighting leopards and spotted hyenas are during the night game drive. It is an exhilarating experience out at night with a spotlight, an unusual twist on your regular Uganda safari game drives.
Cultural Visits
Take a walk or a bike ride over to a traditional Bahima homestead to learn about their cultural traditions and their way of life. Activities include learning about the Ankole long-horned cows with an opportunity to try your hand at milking, understand the ghee-making process, taste milk, and much more.
This experience includes a nature walk or bike ride across grazing land, where wildlife and livestock mingle together, to the homestead and back again. Alternatively, you can ride a mountain bike to a nearby fishing village and see how the people live.
UGANDA SAFARI EXPERIENCES
Our Uganda safari experiences in Lake Mburo National Park are entirely customizable with the help of an expert Uganda safari planner. We can show you these and more for inspiration to put together an incredible trip to Uganda.
Amazing Uganda Primates Safari
8 Days | Chimps, Gorillas & Wildlife
11 Days | Uganda Nature Sites
14 Days | Uganda’s Top Attractions
16 Days | Gorillas, Savannah & Culture


