Lake Mburo National Park
Rwakobo Rock Lodge
Rating: Budget
Price range: $155 pp/FB sharing
Rwakobo Rock Lodge is a wilderness retreat secluded on a rocky outcrop at the edge of Lake Mburo National Park’s northern border. The lodge provides private getaways in the locally-styled cottages dotted around a massive granite outcrop, with stunning views over the wilderness plains.
The main dining and lounge area where the chef serves all meals has expansive views over the rock and across the park’s wilderness. Bellow, the main building, is a waterhole popular with park animals in the late hours of daylight. A perfect place to have a drink while you spot the wild visitors from the park.
Rwakobo Rock is set in the pristine Ankole ranchlands where long-horned cattle grace the savannah grasslands bordering Lake Mburo National Park. It’s a perfect retreat for a relaxing romantic weekend in the wild. Rwakobo is also ideal for a family getaway in Uganda’s savannah wilderness.
A tranquil pool overlooks sweeping wild plains below where buffalo, impala, zebra, eland, warthogs, and bushbuck freely roam. Occasionally, residents like zebra, warthog, impala, and bushbuck stroll the lodge and assemble at the waterhole below the dining area. When darkens fall, the sounds of the bush wilderness come to life and allow your imagination to run wild.
This idyllic getaway is established just over a kilometer from Lake Mburo National Park Nshara Gate entrance. The drive from the main road passes through the lovely Nshara government Ranch, where the magnificent Ankole long-horned cattle gracefully grace alongside herds of zebra. The Bahima pastoralists of the area are the custodians of the natural landscape and its biodiversity.
Guests’ activities at Rwakobo Rock Lodge include short, or long, challenging nature walks around the park for a chance to get close to some of Lake Mburo’s wild inhabitants. There’s also mountain biking, day and night drives, and boat safaris on Lake Mburo to eat away your holiday time.
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How To Get There
Guests can connect to Mihingo Lodge using the Nshara gate access road from the main Mbarara-Masaka highway. The Nshara gate northern park access road branches off south from Akageti Trading Center, 53 kilometers from Mbarara City, coming from southwestern Uganda. This is your entrance coming from seeing mountain gorillas in Bwindi.
Driving from Kampala, branch off to your left from Akageti trading center, at the 50 km marker for Mbarara (see a blue milk factory), about 20 km past Lyantonde town. It’s about 8 km from the highway to the Nshara gate and about 1.5 km from the Nshara gate to Rwakobo Rock Lodge on a dirt road.
The drive from Kampala to Lake Mburo is about four to five hours. The access road from the highway is unpaved dirt and rough, which may require a 4×4 vehicle during the wet seasons. It may take about a 24-mins drive between the highway and Rwakobo Rock Lodge.
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Accommodation
Rwakobo Rock provides accommodation in 9 African-styled cottage rooms, three classic safari tents, and five rooms in a shared house.
The thatched private cottages, set around the granite rock, blend perfectly into the natural landscape and are fitted with solar lighting, ensuite bathrooms. The cottages sprout around the hill taking advantage of rocky ledges and secluded corners and celebrating the Lake Mburo National Park’s wilderness.
The beautifully thatched Hornbill House has five bedrooms, each with an en-suite bathroom and verandah.
For a classic bush wilderness experience, the lodge has three ensuite safari tents that can occupy a maximum of two people each.
At the very heart of Rwakobo Rock is supporting and preserving the surrounding pristine wilderness of the Lake Mburo ecosystem. With this in mind, the lodge uses environmentally-friendly technologies such as rainwater catchment and solar energy to run its facilities.
Dining
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served in the main lodge building. From set continental, Italian and Indian menus to a buffet-style dinner, there is always something for everyone. If you are leaving the lodge early in the morning, the chef will prepare an early breakfast and offer you a packed lunch for your journey.
Rwakobo Room Rates
| Room Details | Rack Rates |
|---|---|
| Single Occupancy | $155 |
| Double/Twin Occupancy | $260 |
| Single Person Supplemet | $60 pp |
| Children (5-12 years) | $40 pp |
Prices are all-inclusive of meals (Full Board)
Booking Rwakobo Rock
To enjoy the magical wilderness of Rwakobo Rock 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 Rwakobo.
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.
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
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 Rwakobo’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 inside the park for the 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
Lake Mburo National Park offers moderate Uganda safari game drives without the celebrated big game like lion and elephant. Guests can drive or hire a safari guide from UWA to take them on 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.
Ankole Cultural Experience
As part of the Rwakobo Rock ethos, guests are taught about the local traditions and cultures of the Bahima people that live in the surrounding areas to preserve their historical value. The lodge partners with a local family living close to the lodge to open their doors and give guests a small insight into the way of life of a Bahima.
You will learn about making the local ghee while listening to some of the women talk about their ancient traditions folklores. Guests can even milk some of the Ankole cows.
Boat Safaris
The national park runs boat trips on Lake Mburo every couple of hours throughout the day, with the last tour starting at 5:30 pm. You will be able to get up close to the hippos and crocodiles that call the lake home, as well as experiencing the fantastic birdlife that inhabits the surrounding areas of the lake. The UWA guides make the cruise very entertaining with their wildlife and the local folk tales.
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.
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