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Lake Mburo Wildride ATV
Safari 24th – 27th July ‘07 - Page 1
It’s our first commercial run in Lake Mburo
National Park, one of Uganda’s prettiest game
parks. Lake Mburo has the extra attraction, from
a quad-bike point of view, of having no elephant
or lion (the last ones were poisoned by local
farmers several years ago). Many other large
mammals are found within the park boundaries and
there are various geographic features to the
area that make it a very interesting and unusual
place to visit. Riding through the park and in
the surrounding buffer area on a quad bike,
makes for a very unique trip in the heart of the
African continent.
Brian, Dominic and Julian Smith had been on
safari with us before on our 3-day safari that
follows the route of the old Busoga Railway
through the hinterland of the Victoria Nile to
Namasagali. They specified that our foreman,
Godfrey Okoth should accompany us – didn’t want
to have to put up with me by themselves! This
was Godfrey’s first visit to a game park, so in
addition to being an opportunity to show him the
basis of the ‘WildRide’, he also got to see
animals such as zebra, topi, buffalo, etc. for
the first time. The small size of the group made
it feasible to trailer the quads the 320 km
through Kampala, across the equator and out west
to the park, instead of trucking them from
Bujagali Falls.
 We loaded up the Vauxhall pickup and trailer
with 2 Honda TRX250TM quads, a Suzuki LT-F160
and my old XLR250 bike. A TRX400TM quad fitted
nicely into the back of the HiAce van. Godfrey
and I left our base at Bujagali Falls late
Sunday afternoon, back upstream to the main
highway and almost to safety at Kampala
Backpackers 2 hours later. We hit Uganda’s
capital city just after dark when everyone is
either coming home from a day out or going out
for the evening. A struggling mass of cars,
trucks, bicycles and bodaboda motorcycles,
pedestrians everywhere, every man for himself.
Goddy’s first experience driving in Kampala took
an unfortunate turn when he got arrested for
knocking the mirror off another car. Another
hour and an exchange of money saw us on the road
again and eventually bedded down for the night.
Up with the sun, fuelled up and we’re rolling
out of Kampala early the next morning. We
stopped on the equator at the AidChild Café for
African Tea. Lots of boiled milk and a few
spoonfuls of sugar put a dose of energy in the
day. Pulling a trailer slowed the journey and we
cruised to a halt at the park gates just ahead
of the Smiths. We entered together and drove the
final 10km to Mantana Camp. A smattering of
zebra, waterbucks and warthogs lined the road in
– nice start.
 We unloaded while the Brian and guys got some
lunch. Small problem – one of the newly fitted
heavy ply tyres (strong enough to roll over
acacia/camel thorn without puncturing) had
broken the seal between the tyre edge and the
tubeless wheel rim. We needed a big compressor
to inflate the tyre with enough pressure to
reseat the bead, the nearest being in a trading
centre back along the main road to Kampala.
Godfrey took the wheel off for repair while
Brian, Dominic, Julian and I went on a sighting
lap, firstly to Sanga gate and then along the
‘Eland Track’ in the late afternoon. As an
introduction to game viewing by ATV it was
great. Sun going down, air cooling, lots of
different animals and birds along the way.
Cautious use of the throttle enabled us to idle
along the tracks – “take only photos, leave only
tracks” – hey we hardly even left tracks!
Mr. Godfrey was back with the repaired wheel
when we returned to camp. The quads were parked
up and then it was hot showers all around
followed by a visit to Mantana’s mess tent to
refuel. A big steak and a solid sleep did the
trick.
 A full English breakfast all around started
the day. We fired up and headed west, around the
lake stopping to visit the fishing village on
the western shore. The number of fishermen on
the lake is controlled so as to prevent over
fishing – seems to actually be working too! They
share the lake with hippos and crocs without
many problems, but no one goes swimming. Most
women and children are only allowed to visit on
Saturdays. It is an admirable workplace, neatly
set out with accommodation and fish processing
areas. The site supervisor, Emanuel gave us a
great tour around; the landing area, a weighing
station, a shop and bar, a drying kiln and
various sun drying racks, 4 blocks of sleeping
quarters and well maintained washing and toilet
blocks. There were rubbish bins and a neatly
mowed grass area between the accommodation and
the processing areas at night the hippos come
out and graze this space.
One of interesting things we found was an
arrangement between the fishermen/processors and
the resident marabou storks. Low strings hung
around the drying areas delimited the boundaries
to the storks who were tolerated elsewhere on
the site, living off the waste (fish guts etc.),
but knew not to go beyond the boundaries and eat
the fish that were being dried. We also learned
how to carry a lung-fish without getting your
finger bitten off and how to use a kiln to dry
fish.
Back on the Impala Track there are lots more
animals including a brief sighting of eland off
the side of the road,
 a lone buffalo, a few
waterbuck and small herds of impala. Near the
southwest gate a hippo and calf run across the
track in front of us. It’s a bit late in the day
for them to be out and about. Hippos are mainly
nocturnal, they get sunburnt easily and are
normally back in the water by early morning. It
is a bit narrow in next section of the Ruizi
Track, so we maintain a gap between each rider.
Hippos and quads do not mix. No animal sightings
from there on until the wheel tracks run out and
we hit a large area of twisting cattle tracks
curling off through the acacia scrub. We spread
out, picking our own trails weaving through the
trees and spinning up in the puddles. Eventually
we turn back following our almost invisible
tracks. Julian has a go at getting through a
particularly smelly watering hole and gets
stuck. Shall we leave him there? A few seconds
work for the winch on the Foreman and he’s out
but pretty muddy.
Retracing our tracks, we arrive back at
Mantana Campsite for lunch. Mantana were booked
out for the 2nd night and so the Smiths transfer
to one of the bandas at the park headquarters.
Freshly painted and nicely spaced amongst
grassland and acacia trees, warthogs wandering
around in the background, the rooms are very
nice, so not too bad an exchange. Godfrey and I
share one of the permanent tents just up the
hill from the headquarters.
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