Giraffes in Murchison falls national park. Murchison falls national park is Uganda’s biggest park located in northwest of Uganda spreading from shores of Lake Albert around Victoria Nile up to Karuma falls. The park was gazette in 1932 as a game reserve but later it was officially opened in 1952 as a game park, it sits on an area of 3893 square kilometers and is managed by Uganda wildlife authority.

Murchison falls is one of the Uganda’s national parks with the tallest animals in the world. The giraffes are in different species but in Uganda there is only Rothschild type of the giraffe. The giraffe is the most recognized animal in the park because of its height and long neck. These giraffes are beautiful animals to watch in the safari because they are unique creatures, they are not only found in Murchison national park but also in Pian Upe game Reserve, Kidepo Valley National Park and Lake Mburo National Park but the biggest number of Rothschild giraffes are found in Murchison falls National Park and it’s because of this that some giraffes were trans located to other parks such as Lake Mburo National Park, Pian Upe Game Reserve and Kidepo Valley National Park.

The mature giraffe is 5-6 meters high and  the male giraffe weighs 1200 kgs  while the female giraffe weighs up to 850kgs making it smaller than the males. The giraffes can live up to 25 years in the wild land 28 years in the zoo. The giraffes only stay in open savannah grassland with a lot of acacia plants which they feed on most, a single day a giraffe can feed up to 29kgs. Giraffes are herbivores meaning they feed on vegetation i.e. leaves, young shoots, stems, fruits, tree barks from trees using they long neck and tongue even though these animals eat a lot they can go weeks minus drinking water since they get moisture from vegetation they eat.

Giraffes live in savannah grassland and woodland vegetation in non-territorial groups of up to 10- 20 when males mature they leave the group and start their own life , They are social they don’t have territories their home ranges are 85 square km wet areas and 1500 square km in dry areas.  Although giraffes are known as the most calm and peaceful animals in the wild they are violent when attacked, they have to protect themselves and young ones from predators like the lions, leopard and hyena who hide to grab the young calf so they defend themselves by giving the predators a tough kick and most of them die oh get injured if landed on the delicate part.

How to differentiate a male giraffe from the female. Male giraffes grow darker in color as they get old while the females maintain color, male grows up to 20b feet while female grows up to 16 feet, a male giraffe is big in size while a female giraffe is small in size and lastly male giraffes have horns while female giraffes have hair on them.

Best time to see the giraffes is during the game drives, nature walk, boat cruise along the Victoria Nile, around the park but apart from the park you can view other animals like lions, baboons, elephant among others and over 450 bird species for the best safari.

Murchison falls national park has not only giraffes but also harbors’ over 76 animals e.g. lions, leopards, Jackson’s hartebeest, waterbucks, warthogs, elephants, leopards, baboons among others. The park has got over 451 bird species e.g. marabou stork, giant kingfisher, black bellied bustard, shoe bill, grew crown crane, goliath heron among others. It has also got the Murchison falls the strongest water falls in the world.