Maramagambo forest Uganda

Maramagambo forest uganda, Maramagambo forest python cave

Maramagambo forest reserve is in Bushenyi district and it is been ranked as the largest forest in east Africa. The forest reserve is part of Queen Elizabeth national park and it is in conjunction with Kichwamba escarpment starting from the convergence of Lake Edward of kazinga channel. Maramagambo name was got from a story of some young people who went to the forest and took long to find their way out of the forest and by the time they were got, they were all speechless due to the fact that they were tired thus the name ‘maramagambo’ meaning someone who is speechless.

Although a lot of wildlife can be spotted in this forest, it is famously known for bat experience, it is also home to about 7 primate’s mammals including the chimpanzees, and other wildlife animals such as the forest elephants, the giant forest hogs, the African buffaloes, the bush pigs, pythons, the rare Bates’s pygmy antelopes among others.

Before 2008 the forest used to receive a number of visitors that would come to enjoy it gifted beauty in the jungle epically the bat viewing experience but due to news that spread all over the world about two Netherland travelers who visited the bat cave and they acquired the Marburg virus from the bat cave, a lot of negativity has been put on the forest although it was closed for some time until the management constructed a viewing point for the bats that travelers cannot get in contact with them as well the pythons that feed on these bats. On this note, there are rare visits that are taken to this forest and very few travelers consider it on their visit to the Africa although it is the largest forest in east Africa.

Activities in Maramagambo Forest.

Nature walks, this is one of the best places to enjoy nature walk since it visited by few travelers thus it is not crowed for travelers who don’t like crowds. Nature walks in maramagambo forest takes 2 to 6 hours almost a half day in the jungle that is why travelers are advised to move with their packed lunch boxes and enough water that will give them more energy to keep walking deep in the forest.

There about four walking trails in maramagambo forest that will offer travelers different experiences about the biodiversity in the forest such as the waterfall trail that will offer an insight to explore the scenic beauty of kilyantama waterfall, the river trail which leads to kajojo river, the forest trail which recommended to travelers that are not fit to climb the forest hills , the valley trail and the palm tail that has frame trees and its leaves are used by the local people to increase the sexual female libido.

The forest is a home to wild solider ants, these are always found in numbers, they sting and can enter clothes, their bite is painful however not poisonous. We advise travelers to wear long sleeved shirts and tops to avoid the bite of these ants while on a nature walk in the forest.

Nature will as well give travelers an opportunity to explore the two crater lakes of kyasanduka and Nyamasingiri which border maramagambo forest.

Primate tracking/viewing, the forest is  a home to about 7 primates which include the chimpanzees, the red tailed monkey, olive Baboons, Blue monkeys plus the nocturnal primate such as the bush babies and pottos which can easily be spotted in the night nature walks. Although travelers on a nature walk spot a lot chimpanzee in the forest, the place has not yet be launched for chimpanzee trekking experiences thus there are no habituated gorillas in maramagambo forest for tourism. And due to the fact it is a large forest, trekking the chimpanzee trekking might not be easy since chimpanzees keep moving from one place to another to look for food and trekking in the deep forest may take a lot of hours before you find the forest.

Bird watching experience, the forest is one of the best and famous destination top enjoy bird watching with a diversity of bird species, thus making Uganda among the top bird watching destination that bird lovers should not miss out on their birding safari to Africa. The expected bird species to see include, forest flycatchers, the white napped pigeons, Rwenzori turaco, African green pigeon black-headed batis, dark caped yellow warbler, red tailed bristle among others.

Bat watching experience, the forest is home to a various caves that is habitat to over a million bats that visitors prefer to enjoy viewing.  After bad experience of two tourists from Netherlands that got Marburg from these caves, the American center of disease control have worked together with Uganda government to ensure that they construct a safe viewing point of the bats in the caves. In these caves travelers can easily spot the African rock pythons that feed on these bats. However travelers still attach negatives from the past that they may acquire the disease from the caves that is why they fear visiting the caves.

Besides the above mentioned activities, the visit to maramagambo can give travellers an opportunity to explore the different culture of surround communities and enjoy exploring their culture beliefs and behavior such as the Banyaruguru that originally stayed in the forest and they are the reasons why those caves exist in the forest because the caves used to act as hiding places from bad regimes.

The visit to maramagambo can be combined together with wildlife safaris in Queen Elizabeth national park since the forest is part of the park and forest harbors some wildlife animals such as the elephants, the warthogs, bush pigs, the giant forest hogs among others.

What is the best time to visit maramagambo forest?

The best time to visit forest is during the dry season in the months of December to February, June to October when there is little rain expected to inconvenience the nature walk experience in the forest. Although the forest is open to visitors all year round and for bird lovers, the recommended season to visit the forest would be in the rainy season when birds have a lot of food in the forest thus there will be less movement and they can easily be spotted.