Marasa Holdings’ luxurious new Chobe Safari Lodge, located in a little-known section of Murchison Falls National Park, is set to become one of Uganda’s key tourist destinations for adventurers, anglers, and aficionados of riverscapes. It comprises 36 elegant guest rooms, 21 luxury tents, four suites and a Presidential Cottage, as well as a state-of-the-art Conference block that can host up to 100.
The lodge enjoys breathtaking panoramic views of the River Nile, coupled with the sounds of its frothing rapids.
Room rates start at $275 a night for a double ($325 full board); tent rates start at $195 a night ($220 full board). Rates include 5% service charge, applicable government taxes and pp UWA royalty fees.
The area offers prime bird watching and game viewing (elephants in the park weigh up to 10 tons) and such an abundance of fish, it’s expected that the site will become one of the preeminent fishing sites in all of Africa.
Constructed in the fifties, Chobe Safari Lodge was a crown jewel of Ugandan tourism.
After decades of abandonment, it was decided to raze it and start anew with $13-million investment.
The architect’s perspective was to take advantage of the spectacular Nile scenery: all rooms and luxury tents have balconies and terraces afford sweeping, uninterrupted views of the longest river on Earth.
The 1,500-square-mile Murchison Falls National Park (Uganda’s largest) protects a swath of untamed African savannah intersected by the 4,132-mile-long Nile.
It’s named for the dramatic Murchison Falls, where the river explodes violently through a narrow cleft in the Rift Valley escarpment to plunge 140 feet into a foaming pool below.
Though badly poached in the 1980s, wildlife populations have largely recovered.
Today, elephant, buffalo and giraffe are regularly encountered on game drives, with lion sightings increasing in frequency. The Nile itself is densely populated with hippos, crocodiles, and a stunning variety of water birds including the world’s most accessible wild population of the rare shoebill stork.
Marasa Holdings is a member of the Madhvani Group of Companies, one of the largest private-sector groups in East Africa.
Chobe Safari Lodge, mweyaparaa@africaonline.co.ug, www.chobelodgeuganda.com