Karuma Falls

Karuma Falls

Karuma falls is one of the most stunning attractions for the visitors that visit Murchison falls national park. Karuma falls has a name derived from the luo local language meaning ‘Great Spirit‘. The local people believe it is the spirit that positioned the rocks on which the water hits to form the white waters of karuma falls. Karuma falls is found along the Kampala -Gulu highway at the point where the road crosses the River Nile. The falls stretch on an area of approximately 97 kilometres by road north east of masindi town. On the other hand, karuma falls is 77 kilometers south of Gulu the largest city in the northern region of Uganda.

At the falls is where the new Modern technology power dam was constructed. Karuma power station which is the largest power station in Uganda planned with a capacity of almost 600 megawatts of hydroelectricity power. The falls lay on a latitude of 2.234167 and longitude 32.246390. Its average elevation is 1000 metres above sea level. In 2013, the Uganda media reported that the government of Uganda was proposing to construct a big city to engulf the power station at karuma falls.

Historically, karuma falls bridge was constructed to help the cotton farmers in northern Uganda to cross the river, and it was established in 1963. Despite of how important the bridge was to the cotton farmers, Karuma Bridge turned out to be the danger zone for the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels. The rebels used to block the bridge and kill a lot of people who used to cross from this point to northern Uganda. However, this evil stopped in 2007 when Uganda’s defence force chased the rebels away to Congo in 2007.

The karuma falls is also awesome at Karuma Bridge along the arua pakwach highway. The travellers to northern Uganda love and enjoy watching the rapid water of the Nile running across the bridge. The white water of karuma falls is formed from the pressure at which the water hits the hard rocks on the floor of the river at karuma point. Some bus drivers tend to slow down at the time when crossing the bridge; this provides an opportunity for people to watch the falls plus a number of baboons and black and white monkeys.

Karuma falls is mainly visited by the visitors to the northern part of Murchison falls via the Kampala pakwach road. However, it is for all, so also the visitors to the southern part of the park; they can either take a ferry or go around from masindi to karuma falls in the north eastern side of Murchison falls national park.

NOTE: These falls are a major landmark in Uganda and this is attributed to the fact that, the great explorer John Speke passed near it on his search for the source of the Nile.

You can visit the falls as a supplement activity to your one day itinerary to Murchison falls national park. The sounds at the falls really show the liveliness of nature. You can take a lot of photos at karuma falls. Perhaps you can also visit karuma town and enjoy the road trip while learning about the culture of the local people in the area.

Accommodation

Accommodation when Karuma falls will depend on the tourists budget in that there are a lot of Budget, mid range and luxury accommodation units within Murchison falls national park and some of the lodges are:

Red chili camp, Boomu women’s group camp, Uganda wildlife campsite, Pakuba safari lodge, Nile safari lodge, Chobe safari lodge, Baker’s lodge and Yebo safari lodge among others.