Murchison Backpackers
Eco hostel with dorms and camping · Masindi, on the Kampala road next to Kabalega Resort · Murchison Backpackers
Budget
Outside the gate
Locally owned
An eco hostel on the Masindi approach, right beside Kabalega Resort, and the answer for anyone travelling without a car. There are dorms, private rooms, a family room and a lawn to pitch on, plus a tour desk that arranges vehicles into the park and forest walks in Budongo. You get here on a Link bus from Kampala and a ten-minute motorbike ride, which is not something you can say about any bed inside the boundary. The road outside is audible at night.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Family cabin for four guests, plus dorms and camping
- Breakfast included in every room except camping
- Reachable by scheduled Link bus from Kampala, no car needed
- Tour desk arranges transport into the park and forest walks
- Free wifi, laundry and a free luggage room before check-in
Cons
- No confirmed rate card; the lodge's own pages disagree on pricing
- Road outside is audible at night
- Camping does not include breakfast
- Check-in only from 11:00am
What's here
- Swimming pool
- Wi-Fi
- Restaurant
- Bar
- Family rooms
- Campsite
- Laundry
Arranged from the lodge:
- Chimpanzee treks
Read from Murchison Backpackers's own website in July 2026. Anything not listed we could not confirm, which is not the same as it being absent.
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. Murchison Falls National Park charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entryCharged per 24 hours, and this is the only park in Uganda's top A+ band.
- $45per person, per day
- VehicleA Ugandan-registered 4x4, the usual hire car, at UGX 40,000 including Murchison's own surcharge; bring a foreign-registered one and it is $160.
- $11per vehicle, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $303 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
A ticket runs 24 hours from the hour you drive in, not until midnight. Leave before that same hour on your last day and three nights costs exactly three days of entry; linger past it and UWA counts another full day.
The full fee schedule for Murchison Falls National ParkRates at Murchison Backpackers
On request. Bookings run through a third-party widget rather than a published card, so any price you see on a hostel site is not the property's own figure. Ask hello@murchisonbackpackers.com or +256 394 720720. Bed and breakfast is included, and the tour desk quotes transport into the park separately.
What the rate covers is not confirmed. We do not know yet whether meals, drinks and activities are included, so read this as the bed only.
Every figure on this page is in US dollars.
Rates were read in July 2026 from each property's own website, rate-card PDF or published government tariff. A lodge that publishes nothing says On request, and any figure that came from somewhere other than the property is labelled. Park fees are extra almost everywhere: $45 per person per 24 hours for foreign non-residents, plus a vehicle fee that carries a surcharge unique to Murchison. Deliberately left out, so you know why you cannot find them here. Baker's Lodge is closed, with a flood notice still standing on its operator's site, and Murchison Bush Camp has taken its place in that portfolio. Budongo Eco Lodge is closed too, confirmed by Great Lakes Safaris, which now runs Pabidi Lodge in the same forest. Geo Lodges no longer has any Murchison property despite older guides saying otherwise. Yebo Safari Camp near Mubako gate, Kabalega Wilderness Lodge and Shoebill Camp Site appear across the directories but have no website of their own that we could reach, so we cannot confirm their rates, their capacity or that they are still trading. Amuka Safari Lodge is filed under Murchison by many sites and is not here, because it sits at Nakasongola on the Kampala road roughly two hours short of the park. Aerolink's 2026 route network also names Anyadwe House and Papa's Camp at the Bugungu airstrip. Anyadwe House turns out to publish its own site, a small high-end guesthouse on the south bank of the Nile beside the park, spotted thanks to a reader correction; Papa's Camp still publishes nothing we were able to check.
Questions about Murchison Backpackers
Is Murchison Backpackers good for families?
It has a family cabin alongside its dorms, private rooms and camping lawn, the hostel's own site says. We found no minimum age or child policy published on the site or its rates page. The tour desk also arranges transport into the park and forest walks in Budongo, useful if you are travelling without a vehicle.
What does it cost to stay at Murchison Backpackers?
The record for this hostel and its current website disagree on pricing: one says bookings run through a third-party widget so no figure on the site is the property's own, while the site itself shows a rates page with specific numbers. Treat any price you see as unconfirmed and ask hello@murchisonbackpackers.com or +256 394 720720 directly.
Can you get to Murchison Backpackers without a car?
Yes. It is reachable by a scheduled Link bus from Kampala followed by a ten-minute motorbike ride, which is not something you can say about any bed inside the park boundary. The hostel sits on the Masindi approach, right beside Kabalega Resort, though the road outside is audible at night.
What does the rate at Murchison Backpackers include?
Breakfast is included in every room type except camping, where it can be added with a swimming package. Wifi, laundry and a free luggage room before check-in are also part of the stay. Check-in is from 11:00am and check-out at 10:00am.