Paraa Safari Lodge
Riverside lodge · North bank at Paraa, on the bluff above the crossing · Marasa Africa, Madhvani Group
High-end
Inside the park
Safari company
The grande dame of Murchison, opened in 1954 on the high ground above the crossing and still the busiest address inside the park. Rooms feel like a good hotel rather than a bush camp, and scale is what you are buying: two restaurants, a pool cut into the slope over the river, and a position that puts the Buligi game tracks and the boat jetty a few minutes apart. It is run by Marasa Africa, the hotel arm of the Ugandan Madhvani group.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Inside the park on the bluff above the Paraa crossing
- Largest bed count in Murchison, with two restaurants
- Pool terrace built into the slope above the Nile
- Deluxe and superior rooms come with air conditioning
- Trading since 1954, part of the park's own history
Cons
- No published rate card; every enquiry goes through Marasa
- Classic rooms, 17 of 53, have only a fan
- No minimum age found; inner site pages block automated checks
- Nearest airstrip at Pakuba is 20 km away
What's here
- Swimming pool
- Restaurant
Arranged from the lodge:
- Boat trips
- Guided walks
- Birding
- Fishing
- Chimpanzee treks
Read from Paraa Safari Lodge'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, once for the trip
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $281 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
UWA's tariff charges vehicles per 24 hours, except for concessionaire visitor vehicles, who pay once per trip. Staying at a lodge inside the park puts you in that second group, so the vehicle is counted once above rather than three times.
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 Paraa Safari Lodge
On request. Marasa publishes no rate card for either of its Murchison lodges. Every rates button on the site resolves to an enquiry form, so ask reservations@marasa.net or the lodge on +256 200 414100. Room and capacity figures below come from the operator's own fact sheet and accommodation pages.
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 Paraa Safari Lodge
Is Paraa Safari Lodge good for families?
We found no child policy or minimum age on Paraa's homepage, and its inner pages blocked automated checking, so ask when you enquire. What it offers is scale: 53 rooms across three grades, plus three tents and a cottage, two restaurants and a pool, which suits a family more easily than a small bush camp.
How do you book Paraa Safari Lodge?
Marasa Africa publishes no rate card for Paraa; every rates button on the site leads to an enquiry form. Book through reservations@marasa.net or call the lodge directly on +256 200 414100. Room and capacity figures, 53 rooms, 3 safari tents and a cottage, come from the operator's own fact sheet.
When is Paraa Safari Lodge open?
Paraa is open year-round, the lodge says. It sits on the north bank at Paraa, on high ground above the river crossing, with the Buligi game tracks and the boat jetty for launch trips only a few minutes apart. The nearest airstrips are Pakuba, 20 km away, and Bugungu, 12 km.
What rooms does Paraa Safari Lodge have?
Paraa has 53 rooms in three grades: 17 classic rooms with a fan, 34 deluxe and 2 superior rooms with air conditioning, all with Nile views and a coffee station. There are also 3 safari tents and 1 cottage, the lodge's own accommodation page says.