UWA Dormitory and Campsites, Paraa
Dormitory beds and campsites · North Paraa, plus camping at the Top of the Falls and designated bush sites · Uganda Wildlife Authority
Budget
Inside the park
Park-run (UWA)
UWA's own beds, whose existence the authority's public FAQ page oddly denies while its tariff and its park brochure both list them in detail. What is actually there is a dormitory-style students' centre with sixty beds at North Paraa, a campsite next to it, and designated camping elsewhere in the park including at the falls themselves. Everything is self-catering, none of it is comfortable, and all of it must be booked ahead.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Cheapest roof inside the park after Red Chilli
- Sixty beds in a dorm, suited to school and family groups
- Camping permitted at the Top of the Falls itself
- Published child rate: UGX 10,000 against UGX 25,000 for adults
- Three camping tiers, from a wilderness site to a serviced site
Cons
- UWA's own FAQ page denies the dormitory exists, confusingly
- Self-catering only, and none of it is comfortable
- Public campsite price given only in shillings, unclear for foreigners
- Must book ahead on a single phone line
What's here
Arranged from the lodge:
- Game drives
- Boat trips
- Birding
Read from UWA Dormitory and Campsites, Paraa'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 UWA Dormitory and Campsites, Paraa
From UGX 25,000 per adult. Straight from the UWA tariff: dormitory UGX 25,000 for adults, UGX 10,000 for children and UGX 5,000 for a student travelling in a group. Camping is $40 per person at a wilderness site, $30 at a private site booked in advance and UGX 40,000 at a public site with a latrine, water and a shelter. The public rate is printed only in shillings, so what a foreign visitor actually pays there is genuinely unclear in the document. Prior booking is required on 0706 780 008.
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 UWA Dormitory and Campsites, Paraa
Is the UWA Dormitory and Campsites at Paraa good for families?
UWA's tariff publishes a child rate of UGX 10,000 against UGX 25,000 for adults in the dormitory, so children are catered for on price, though no age cut-off is stated. The sixty-bed students' centre at North Paraa suits a family or group travelling on a budget, and camping is available alongside it.
How do you book the UWA Dormitory and Campsites at Paraa?
Booking is required in advance on 0706 780 008. Oddly, UWA's own public FAQ page denies that dormitory beds exist at all, even though its tariff and park brochure both list the sixty-bed students' centre at North Paraa in detail, so go by the tariff and call to confirm space.
What does it cost to camp at Murchison Falls with UWA?
Camping costs $40 a person at a wilderness site, $30 at a private site booked in advance, or UGX 40,000 at a public site with a latrine, water and a shelter. The public rate is printed only in shillings, so what a foreign visitor actually pays there is not entirely clear from the tariff document.
Does UWA's Paraa accommodation include camping at the Top of the Falls?
Yes, UWA permits camping at the Top of the Falls itself as well as at designated bush sites elsewhere in the park. All of it is self-catering and, in UWA's own words in the brochure that lists these sites, none of it is comfortable, so bring your own gear and expect basic facilities.