Weather and climate

Murchison Falls National Park weather

What it is doing right now, what the next two weeks look like, and what each month of the year means for the game viewing.

Right now in the park

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The next two weeks

Straight from the forecast, updated when you open this page. Useful if you are packing. Not useful for choosing a month, which is what the year below is for.

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The year at a glance

Bars are rainfall, the line is the daytime high. Thirty-year averages. The green band marks the months this park is at its driest, which is when most people want to be here.

Rainfall in millimetres along the bottom. Highest month 234 mm, daytime highs from 18.7 to 33.9 degrees.

Every month, and what it means for the wildlife

The temperature tells you what to pack. The rainfall column decides what you will see.

Month	Day	Night	Rain	Wet days	What that means here
January	32.4°C	20.0°C	28 mm	5	Deep in the dry season. Game pulls onto the Nile, birding is at its best and visitor numbers are low. Hot, with little relief after dark.
February	33.9°C	21.2°C	41 mm	6	The hottest stretch of the year and, for game viewing, the clearest. Grass is short or burnt off and visibility across the northern grassland is the best it gets. The dry season usually breaks late in the month.
March	31.6°C	21.2°C	169 mm	17	Rain arrives and the grass greens and lengthens. Game viewing slips from excellent to good, but birding stays strong and migrants are still around.
April	28.8°C	20.5°C	215 mm	24	The wettest stretch. The murram game tracks deteriorate, tall grass hides smaller antelope and the park is at its emptiest. Discounted low-season primate permits apply nationally in April and May, which matters if you are combining Murchison with Kibale or Bwindi.
May	28.3°C	20.1°C	146 mm	21	The wettest stretch. The murram game tracks deteriorate, tall grass hides smaller antelope and the park is at its emptiest. Discounted low-season primate permits apply nationally in April and May, which matters if you are combining Murchison with Kibale or Bwindi.
June prime	28.4°C	19.5°C	83 mm	13	The park dries out and the tracks firm up. July is the historical short dry spell and is reliably driveable. Game viewing improves week by week.
July	27.9°C	18.7°C	106 mm	15	The park dries out and the tracks firm up. July is the historical short dry spell and is reliably driveable. Game viewing improves week by week.
August	27.7°C	18.8°C	162 mm	19	The second peak. Grass shortens, animals return to the river, and this is the busiest northern-hemisphere holiday traffic of the year. September is the last dependable dry month.
September	28.7°C	19.3°C	181 mm	19	The second peak. Grass shortens, animals return to the river, and this is the busiest northern-hemisphere holiday traffic of the year. September is the last dependable dry month.
October	29.1°C	19.7°C	234 mm	20	The second rains. Roads degrade again and game disperses. November carries discounted primate permits and is very quiet, which suits some people well.
November	29.4°C	19.8°C	184 mm	16	The second rains. Roads degrade again and game disperses. November carries discounted primate permits and is very quiet, which suits some people well.
December prime	29.7°C	19.6°C	57 mm	9	Drying out through the month and improving steadily. Christmas and New Year is the most expensive and most crowded fortnight in the park's calendar.

Climate figures are Open-Meteo climate normals, 1991 to 2020, taken at 2.225, 31.825. The wildlife column is ours, from the sources on the best time to visit page. Averages hide bad years: a dry January still happens, and so does a wet July.