South of the park on the Lake Albert road, in Uganda's oil region
Hoima, in Uganda’s mid-west, has grown quickly over the past decade on the back of the oil discoveries along Lake Albert. For travellers it matters as the largest town on the south-western route to Murchison Falls – the road that enters the park via Bugungu Gate and the dramatic Butiaba escarpment – and as a staging post for journeys that link the falls with Kibale, Fort Portal and the western parks while avoiding a long backtrack through the capital. It is not a sightseeing destination, but it is a useful and increasingly busy hinge in a western Uganda itinerary.
As a stop
Hoima has grown into a proper regional town with full services – multiple fuel stations, banks and ATMs, supermarkets, pharmacies, and a spread of hotels from basic to comfortable business-standard. It is roughly midway between Kampala and Murchison on the western route, and about two hours from Bugungu Gate, which makes it a natural refuelling and overnight point on a longer loop. New tarmac roads, built partly for the oil industry, have cut journey times across the region considerably.
The Bunyoro kingdom
Hoima is a centre of the Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom, one of Uganda’s traditional monarchies and once the most powerful state in the region. The Mparo Tombs, a short drive from town, are the burial site of Omukama Cwa II Kabalega, the king who fought a long guerrilla war against British colonisation in the 1890s before being captured and exiled – and after whom Murchison Falls is alternatively named Kabalega Falls. The reigning Omukama’s palace is also in Hoima, and the kingdom’s cultural institutions are being actively revived.
The oil story
The Lake Albert basin holds an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of oil, around 1.4 billion of it considered recoverable, and Hoima sits at the centre of the development – the Kingfisher and Tilenga fields, a planned refinery at Kabaale, and the start of the 1,443-kilometre East African Crude Oil Pipeline to the Tanzanian port of Tanga. The projects have brought roads, an international airport at Kabaale, jobs and rapid growth, alongside sustained criticism over displacement, the risk to Lake Albert and the wildlife corridors, and the climate implications. Visitors see the construction, the traffic and the boom-town feel.
Toward Lake Albert
From Hoima, roads run west and down the escarpment to Lake Albert at Kaiso, Tonya and Kabwoya. The Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve on the lakeshore offers low-key game viewing – Uganda kob, bushbuck, warthog, hippo – along with quad biking, sport fishing and lake activities from a lodge on the rift floor, with the Congo mountains across the water. It is a quiet, little-visited area that a few travellers use as an alternative or an addition to the main parks.
Kabwoya and Kaiso-Tonya
The Kaiso-Tonya area, on the flat rift floor between the escarpment and the lake, has a stark, dramatic landscape – short grass plains, the wall of the escarpment behind, oil pads dotted across the flats – and its own small wildlife populations. Kabwoya Wildlife Reserve, managed with private-sector involvement, is the organised access point, with a lodge, game drives and adventure activities. It gives a sense of the Albertine Rift as a working, contested landscape rather than a protected wilderness.
Where to stay
Hoima has a good range of town hotels aimed at the business and oil-sector market, generally clean, functional and reasonably priced, with a couple of more characterful garden options. For the lakeshore, Kabwoya has a lodge on the rift floor. None of it is safari-lodge standard, but for a transit night on a long western loop it is perfectly comfortable, and the newer hotels have reliable power, water and wifi.
A region changing fast
Hoima gives a clear view of a part of Uganda in the middle of a transformation. A decade ago it was a quiet agricultural town; now it has a new international airport at Kabaale built to fly in oil equipment, a planned refinery, tarmac roads pushing in every direction, rising land prices, an influx of workers, and all the social strain and opportunity that a resource boom brings. For a traveller passing through it is a reminder that the landscapes of the Albertine Rift – the parks, the lake, the escarpment – sit within a fast-moving human story, and that their future is not guaranteed.
How it fits an itinerary
Hoima is a fuel and overnight stop, not a destination, on a route that links Murchison with the western parks. The classic use is: in to Murchison via Masindi and the falls, then out via Bugungu Gate, the escarpment and Hoima, continuing south to Kibale for chimpanzees and on into the western circuit – or the same loop in reverse. Doing it this way avoids backtracking through Kampala and turns two long transfer days into one manageable one with a break in Hoima.
When to go
Hoima is a year-round transit town, and its main roads are now largely surfaced and passable in all seasons. The unpaved stretches toward Lake Albert and up to Bugungu Gate are easier in the drier months of June to September and December to February; the escarpment descent in particular can be slow and slippery after heavy rain. There is no seasonal reason to time a visit here – it is dictated by the rest of your itinerary.
Combining it with Murchison Falls
Hoima is a transit point rather than a destination: it is the town you pass through if you enter or leave Murchison via Bugungu Gate, and a useful link on a route connecting the falls with Kibale and the south-west without returning through Kampala.
Planning a combined Uganda trip
Uganda is compact by African standards but its roads are slow, so a trip that pairs Murchison Falls with the parks to the south and west is usually a week or more, moving in a loop rather than backtracking through Kampala. Murchison sits at the northern end of the classic circuit; from there most itineraries work south through Kibale Forest for chimpanzees, Queen Elizabeth for the Kazinga Channel and the savanna, and Bwindi or Mgahinga for mountain gorillas, returning via Lake Mburo. Internal flights link Entebbe with airstrips near several of these parks and can save a day or two of driving on a shorter trip. We plan the routing, the drive times, the park fees and the permits as one package.
Good to know
Road conditions and transfer times in this part of Uganda change with the season and with roadworks, so we confirm the current route and timings before you travel rather than relying on a fixed figure. Park and activity fees are set by the Uganda Wildlife Authority in US dollars and are reviewed periodically; gorilla and chimpanzee permits are booked separately and well ahead, and the figure in your quote is the one confirmed for your exact travel dates. A yellow-fever certificate is required to enter Uganda, malaria prophylaxis is recommended for the whole country, and travel insurance is a condition of booking. Pack neutral-coloured layers for cool mornings and hot afternoons, a hat and high-factor sunscreen, binoculars, insect repellent, a light rain jacket and closed walking shoes.
When to visit
Uganda is a year-round destination that sits on the equator, so temperatures vary little through the year and it is the rain that shapes the seasons. The drier months – roughly June to September and December to February – give the firmest roads and tracks, the most concentrated game viewing and the easiest forest trekking, and are the busiest for lodges and permits. The wetter months – March to May and October to November – are greener and quieter, with the best birding as migrants arrive, lower lodge rates, and dramatic skies, in exchange for heavy afternoon showers and the occasional muddy road. There is no bad time to visit; the right time depends on what you want to do.
How we plan and guide it
Every trip we run is private and tailored – your own vehicle, your own driver-guide, and an itinerary built around your dates, your pace and what you most want to see, rather than a fixed departure. Our guides are Ugandan, have driven these routes and tracked these animals for years, and stay with you for the whole trip, which means the plan can flex on the ground when the wildlife or the weather does. We handle the park fees, the gorilla and chimpanzee permits, the lodge bookings, the internal flights and the airport transfers as one package, and we are contactable around the clock while you travel. Tell us roughly when you want to come, how long you have and the lodge level you have in mind, and we will turn it into a clear day-by-day plan and an itemised quote.
Keep exploring
Read our guide to Murchison Falls National Park, browse our Murchison Falls safaris, see where to stay, or look through the rest of our Uganda destinations. When you are ready to plan, use the form below and a planner who has travelled these routes will reply within 24 hours with a tailored day-by-day itinerary and a clear, itemised quote.