Burigi Chato National Park : Looking for untouched national park for your marvelous holiday? You are in the right place, Burigi National Park is the hidden gem for those who want to explore the stunning in less or no crowds at all. Most of tourists coming to Tanzania prefer the Northern Circuit Safari attractions such as the majestic Mount Kilimanjaro, the mysterious Serengeti National Park and many other attractions like Mount Meru. We also have a number of beautiful attractions in other places other than the Northern Circuit. The leading destination apart from the northern circuit is the Tanzanian Lake Zone. The Lake Zone or “Kanda ya Ziwa” in Swahili, is home to numerous natural attractions ranging from the Great Lake Victoria to the splendid national parks like Burigi Chato National Park which offers a pictorial view of the Lake Victoria.
Getting to Burigi National Park
Burigi Chato National Park is located in the Kagera and Geita regions. In Kagera it covers the districts of Muleba, Ngara and Biharamulo while in the Geita it covers the Chato district only. If you want to get to Burigi National Park from Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA), the only available options are traveling to either Mwanza Airport or to Chato International Airport. From these airports you can drive to your favorite destination, Burigi Chato National Park. From Dar es Salaam you can book a flight to either Bukoba Airport or Chato International Airport. Other routes that you may use to reach this park include a drive from the Serengeti especially if you want to have a combo safari between these two parks.
Get to know Burigi National Park
Burigi Chato is newly established national park in Tanzania. Established in 9th July 2019 by the Late President of Tanzania, His Excellency John Pombe Magufuli. Burigi Chato is one of few wonderful national parks with unspoiled land hosting some varieties of flora and fauna species. It is famous for being home to the world’s largest antelope, the iconic Cape Eland. Burigi Chato National Park cover a total area of about 4707 square kilometers making it the fourth largest national park in Tanzania after Nyerere, Ruaha and Serengeti National Parks which hold the first, second and third positions in size.
Attractions in Burigi National Park
Burigi Chato National Park is blessed with a plenty of attractions that leaves many visitors mouth open whenever they visit this incredible park. Here are some of such attractions in a nutshell;
Unspoiled grasslands. Most of landscape in the Park is open grasslands which host a lot of wild animals ranging from herbivores like buffaloes, elephants and antelopes to the carnivores like lions, the King of the African Savannah and others. Such vegetation is so friendly to the animal view because they are less obscured by huge, tall trees.
The Lakes of the Burigi Chato National Park. These natural water bodies include the famous Lake Victoria and the mysterious Lake Burigi. Lake Victoria is home to a variety of freshwater fishes like ratfish and catfish.
Lake Burigi is the second largest lake in Tanzania. Within this lake there are numerous islands and beaches which you can choose to visit at any time and you may be luckier to spot some rarely seen species like Sitatunga antelope and the shoe billed stork. Apart from the two lakes, Burigi Chato National Park is surrounded by the might Kagera River, the biggest river in the Lake Zone. This place will give you some historic memory of the Kagera War which happened in the 1970s.
Over 28 unique bird species. This park is endowed with various unique avian species who leaves birdwatchers in a surprise once spotted. They are both beautiful and genius. Why genius? Because they can sing romantic songs especially during breeding season. Some of these birds include white-browned Coucal, cattle egrets, Saddle billed stork, red-necked francolin, African fish eagle, Senegal lapwing, watted cranes, watted lapwings, shoebill storks, village weaver and many others. These eye-catching birds will make you a birder even if you never dreamed to be one.
Unique animal species. Have heard about the Sitatunga antelope? This is a semi-aquatic antelope usually encountered in the swampy lakes in Burigi Chato National Park Despite the fact that this unique specie of antelopes can also be found in some few other national parks in Tanzania, Sitatungwa can easily be seen at the Park. So it is only at Burigi Chato National Park where you are guaranteed of seeing such unique animal species. A Sitatunga Antelope specie has got a unique morphology that makes it adopted to aquatic and muddy environment. This is the long, splayed hooves structure supported by the flexible joints that makes the antelope easily walk on muddy places.
Meet the Shoe-bill stork, a unique carnivorous bird. The shoe-bill stork can easily be identified by its unique bill. This bill is its fatal weapon used while predation, as it helps grab even large preys like snakes, lungfish, and eels.
Another unique animal species is Giant Eland antelope. This cow-like eland found in the Burigi Chato National Park is the world’s largest antelope. This type of antelope is very rare in most parks.
Visiting Burigi National Park means you have a lot of things to do on your memorable adventure. You can go for a canoeing, camping, game ride and photographic safari. You will explore many things than you have read or heard. The doors at Explore African Safaris are always open, for you to book an adventurous safari that you will never forget.
