Muhingo Eco-Lodge
Mihingo is a luxurious, family owned lodge in a magical setting adjacent to Lake Mburo National Park. Perched high on a rock kopje, whose pre-Cambrian granite boulders were formed over 500 million years ago, it has spectacular views over a vast savannah landscape.
Accommodation
The lodge has 12 luxury tented rooms and each room has its own unique charm and character, whether nestled in forest, overlooking the lake, perched on a rocky outcrop or down by the water hole. Each spacious canvas tent is equipped with en-suite bathrooms, hot and cold running water, showers and flush loos. The rooms have been sensitively designed to complement the local environment with great attention to detail. The doorways are framed by stunning pieces of dead olive wood found on the land. The outside walls reflect the colours of the African soil and several of the rooms dramatically incorporate the granite boulders into the design of the bathrooms. As an environmentally friendly lodge all the lights are solar powered and each room has its own solar powered water heater. Bush buck and Impalas have their own salt lick allowing guests to sit on their balcony and watch animals come and go. The lodge offers an early morning tea or coffee brought to your room so you can take in the surrounding nature sitting on your spacious verandah before going for breakfast, a game drive or any other activity.
Services
Dinning
The spacious, thatched dining areas sits on top of the rocky kopje, heralding a bird’s eye view over the park and beyond. A steady breeze from Lake Kacheera makes it one of the coolest places in the lodge on a hot day. Overlooking a waterhole and saltlick, it is a perfect spot to enjoy delicious food and watch wildlife at the same time.
Bar
The lodge has a well-designed bar area in which a cement sofa curves around the existing granite rocks and small niches with paraffin lights which add sparkle and a sense of cosines. Most importantly the bar is extremely well stocked and wine list boasts many South African wines and a few Australian.
Meals
The food at Mihingo is a fusion of different cultures, herbs and spices. Lunches are 3 courses; the starter is often a delicious chilled soup, followed by a selection of crisp, fresh salads, cold meats and vegetarian quiches and then there is always a scrummy pudding. Dinner is also a 3 course meal; some of the lodge favorites are the feta and coriander samosas with home-made tomato pickle, smoked Nile Perch from Lake Victoria served with a simple olive-oil, lemon juice and caper dressing, grilled beef fillet from the famous Ankole cows. Breakfasts at Mihingo are designed to set guests up for the day and there is always a selection of fresh fruit, fruit juice, cereals and muesli, home-made yoghurt, pancakes with a hint of lemon zest, eggs of your choice and the full fry up with home-made bread. The lodge can cater to any dietary requirements be it vegetarian, gluten free, vegan or lactose intolerant. Early suppers can be arranged for children and babysitters can be organized to sit in the rooms so parents can eat later and relax.
Relax
Mihingo provides plenty of comfy spots and peaceful places where guests relax. From the pool beds overlooking the waterhole to enjoying the cool breezes at the top of the tower, there will always be space to put your feet up. The newly built tower area unparalleled 360 degree views of the park as being a cool retreat to unwind and relax. At the base of the tower a campfire is lit every evening for guests to watch the sunset and the stars come out. As dusk settles you can glimpse the silhouette of night jars starting their evening flight; an especially brilliant spectacle when the pennant winged nightjars have developed their long wing feathers in the breeding season. The bush baby platform provides a peaceful place to appreciate the sunset as well as the opportunity to linger on quietly and wait for the bush babies to appear.
Massage
Full body massages are available, taking approximately 1 hour. It is possible for two people to enjoy massages at the same time in the massage rondavel which is situated in the forest with birds and butterflies fluttering past. Proceeds from our massages go towards the lodge’s conservation project MCCDF (Mihingo Conservation & Community Development Foundation) so you can feel good in every way.
Pool
Escape the heat of the African sun with a plunge in the pool. Overlooking the main waterhole and saltlick, you can do your game viewing from the comfort of a pool bed with a cool drink in your hand. Open 24 hours, lanterns are put around the pool edge in the evening in case you fancy a swim under the stars.
Craft shop
Located on the rocks behind the dining room is a small craft shop selling hand-made crafts from all over Uganda. The shop is a mini version of `Banana Boat’ that has 3 branches in Kampala selling an enormous range of crafts. All the interior decorations that you see around the lodge from the magnificent Ankole cow horns, wrought iron sculptures, cow skin poofs, candles and candle holders, batiks, salt pots and table mats, baskets, soap dishes, leather tissue boxes are all from Banana Boat.
Activities
Horse Safaris
Horse safaris are an awesome way to see the wildlife around Mihingo Lodge, without the noise of an engine you can hear so much more and you really feel part of nature. Riding a horse means you often get the chance to see the more timid animals and if you are very lucky you may see eland and buffalo. You will nearly always see a mixture of warthog, topi, impala, duiker, bushbuck, waterbuck and zebra. Of course the time of year and the weather do affect the number and variety of animals that you see, as the animals graze where the grass is the most delicious. Watching animals from a horse is so peaceful and a totally different experience from being on a game drive; zebras come towards you to check out the strange relative without stripes. Even the eland that are usually very shy, look curiously at the horses without running away, but keep their distance.
Mountain Biking
If you’re adventurous and like to keep fit, grab a bike and explore the sandy tracks outside the park. You can hire one of Mihingo guides to join you on your ride. Tracks are suitable for a gentle family ride out taking in the wildlife all around but there is plenty for the more extreme riders to explore.
Walking safari
All walks in the park must go with an armed UWA guide. You can technically walk anywhere in the park once a guide is in attendance. From the lodge a two hour loop will take you around the valleys and ridges you see from the dining room and deliver you back to the lodge. The swamp walk has a couple of raises platforms from where you can look over the swamps; if you are very lucky you may even see a Sitatunga or Uganda’s famous Shoebill stork.
Games drives
The lodge offers both within and outside the park game drives. Within the park the you are able to have spectacular views of the park and when you walk up to the top you can see 5 lakes including Lake Mburo. It is both a cultural and a wildlife experience going on a game drive outside the park. You will pass homesteads and farmers herding their cattle. Wildlife roams about freely like the impalas, warthogs, zebras, waterbucks and even they shy eland are all possible to spot. The birdlife is also prolific with man water birds living at the livestock dams.
Cultural visits
A walk or ride to a traditional Bahima homestead to learn about their cultural traditions and their way of life. Activities include learning about the Ankole long-horned cows with an opportunity to try your hand at milking, understand the ghee making process, taste milk and much more. This experience includes a nature walk or bike ride across grazing land where wildlife and livestock mingle together, to the homestead and back again.
Boat trip
A boat trip on Lake Mburo is the best way to see the Lake and its inhabitants. Different bird species like the fish eagles and finfoot can be seen on this water and animals like hippos and crocodiles can be sighted coming down for a drink. The boat trip takes approximately 1½ hours and life jackets are available at the landing site also in children’s sizes.
Garden
Mihingo lodge has its own vegetable and herb garden which is 100% organic and all salads that guests eat are from the garden. The lodge has set up an aqua-ponics system with a solar pump circling the water around the fish tanks, gravel beds and trenches and Tilapias are bred in the tanks.
Designed to blend in with its fragile surroundings, this environmentally friendly lodge offers comfort, relaxation and the experience of being at one with nature.
