Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary — a 7,000-hectare private rhino sanctuary 120 km north of Kampala on the Kampala-Murchison Falls highway, managed by Rhino Fund Uganda in partnership with Uganda Wildlife Authority — is the only place in Uganda where rhinoceros can be seen. Uganda’s native white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) were extinct in the country by 1983, hunted to local extinction during the political instability of the Idi Amin and Obote eras. The restocking programme began in 2005 with 6 southern white rhinos imported from Kenya and South Africa under international conservation cooperation — by 2025, the Ziwa population has grown to approximately 35 individuals through natural reproduction, making Uganda’s only wild rhino population one of East Africa’s most successful species recovery programmes. This guide covers Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary for 2025 visitors, for whom it is the standard midway stop on the Kampala-Murchison Falls drive.
Walking with Rhino
The Ziwa Rhino Walk — the sanctuary’s signature experience — is the only place in Uganda (and one of very few places in East Africa) where visitors can approach wild rhinoceros on foot without a vehicle barrier. The walk (departing from the sanctuary reception in groups of maximum 6 people, led by an armed UWA ranger plus a rhino tracker) locates the sanctuary’s rhino herds (scattered across the 7,000-hectare property in groups of 2–6 individuals) using the tracking team’s daily location data — radio monitoring of movement patterns allows the ranger to estimate the rhino’s current position. The approach: 30–90 minutes walking through open savanna and bush, closing to within 10–15 metres of a white rhino family. At that distance, the physical scale of the animal (a male white rhino reaches 2,300 kg — the second-largest land animal in Africa after the elephant) registers in a way that no vehicle-based view can reproduce. Walk cost: USD $45/person (day walk), USD $30/person (night walk, departing 19:30). Duration: 2–3 hours including walking time.
Shoebill Stork at the Wetland
The Ziwa Sanctuary’s extensive papyrus-fringed wetland (the Lugogo Swamp section, adjacent to the main sanctuary area) supports one of Uganda’s most accessible shoebill stork populations. The shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) — one of the world’s most sought-after birds by birding visitors, a prehistoric-looking large bird (120–140 cm tall) with an enormous shoe-shaped bill used for hunting lungfish in the papyrus swamps — is present at Ziwa year-round, with 4–6 individuals reliably in the swamp section. The canoe trip into the Lugogo Swamp for shoebill (1–2 hours, USD $20/person additional to the sanctuary entry) takes visitors by dugout canoe through the papyrus channels to a position 5–15 metres from the shoebill on its characteristic papyrus mat perch. The shoebill’s extraordinary stillness (it can remain stationary for 20+ minutes while hunting, watching for the lungfish’s surfacing movement) allows extended photography at close range from the silent canoe.
Practical Information 2025
- Location: 120 km from Kampala (2 hours via the Gulu highway); the sanctuary is directly on the main Murchison Falls road — all Kampala-Murchison visitors pass within 2 km of the sanctuary entrance
- Entry fee: USD $45/person (day rhino walk included). Night walk: USD $30 additional.
- Accommodation: Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary Camp — USD $60–90/night. Basic but comfortable, on the sanctuary grounds. Allows dawn and dusk rhino walks not available to day visitors.
- Best time to visit: Year-round. Morning walks (07:00–10:00) are best in the dry season when the rhinos are actively feeding in the open grassland before the midday heat.
