Famed as one of the powerhouses of the classic Ugandan education system, and hailed as one of the country’s burgeoning local business hubs, bustling Mbarara sits nestled between the rolling greenery of the Western Uganda region, ticking over to the tooting of traffic horns, the hubbub of farmer’s food markets and the morning birdsong of rare mosque swallows and African wattled lapwings in the sky.

However, for all of Mbarara’s modern energy, it’s still primarily known as the gateway to the Lake Mburo National Park—one of the continent’s more undiscovered of safari destinations. Anyone interested in exploring this wonder of the African bush should consider hiring an Mbarara tour guide, who can help them seek out pods of hippos between the rushes, elusive leopards in the woods, clusters of crowned cranes, striped zebra herds or booming packs of buffalo.