Western Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of the most interesting and renowned safari destinations in the country. This Park is where nearly 197,800 hectares of unmatched diversity of life blend with spectacular landscapes to provide unrivalled safari experiences.
Size of Queen Elizabeth National Park
Being the second largest National Park in the country, it is encompassed of over 1978 square kilometers and sprawls the districts of Kasese, Rukungiri, Rubirizi and Kamwenge, from the Lake George area in the north-east to Lake Edward area in its south-west.
Location
Steeped in beauty and richness, the incredible Queen Elizabeth National Park is found in the western side of the country and lies astride the Equator. Anyone who has visited the Park before will agree that it is one of the most phenomenal places in the Africa Continent. While some travellers visit the Park for its animals and wildlife, others are taken away by its spectacular landscapes that also include Crater Lakes.
Highlights
During visits to Queen Elizabeth National Park, travellers are offered opportunities of encountering some of the 95 species of mammals occupying different ecosystems. Be prepared to see some of the biggest populations of black and white colobus monkeys, bushbucks, Banded mongoose, common warthogs, elephants, the elusive leopards, chimpanzees, common elands, lions, Cape Buffaloes, vervet monkeys, Defassa waterbucks, duikers, Hippos, Olive baboons, spotted hyenas, Uganda Kobs, Topis, , serval cats, to mention but a few.
Game drives
Queen Elizabeth National Park’s game drives are for visitors who wish to get up-close with African game. These are offered in form of morning game drives, afternoon gam drives, sunset game drives and night game drives through the sweeping Northern Kazinga Plains and Kasenyi Plains with views of Defassa waterbucks, bushbucks, olive baboons, lions, spotted hyenas, leopards, giant forest hogs, Uganda Kobs, Topis, duikers, warthogs, African bush elephants, Cape buffaloes, Hippos, Defassa waterbucks, Banded mongoose, to mention but a few.
Guided bush walks
Majority of Safari Lodges in Queen Elizabeth National Park provide visitors with the golden chance to undertake guided bush walks, to share experiences as well as knowledge of the flora and fauna in the natural setting. Being out on foot, you can identify animals by their footprints or droppings, experience nature with all senses, uncover hidden wildlife as well as rare bird species. Make sure to have a camera and binoculars while getting up-close to nature.
Kazinga Boat Cruise
Boat Cruises in Kazinga Channel allow visitors to explore aquatic wildlife and bird species. Participants are driven to Mweya jetty in open game viewing vehicle and high populations of Hippos and Nile crocodiles should be expected. There is space for only 40 persons per trip, with UWA ranger guides on-board. Several aquatic and wetland bird species are expected during this activity, and they include Rufous-bellied herons, shoebill storks, Grey-crowned cranes, Papyrus gonolek, Malachite and pied kingfishers, red-chested sunbirds, African fish eagles and many others.
Bird watching
Queen Elizabeth National Park has a list of over 600 species of the aquatic bird species, wetland, Central African bird species, forest, and savannah species in Queen Elizabeth National Park alone, it is not surprisingly that it is one of the 33 Important Birding Areas in Uganda. The highest number of species can be spotted within Lake Kikorongo, Ishasha sector, Katunguru Bridge area, Katwe area, Kazinga Channel, Kasenyi sector, Maramagambo forest, Mweya Peninsula and never leave out the different Crater Lakes for migratory species.
The must-see species during birding tours in Queen Elizabeth National Park. pied kingfishers, white-tailed Larks, greater and lesser flamingos, pink-backed pelicans, Great white pelicans, Papyrus gonolek, Martial eagles, Malachite kingfishers, African broadbills, grey-crowned cranes, Red-chested sunbirds, Rufuous-bellied herons, Giant kingfishers, shoebill storks, Great blue Turaco, African fish eagles and Papyrus gonolek typify the bird species that visitors can look forward to in this Park.
Kyambura Chimpanzee treks
The lush Kyambura Gorge holds the Park’s chimpanzee population and adventurous visitors have a chance to explore the forest for habituated chimpanzee communities.
Treks here start at 8:00am (morning sessions) as well as 2:00pm (afternoon sessions), lasting 1-3 hours before contacts are finally made with the Great Apes. Other residents of the forest such as black and white colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, olive baboons and birds can be seen during these treks.
Experiential tourism
Experiential activities in Uganda such as Hippo Census, Mongoose tracking and lion tracking are only provided in Queen Elizabeth National Park with opportunities of getting up-close with animals. For these tours, participants follow a team of researchers to locate and learn animals’ habituation calls and behavior.
Cultural Experiences
Wildlife encounters are the main reason why visitors go to Queen Elizabeth National Park but learning about cultures and traditions of local communities is a plus. Several community initiatives exist around this Park and they include Kikongoro Women Community, Kasoga Community Experience, Nyanz’ibiri Cave Community, Leopard Village and many others.
Hot air Balloon tours
Hot air balloon tours are only conducted in two places in Uganda, Queen Elizabeth National Park being one of them. Explore the vast savannah plains marked by different animals the forest of Kyambura, different beautiful Crater Lakes, to mention but a few.
How do i get there ?
By Road
Transfers take 6-7 hours with two routes, that include the Kampala-Masaka-Mbarara-Bushenyi-Kasese route and the Kampala-Mubende-Fort Portal-Queen Elizabeth National Park.
By Flight
Daily flights are organized by Aerolink from Entebbe International Airport to Mweya, Kasese or Ishasha airstrip.