Queen Elizabeth National Park
Queen Elizabeth National Park is the second largest park located in the southwestern region of Uganda in the districts of Kasese, Rubirizi, Kamwenge, and Rukungiri bordered by the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Park was established in 1952 as Kazinga National Park and later in 1954, was renamed as Queen Elizabeth National Park after the visit of the Queen of England the second to commemorate her visit. Queen Elizabeth National Park also includes Katwe craters, Kyambura Gorge, Maramagambo forest, and Katwe salt pans among others.
The Park covers a total area of 1,978 square kilometres extending from Lake George in the northeast to Lake Edward in the southwest includes the Kazinga channel connecting the two lakes. Queen Elizabeth National Park is blessed with vegetation, mostly the thickets that have various trees like the Acacia and many more. Queen Elizabeth National Park is believed to be one of the most visited national parks in Uganda due to its wildlife which includes, African buffaloes, Uganda kob hippopotamus, Nile crocodiles, African elephants, lions, leopards, waterbucks among others.
What to expect on your safari to Queen Elizabeth National Park
Queen Elizabeth National Park is famously known for its big cats like the tree-climbing lions in the Ishasha sector and leopards mostly around the Mweya peninsula. Game drives which involve viewing the big game in the park. are also carried out and these may include big games such as elephants, warthogs, buffaloes, and antelopes among others.
Boat cruises along the Kazinga channel that links Lake Edward in the West and Lake George in the East. This is where you find lots of wildlife like the herds of buffaloes and elephants coming to the shore to drink water mostly during the dry season, pelicans rafting in water, birds swimming, hippos in water too among others.
Kyambura Gorge is situated in the far East of Queen Elizabeth National Park. In addition to this, Gorge was nicknamed the Valley of Apes. The largest part of this gorge is for primates like the chimpanzees. Chimpanzee trekking is a popular activity done in Uganda which gives you an experience to know how these primates behave and play at the same time among other expectations.
Activities done in Queen Elizabeth National Park
Boat cruise, a Boat cruise is one of the best activities one shouldn’t miss while at Queen Elizabeth National Park. It is done across the kazinga channel a natural channel that connects Lake Edward and Lake George. The boat cruise is an awesome activity that will help you learn and get exposed to Uganda’s wildlife like the African elephants, cape buffaloes, hippos, crocodiles, monitor lizards, and warthogs among others. While on the boat, still expect to see bird species both migratory birds and non-migratory birds including pied kingfishers, goliath heron, hadada ibis, sacred ibis, African jacana, sunbirds, African fish eagle, gulls, pelicans, cattle egret, great egret, cormorants mention but a few. The boat cruise is conducted twice a day or three times during the dry season, one in the morning from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm and in the afternoon from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm totaling two hours. the bookings are well done at Mweya peninsula or call it information center.
Game drives, Game driving at Queen Elizabeth takes 3 to 4 hours as long as you have paid for the park entrance and the vehicle to move you around. A visitor together with the guide and the park ranger, will take you exactly where the animals are instead of meandering around the park. These guides know better where the different wildlife groups are and these are normally done when the visitors can see and view the animals. Some of the animals expected to be seen include herds of elephants, buffaloes, waterbucks, warthogs, Uganda kobs, and bushbucks among others. There are also night game drives, so visitors interested in such, have to communicate early, the night game drive is strictly organized under the guidance of a park ranger, for this, be expectant of nocturnal animals mostly like the hippos, and lions among other animals.
Bird watching, Queen Elizabeth National Park is home to over 600 bird species including forest birds, water birds, migratory birds, and savannah birds making it one of the best birding destinations in Uganda. This activity of birding is done in different sectors of the park for example, along the Kazinga Channel, Maramagambo forest, kasenyi plains, Mweya Peninsula, and Tambura Gorge among others. Carrying out birding, you will be accompanied by a group of rangers and the guide who will be helping you in spotting the different bird species, these include, Weaver birds, African jacana, African wagtail, yellow bill storks, pink-backed pelicans, hadada ibis, sacred ibis, woodpeckers, blue eared starling, African fish eagle, marabou stork, yellow wagtail, goliath heron, black-headed gonolek, saddle bill stork, doves, flycatchers, hamerkop, sunbirds among others.
Chimpanzee trekking, Chimpanzee trekking is another inspirational activity done in Kyambura Gorge well known for apes. This activity is done early in the morning when they have just started their movement. It starts with a briefing about the rules and regulations to be followed while in the field. Immediately after the briefing, you will start to search for these chimpanzees mostly the habituated ones for around 30 minutes to 4 hours depending on their movement because they always move far distances searching for food. During this trekking, apart from seeing chimpanzees, you will be in a position to see other species like plant species, tree species, and bird species among others. The moment you find these chimpanzees, you are given one hour to everything about them, the way they behave, communicate, and breastfeed among others.
Nature walks, A nature walk through the peninsula like the Mweya peninsula will give you a chance to see various bird species like Marabou stork, goliath heron, plovers, sun birds, wagtails, hadada ibis, hamerkop, African fish eagle, blue eared starling bird, gonolek, Red chested cuckoo among others. During this nature walk, you are also likely to find a group of banded mongooses which are small in size moving in their respective groups led by the dominant male, you get to learn about their behaviors, identifying the females from the males among others. While on the walk, expect to see some animal species like the herds of buffaloes in the thickets, elephants grazing, hippos in water, waterbucks, and warthogs to mention but a few.
Lion tracking, Queen Elizabeth National Park is well known for the animals that reside in the park like the big four. These big four include lions, leopards, elephants, and buffaloes, but lions are kinder different because they climb trees. The reason why they climb trees is because they can’t view their prey due to the grasslands obstructing them, insects biting them from down, too much sunshine while down, and other reasons. Therefore, the uniqueness of these lions not only makes them kings of the jungle but also good at climbing trees. This awesome activity is best done at the Ishasha sector in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Where to stay in Queen Elizabeth National Park
Queen Elizabeth National Park has lots of accommodations to offer to visitors on a safari ranging from budget, midrange, and luxury including, Mweya Safari Lodge, Elephant Hab, Queen Elizabeth Safari Lodge, Buffalo Safari Lodge, Kasenyi Safari Camp, Simba Safari Camp, Elizabeth safari lodge, Marafiki safari lodge, jacana safari lodge, Mweya hostels, Ihamba safari lodge among other lodges.
Best time to visit Queen Elizabeth National Park
Queen Elizabeth National Park can be visited anytime you prefer but mostly during the dry season in January, February, June, July, August, September, and December which makes it easy for these transport roads to be accessed and passable in case of nature walks, game drives, and chimpanzee trekking trails among others. It can also be visited in wet seasons in March, April, May, October, and November which is the best season for birds mostly migratory birds thus making it so interesting to birders.
How to get to Queen Elizabeth national park national Park
Queen Elizabeth National Park is located in South Western Uganda, It has various ways of accessing it, Either by Air or by Road.
Road transport, Queen Elizabeth National Park can be accessed by road transport whereby the tourist vehicle will use the different routes including the Northern route from Kampala or Entebbe to Mubende, Fort Portal, and Kasese, and then directly to Queen Elizabeth National Park. You can also decide to use the Southern route, from Kampala to Masaka, Mbarara via Lake Mburo into Queen Elizabeth National Park. Still, by road transport, you can use the public means from Kampala to Kasese, then get a private vehicle or motorcycle to take you to the take you to the park since public transport is allowed.
Air transport, Queen Elizabeth National Park can also be accessed by the use of a flight direct from Entebbe International or Kajjansi Airfield Airport to Mweya Airfield or Kasese Airstrip. Your flight to Queen Elizabeth National Park can be booked by a tour Operator like Adventure in the Wild Safaris if you book before the exact date of departure.
In addition to this, you can still access Queen Elizabeth National Park via other parks like Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park via the Ishasha sector in the north to Queen Elizabeth National Park.