Queen Elizabeth National park is the 2nd largest national park in Uganda after Murchison falls national park covering a total surface area of 1,978km². Queen Elizabeth national park was gazetted in 1952 as kazinga channel national park and was renamed after 2 years in 1954 to Queen Elizabeth national park to commemorate a visit by Queen Elizabeth II in Uganda. The park is known as a medley of wonders because of its rich eco-system. Its managed as a conservation area because of this rich eco system and it thus consists of other game reserves including Kigezi wildlife reserve and Kyambura wildlife reserve. The wildlife sanctuary spans along the equator line monument on either side of the road marking the exact spot where it crosses latitude 00. The park hosts over 95 mammals,10 primates including chimpanzees and over 600 bird species. The parks highest point is at 1,350m and the lowest point is at 910m above the sea level.
The park has diverse eco systems including sprawling savanna, humid and shady forests, sparkling lakes and fertile wetlands. Part of it is the wetland on lake George which was declared a Ramsar site by UNESCO. The park has very beautiful scenery which include dozens of enormous craters carved dramatically into rolling green hills, panoramic views, Kazinga channel whose banks attract a lot of wildlife, endless Ishasha plains with tree climbing lions that hide in fig trees. Park of it is Maramagambo forest that attract lots of guided nature walks with its famous bat caves that harbors pythons. It also consists of Mweya Peninsular a hub for tourism activities and where the visitor information center is found. The park is in the western wing of East African lift valley and thus hosts kyambura escarpments and kyambura gorge that hosts chimpanzees.
Activities in Queen Elizabeth National Park;
Game drives. Queen Elizabeth is rich in bio diversity hosting over 95 mammals that facilitate game drive activities in the park. Most game drives take place in Kasenyi plains being a mating ground for antelopes which attracts prides of lions and other predators as they come for hunting. You will have a chance to encounter different wild animals including lions, buffaloes, elephants, leopards and different antelopes and many more nocturnal animals. You can also do a game drive around the Katwe explosion craters with its famous blue lake. Game drives can also be done in Ishasha sector to see the famous but rare tree climbing lions hiding in the fig trees. Ishasha sector also habours large herds of buffaloes, elephants, topis and other antelopes. Game drives can be done both during the day morning and evening and during the night.
Launch Cruise. Launch cruise is one of the most exciting activities to do in Queen Elizabeth national park. This takes place on Kazinga Channel which connects lake George and Edward. It lasts for 2 hours and the famous ones are scheduled at 1:00PM,3;00 PM and 5: 00PM. While on the launch cruise, you will be able to see what you missed during your game drive. You have chance to see elephants, buffalos on the shores, crocodiles sun bathing and big schools of hippos among others. Bird lovers will have a chance to sight different bird species both original and migratory. This activity allows maximum number of 5 people up to 45 as maximum number per boat. You cannot afford to miss the launch cruise on your holiday to Queen Elizabeth
Birding. Queen Elizabeth National Park harbors over 600 recorded bird both original and migratory that favors the birding experience for bird lovers. Birds can be sighted throughout the park but most especially on Mweya Peninsular, Kazinga Channel, lake Munyanyange and around Lake George wetland like sedge warbles, papyrus canary, the martial eagle, pink backed pelican, yellow throated cuckoo and the verreauxs eagle owl where these birds inhabit in grasslands, forests and wetlands without forgetting the migratory flamingos at Munyanyange and sometimes in Kasenyi.
Chimpanzee trekking: Chimp tracking takes place in Kyambura Gorge and it’s done either in the morning or in the afternoon. The numbers per session are regulated ad only 8 people can be allowed per session and this is for conservation purposes. This activity needs advance booking in order not to miss out on the available permits. The gorge is within Kyambura escarpment with in the western arm of the East African rift valley, separated by Kyambura river. The UWA Ranger guide will lead you on this trek and once you encounter with these primates, you will spend 1 hour with them observing them and taking photos in close range. During trekking, you have a chance of seeing other primate species like red tailed monkeys, vevet baboons, black and colobus monkeys. Other mammals like the elephants and buffaloes can be sighted during chimp trekking
Guided nature Walks; Guided nature walk can be done in Mweya peninsular and also in Nyamusingiri as part of Maramagambo forest. Guided nature walk in Maramagambo will leads you to the bat cave with a lot of bats and big python. Nature walk in Mweya peninsular can be done along Mweya air strip up to the bird hides and can go up to the shores of lake Edward.
Experiential Tourism: Experiential tourism takes place in Mweya peninsular and the activity is led by a researcher with exceptional experience in preditors together with the UWA Ranger guide. Activities under experiential tourism may include lion tracking, leopard tracking and mongoose tracking experience among others.
Cultural Community Experience: The park is surrounded by Bakonjo, Bakiga and Banyankole communities each with a unique cultural history. Women from these communities have formed groups to showcase their culture in terms of music, dance and drama and crafts in order to also benefit from Tourism. They include the Kikorongo women group and the Katunguru women group. You can as well take a community walk around Rubirizi district where you will see the Green lake and several other crater lakes with one with the shape of Africa continent called Rutoto.You can also participate in the agro-tourism experience in the Kyamuhunnga tea plantations. You can also visit Katwe salt lake and learn how the local people extract salt from the lake.
Accessing Queen Elizabeth National Park
It be accessed easily from Kampala on tarmac road from Kampala via Mbarara town and Bushenyi covering a distance of 420km which leads you to the center of the park, passing just 22 km from Mweya peninsula. Using this road, you are able to visit lake Mburo national park on the transit.
It can be accessed from Kampala via Fort portal covering a total of 410km and through this route visitors are able to access Mt. Rwenzori national parks, and Kibale national parks.
The park can still be accessed through quick travel using flights from Entebbe to Kasese, Mweya and Ishasha air strips.
Some of the Accommodation in Queen Elizabeth National parks include:
- Mweya safari lodge
- Enganzi lodge
- Kasenyi game lodge
- Simba safari lodge
- Ihamba safari lodge
- Katara lodge
- Park view lodge
- Volcanoes lodge
- Kyambura game lodge
- King fisher
- Kasenyi game lodge
- Bush lodge
- Ishasha wilderness camp
- Baboon safari lodge among others
