Queen Elizabeth National Park

Queen Elizabeth National Park originally named as Kazinga National Park was founded in 1952. It was renamed two years later when Queen Elizabeth II of England visited. Queen Elizabeth National Park is located in Western Uganda is one of the most popular game park for safaris. The park covers 770 miles ² (1995 km²).

It stretches from the crater-dotted foothills of the Rwenzori range in the north, along the shores of Lake Edward to the remote Ishasha River in the south. Katwe explosion crater at 1,350m above sea level is the highest point of the park and Lake Edward at 910m is the lowest.

The park has 611 recorded bird species in the Kazinga channel sanctuary which covers an area approximately 207km. Queen Elizabeth National Park also has 95-recorded species of mammals which include Lion, Buffalo, Elephant, Hippos and many more.

Other park inhabitants include 10 primate species which include the Warthogs, Antelopes, Giant Forest hog, Chimpanzees, the Black and White Colobus Monkey, Olive Baboon, Uganda Kob, Waterbucks and leopards. Kazinga Channel is believed to contain the world’s largest concentration of hippos.

The Maramagambo Forest, south of the Kazinga Channel is also home to large numbers of chimps, plus a number of other monkey species. Queen Elizabeth National Park has over 600 bird species. Queen Elizabeth National Park has diverse ecosystems that include open grasslands, slouching savanna, lakes, fertile wetlands and humid forests. This is a nice habitat for wild animals, primates like chimpanzees and birds.

Road access from Uganda’s capital city of Kampala is 206 miles (420km). There is a landing strip at Mweya lodge for light aircraft or a larger airstrip at Kasese town. Park entry fees are paid at park or paid in advance by your chosen tour operator.

Activities & Attractions in Queen Elizabeth National Park :

Game Drives

Queen Elizabeth National Park is good for game drives especially in the dry season (June to September) and December to February. Dry Season is the best time to visit though sometimes the temperatures are high. During the rainy season some roads become impassible.

Bird Watching

Kazinga channel is an attraction for water birds. Tourists take a cruise on the channel and they see bid species like Great and Long-tailed Cormorants, Common Squaco Heron, White-faced Whistling and Knob-billed Ducks, African Fish Eagle, Great-white and Pink-backed Pelicans, African open-billed Strok, Water Thick-knee, Malachite and Pied kingfishers, Swamp flycatchers and Yellow backed Weavers, Black Crake, African Jacana, Spur-winged and African Wattled Plovers, are all common and eye-catching.

Boat Safari on Kazinga Channel

The Kazinga channel is about 40m long adjoining Lake Gorge to Lake Edward and has the perfect view of the parks’ major wildlife ventures. The shores of the lake attract a large concentration of mammals, birds as well as reptiles all year around.
The wildlife can be viewed well by the Boat Nile cruise or most likely at the entry of Lake Edward. The operation of the cruise runs from 3pm and 5pm, in addition to expeditions that run between 11am and 1pm depending on the demand of the tourists. Kazinga channel has parts for instance North Kazinga as well as Kasenyi. It’s known that the plains of the channel are focal points for game viewing.