Queen Elizabeth National Park
Uganda’s most popular national park and 2nd largest after Murchison Fall National Park with a total area of 1,978km/sq. Queen Elizabeth National Park is located in western Uganda laying within the arrays of the Western Albertine Rift.
Queen Elizabeth Park borders Uganda with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The park was named in commemoration of United Kingdom Queen Elizabeth visit to Uganda in 1954. One of the oldest park reserved in 1952 as the Kazinga channel combining Lake Gorge and Lake Edward game reserves.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is the most amazing park with various sections that stature a number of experiences. The Mweya Peninsula is common for Kazinga view and boat launch, Kasenyi known are reputable for amazing game watching adventures. The Katwe section is a salt mining and community rewards sections, Ishasha section very popular for the rare tree climbing lions. And finally, the Kyambura gorge mostly popular for the chimpanzee tracking adventure.
This diverse eco-system features the flat savannah dotted with acacias, valleys, crater depressions, lakes like, Kazinga channels and the clipped Kyambura gorge with humid forests. Queen Elizabeth Park has the longest list of wild experience than any other park in Uganda. Such experiences are; game drives, boat cruise, chimpanzee tracking, lion tracking, hippo census, birding, mongoose tracking, community visits etc.
Activities
Game drives
Uganda’s most popular adventure done. Queen Elizabeth National Park is done at Kasenyi section and Ishasha sector. The game drive at Queen Elizabeth National Park accommodates all adventures of the western region, and various selections of circuit round trips. Take rounds of different game tracks excites with the finest view bits of wildlife abundance. Among the encounters include some of the big five elephants, lions, leopards, herds of buffaloes. Warthogs, and antelopes, hippos, several bird species among many other encounters. The most rewarding game drive is best done during the morning hour’s feature up close viewing of the wildlife as they rush to feed on still moist green flora.
Seated in a comfort of a vehicle nature rewards extends to watching several bird species. Queen Elizabeth Park is known for harboring greatest number of bird species to over 600 species. Always park rangers are knowledgeable of which track to take according to what which species one would want to encounter.
Boat Cruise
The amazing Kazinga channel stature a perfect and one of the wildest rewarding boat cruise in Uganda. The boat cruise starts from Mweya peninsula for a cruise which lasts for almost two scenery packed hours. This exciting boat cruise at Kazinga Channel points to wonderful sightings of numerous water life like crocodiles, one of the world’s most populated hippo pool, herds of wild game that come to draw water at the banks of the channel. Besides the large hippopotamuses taking their dints, the crocodiles lounging sluggishly relaxed on the channel banks for a warm sun feel. Various other mammals and birds like the kingfisher.
The Tree Climbing Lions
One of the rare encounters on the African safaris. Tree climbing lions remained a special gift for travelers to Queen Elizabeth Park. Driving to off the beaten tracks of Ishasha sector south of Queen Elizabeth is where proves special of what it can offer. While at ishasha sector it’s not about watching tree climbing lion, but tracking the tree climbing predators. On luck days lions are seen lazily relaxed into acacia and fig branches.
Lions to climb trees is still a mystery, can the King really run run up from his grounds. Maybe moist thorny grounds, seeking the cool breeze in the trees or escaping the notorious bites from the tsetse flies and other insects from the ground. However, ishasha sector is also home to other animals such as herds of buffaloes, large numbers of elephants, warthogs and antelopes to give a memorable safari adventures to trackers within the park sector.
Bird watching
Queen Elizabeth National park is Uganda top birders destination. The park records the highest number of bird species with over 600 bird species recorded from the about 1090 species recorded in Uganda. For bird enthusiast, lowly the number of these bird species follow the migratory trend of breeding from Europe and Asia. The common bird sighing here include, Egyptian goose, spur winged plover, African fish eagle, pied kingfisher, sacred ibis, African skimmers.
Some other birds likely to focus your binoculars may include the; Sedge warbles, Papyrus canary, the martial eagle, Pink backed Pelican, Yellow throated Cuckoo, and the Verreaux’s Eagle Owl, all which inhabit the park’s expansive grasslands, forests and wetlands.
The most catching places for birds include the Kazinga channel, watching plenty of flamingos at salty Lake Katwe and Bunyampaba.
Chimpanzee Trekking
The Kyambura Gorge changes the vegetation cover of Queen Elizabeth to a tropical humid forests. Into the deep valley of the gorge extension is home to chimpanzees and other primates and mammals. Chimpanzee tracking at Kyambura Northern part of Queen Elizabeth is next to Kibale tracking. The chimpanzees tracking is one of the thrilling adventures in Uganda. Kyambura gorge is among the few fantastic forest to find habituated chimpanzees. Chimpanzees are habituated to enable a close up encounter. Securing a permit to track chimpanzees here it costs $50.
Other activities one can take at queen Elizabeth national park include, community visits, balloon safaris, explosion crater drive makes queen Elizabeth national park a fantastic place to visit.