Queen Elizabeth National Park known as a medley of wonders is the 2nd largest national park in Uganda covering 1,978 Square kilometers.
The park was founded in 1952 as Kazinga National Park, and was renamed after two years in 1954 to commemorate a visit by Queen Elizabeth II.
The park spans 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.
The park is in the western wing of East African lift valley and thus hosts kyambura escarpments and kyambura gorge that hosts chimpanzees.
Accessing Queen Elizabeth National Park
It be accessed easily from Kampala and tarmac road from Kampala via Mbarara town and Bushenyi covering a distance of 420km which leads to the center of the park, passing just 22 km from Mwenya peninsula.
It can be accessed from Kampala via Fort portal covering a total of 410km and through these routes’ visitors are able to access Lake Mburo national parks, Mt. Rwenzori national parks, and Kibale national parks.
The park can still access quick travel using flights from Entebbe to Kasese, Mweya and Ishasha air strips.
Game drives both day and night. Most game drives take place in Kasenyi because of being amating ground for antelopes which attracts prides of lions and other predators as they come for hunting. You will have a chance to view different wild animals including lions, buffaloes, elephants, different antelopes and many more nocturnal animals. You can also do a game drive around the Katwe explosion craters with its famous blue lake.
Launch Cruise. This takes place on Kazinga Channel which connects lake Gorge and Edward. It lasts for 2 hours and the famous ones start 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. This is a good place to sight different bird species both original and migratory.
Birding. Queen Elizabeth National Park is a good place for bird lovers since it has over 600 recorded species of birds both original and migratory. 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 flamingos at Munyanyange
Chimpanzee trekking: This takes place in kyambura Gorge and its done either in the morning or in the afternoon. The gorge is within Kyambura escarpment and is 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. Apart from chimpanzee, there are other primates you are likely to encounter like red tailed monkeys, vevet baboons, black and colobus monkeys.
Guided nature Walks; Guided nature walk are done in Mweya peninsular and Maramagambo forest. Nature walk in Imaramagambo leads you to the bat cave with a lot of bats and big python. It normally lasts between 3 to 4 hours and it interests normally the botanists, and zoologists and Researchers.
Experiential Tourism: Experiential tourism takes place in Mweya peninsular and its done with the researcher with a rare experience in predators together with the UWA ranger guide. The products under this include lion tracking, leopard tracking and mongoose tracking experience.
Cultural Community Experience: The park is surrounded by Bakonjo, Bakiga and Banyankole. 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
