Queen Elizabeth National Park Facts  : Queen Elizabeth national park is located in Kasese district in the Eastern region of Uganda. It lies at the back of Rwenzori Mountains giving staggering and stunning views from the crater lakes. Katwe explosion craters are marked as the highest point of Queen Elizabeth national park standing at 1350meters and Lake Edward is marked as the lowest point of the park standing at 910meters. Queen Elizabeth national park is the 2nd largest national park in Uganda covering 1980 square kilometers from the South west of Kampala. It was first known as Kazinga channel National Park in 1952 and later renamed Queen Elizabeth National park after the visit of the queen of England, Queen Elizabeth National Park Facts

Queen Elizabeth national park is well known as the most visited park by the tourists for its tree climbing lions and numerous wildlife animals such as buffalos, elephants, hippos. And Volcanic features volcanic canes, crater lakes, deep craters and many more.

Attractions in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

There are a numerous number of many things in the park that have pulled the attention of tourists to visit the park often hence not forgetting it being the most visited park in Uganda. And these attractions include;

Tree climbing Lions.

These lions are only based in two specific places in the whole world and that is in the southern part of Queen Elizabeth national park in Ishasha sector and Lake Manyara national park in the southern part of Tanzania. These tree climbing lions are also well known as Cactus climbing lions. They are seen as the major attraction to tourists that visit East Africa.

Queen Elizabeth National Park Facts
Tree Climbing Lions

Lake Katwe.

This is well known as the most famous salt lake in Uganda. It is located in the North of Mweya peninsular being in the south western part of the part of the park. Salt mining is the major activity that takes place at the lake, Queen Elizabeth National Park Facts

Kazinga channel.

By paying a visit you will reward your eyes with a magical sight of Kazinga channel. It is 32km water body that bounds up Lake Edward and lake George together. Tourists get to enjoy boat cruise across the Kazinga channel giving a satisfying view  of wild life animals like; crocodiles, Flamingoes, hippos, elephants and many more.

Lake George.

It is located in the western part of African rift valley. It is small and shallow covering 250 square kilometers and having a depth of 2.4 meters.

Lake Katwe Explosion craters.

They are marked as the highest point within Queen Elizabeth national park.  While at the craters there is chance of seeing the Kazinga channel, mountain Rwenzori ranges, Lake George and the great rift valley of Africa and the escarpments during the drive.

Activities done in Queen Elizabeth national park.

Cultural activities.

Travelers enjoy watching traditional dances, listening to traditional music, storytelling moment and participating in the community projects.

Birding.

Some tourists are more interested in bird watching and therefore they visit the park to have a glance at several bird species. And Queen Elizabeth national park is a top notch destination for birding safaris in Uganda. These birding activities are mainly done in Ishasha sector in the southern part of the park.

Lion tracking.

Tourists come to Queen Elizabeth national park for lion tracking which helps them get close gestures of lions and tend to learn their behaviors as well.

Chimpanzee tracking.

During chimpanzee tracking, chimpanzee tracking permits cost 50 USD in Kyambura gorge and 30 USD in Kalinju forest. So this means that tourists can get access of the habituated chimpanzees in Kyambura gorge and Kalinju forest with the help of the tourist guide, tourists get to learn and understand how chimpanzees live. This activity doesn’t go beyond 2-4 hours and it is best when it begins at 8am in the morning to explore more.

Game viewing.

During this activity, tourists get to see many wildlife animals like, elephants, lions, leopards, giraffes, flamingoes, hippos, pelicans and many more with the assistance of their tour guides.

Caves.

In Maramagambo forest there is a specific well known as the bat cave. In this cave there is a viewing room which makes it easy for the tourists to take a clear view as they observe the bats and pythons without any disturbances and fear.

Hot air ballooning.

This is an activity where tourists get to have an awesome experience by flying up in the sky and catch an exciting aerial view of the park and its nature; wildlife, rift valley lakes.

The best time to visit the National Park.

The most time that tourists should be paying visits is best in the dry seasons which is from January to March and August to December, where there is less rain and this favors most of the activities to go as they had planned. During March to May, these are the rainy seasons and during this period, tourists may tend to miss out a lot in case it decides to rain all day despite the fact that they had cleared payments for the activities that they have missed out because of rain, so it is best to visit during the dry seasons. More so, most of the animals tend to hide during the rain.

Queen Elizabeth National Park Facts
Wildlife Viewing in Queen Elizabeth

Where to stay in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Queen Elizabeth national park tends to offer different classes of accommodation which include; Luxury, Budget, and Mid-range lodges to tourists and some of these lodges include; Kasenyi Safari camp, Ihamba safari lodge, park view lodge, elephant plains lodge, Queen Elizabeth bush lodge, Kyambura Gorge lodge, Ishasha jungle lodge, Katara lodge, Simba safari camp and many others.

How to get to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Tourists moving to Queen Elizabeth National park can either use Air or Road transport.

Air transport.

Tourists that prefer to use air transport are advised to book flights from Entebbe airport or Kasese, Mweya airstrips.

Road transport.

Travelers who opt to use road transport will use Mbarara road which is 420km to the national park from the South or move from Ishasha to Bwindi National park which is allocated in the south.

And one can access the park Via Mbarara road through Bushenyi district which leads to you to the center of the park.

Doubtlessly we believe that Queen Elizabeth is the most visited National park in Uganda and therefore contact us for more information about the park.

book a safari