Things done in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Activities done in Queen Elizabeth National Park: Queen Elizabeth National Park is the second largest and one of the most visited national parks in Uganda, located in the western region near the historical town of Fort Portal (tourism city) in the districts of Kasese, Kamwengye, Rubirizi and Rukungiri.
The park occupies a total area of 987 km². The park extends from Lake George in the north-east to Lake Edward in the south-west and includes the Kazinga Channel connecting the two lakes. It’s the wide channel in Uganda with 32 kilometres long.
Queen Elizabeth National Park, on a Uganda safari, is a habitat of various wildlife, including 95 animals such as elephants, leopards, buffaloes, hippos, waterbucks, bushbucks, Uganda kobs, warthogs, giant forest hogs, crocodiles, and tree-climbing lions in the Ishasha sector; primates like chimpanzees, baboons, red-tailed monkeys, and black-and-white colobus monkeys; and over 600 bird species, such as pied kingfishers, African fish eagles, squacco herons, open-billed storks, and wattled plovers, among others.
The following are activities to do in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Boat cruise
Boat cruise trips in Queen Elizabeth National Park are carried out on Kazinga Channel, a 40 km long water channel that connects Lake Edward and Lake George. A boat cruise in Queen Elizabeth National Park is conducted by the Uganda Wildlife Authority, MV Kazinga and Mweya Safari Lodge, and they are done in two sessions: the morning session at 9:00 am and the afternoon session at 2:00 pm at the landing site near Mweya Safari Lodge. It takes 2 hours.
During the boat cruise at Kazinga Channel, you will be able to cruise metres away from animals such as elephants, buffaloes, warthogs, and antelopes, which will be seen along the water banks drinking water; large herds of hippos and crocodiles in the water; etc. The Kazinga Channel is also known as one of the best birding destinations in that it’s a habitat of various bird species, such as long-tailed cormorant, open-billed stork, black crake, kingfisher, pink-backed pelican, yellow-billed stork, African jacana, African skimmer, swamp flycatcher, red-capped lark, grey-capped lark, and African mourning dove, among others.
Boat cruises in the park can be done anytime throughout the year, though the best periods are during the dry season in the months of June to September and December to February. During this time, there is the Peninsula. During the morning game drives, a variety of wildlife species can be seen since they are more active at this time of day.
Evening game drives provide a wonderful opportunity to explore the beauty of the park and see the wildlife species while enjoying the sunset in the wild. These game drives take up to 3/4 hours as tourists explore the savannah plains in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
During the game drive, you can look out for animals like waterbucks, tree-climbing lions, leopards, giant forest hogs, buffaloes, elephants, Uganda kobs, bushbucks, warthogs, and birds like African white-backed vultures, martial eagles, black-bellied bustards, palm-nut vultures, crowned plovers, black-headed gonoleks, grey-capped warblers, and black-lored babblers, among others.
Lion tracking experience in the Ishasha sector: This is one of the interesting activities in the park where visitors get an opportunity to track lions with radio collars. During lion research tracking, you will get close to the lions and spend more time with them, learning about their behaviours, habits, and others.
Birding/birdwatching: Queen Elizabeth National Park is home to over 600 bird species, which makes it a birding paradise in Uganda. Birding in the park can be done in different areas such as Kasenyi Plains, Ishasha Sector, Mweya Peninsula, Kazinga Channel, Maramagambo Forest, and Katwe Area, among others, and you will be able to view birds like wattled plover, open-billed stork, pied kingfisher, long-tailed cormorant, spur-winged plover, pink-backed pelican, African fish eagle, and yellow-backed weaver, among others.
Chimpanzee trekking in Kyambura: Chimpanzee trekking is an interesting and second-best activity done in Uganda after gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Chimpanzee trekking in the park is carried out in Kyambura Gorge, which is also known as the valley of apes. Kyambura Gorge is located in the eastern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park and is a habitat of primates like chimpanzees, monkeys, and baboons, as well as birds, among others.
Chimpanzee trekking is done in two sessions, the morning and the afternoon sessions, and takes about 2 to 4 hours trekking in the jungle or even more, depending on the location of the chimpanzees, because they like to move deep into the forest in search of food. Once the chimpanzee family has been found, visitors will spend one hour in their presence, taking pictures, learning more about their behaviours, habits, and so on.
Nature walk: This is an adventurous activity where visitors explore the park on foot while feeling a cool breeze with great scenic views of birds, animals, and others. A nature walk in Queen Elizabeth National Park can be done in Maramagambo Forest, where you will view primates like chimpanzees, black-and-white monkeys, L’hoest monkeys, and red-tailed monkeys; on the Mweya Peninsula, where you will view the Kazinga Channel; and along the Ishasha River.
Fishing. You are able to view local fishing villages around Kazinga Channel, where the fishermen are laying their fishing gear for the night to catch fish when the hippos are grazing on land. The above are a few main activities done in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
