Top Wildlife to See in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Wildlife in Queen Elizabeth National Park: Queen Elizabeth National Park is renowned as the top-visited destination for game viewing on the Uganda safaris. The park is located in the western part of Uganda and lies within the Albertine Rift Valley and supports a vast number of wildlife species, with over 95 mammals and more than 600 species of birds.
Furthermore, Queen Elizabeth National Park covers an area of about 1978 square kilometres, which is home to crater lakes, grass hills, open savannah, woodland, vegetation, among others, and a diverse ecosystem. It was established in 1952 to protect the fauna and flora which are managed by the UWA, the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
Wildlife in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Animals in Queen Elizabeth National Park include the unique tree-climbing lions, hyenas and leopards, which are the predators in the park, and other animals include elephants, buffaloes, warthogs, waterbuck, giant forest hogs, and various antelopes like Uganda Kobs, oribis, topi, bushbuck, and sitatunga, among others.
Kazinga Channel also supports water species like hippos and crocodiles, as well as various bird species. Lake Edward and George are also permanent water bodies within the park that support the highest concentration of hippos and crocodiles.
More so, the park harbours various primates such as chimpanzees, which are found in Kyambura Gorge; black and white colobus monkeys; red-tailed monkeys; blue monkeys; and a unique mongoose, which are commonly found in areas of the Mweya Peninsula within the park
The wildlife highlights in the park.
The tree-climbing lions are the most sought-after other wild species in Queen Elizabeth National Park, which can be viewed hanging on fig trees in the Ishasha sector, and the giant forest hog can be easily seen in the park, both on a game drive and on the boat trip on the Kazinga Channel.
Buffaloes are extremely attractive, as they are often reddish brown due to interbreeding with forest buffaloes from the nearby country, the Congo. The endangered chimpanzee tracking is available in the tropical forest of Kyambura Gorge.
The number of games in the park.
The number of game in Queen Elizabeth National Park is about 2500 elephants, 5000 hippos, and 1000 buffaloes that are inhabitants of the vast savannah Kasenyi plains. They are commonly seen during the game drive along the Kazinga Channel and on the shores of Lake George.
The Primates
Queen Elizabeth National Park harbours a big number of primate species that happily play in the diverse habitats of the park; chimpanzees are one of the most encountered species, found in a hidden paradise of a rainforest bordered by steep sides called Kyambura Gorge.
Other primates can be seen in forested areas like Kyambura Game Reserve and Maramagambo Forest of Queen Elizabeth National Park, such as vervet monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, and baboons, which like jumping close to the car window as you view them.
Bird species.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is a truly birding destination with more than 600 bird species recorded, comprised of migratory and forest birds. Birding in Queen Elizabeth National Park is best done along the Kazinga Channel launch cruise, nature walks in Maramagambo Forest and community walks.
Commonly spotted bird species in Queen Elizabeth National Park include the African fish eagle, shoebill, martial eagle, fulvous whistling-duck, white-backed duck, ruddy shelduck, common shelduck, African pygmy-goose, spur-winged goose, South African shelduck, Egyptian goose, knob-billed duck, blue-winged goose, southern crested guineafowl, helmeted guineafowl, moorland francolin, red-winged francolin, and white-throated francolin, to mention but a few.
Carnivores
The carnivores of Queen Elizabeth National Park are the most dangerous animals, like lions, leopards, civets, genets and serval cats. However, lions are the commonly sighted species in Queen, especially the tree-climbing lions which inhabit the Ishasha sector. Other small cats can easily be seen during the night game drive in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Vegetation cover
Vegetation is another aspect of wildlife in Queen Elizabeth National Park. It’s a reason the park’s beauty flourishes all through the year. The presence of different types of vegetation in Queen Elizabeth National Park is the reason for its large number of wild animals. The park is dominated by savannah vegetation, which is characterised by all the grass that looks golden in the morning game drive when the sun rises and in the evening during the sunset. They camouflage with the colour of the dry grass during the high season, and during the wet season, the grassland flaunts its verdancy over the undulating hills of the park, a beautiful scenery for your sight. The savannah vegetation of the southern part of Queens National Park comprises woodland tree species like cactus trees, acacias, and big fig trees, among others. These tree species attract the tree-climbing lions, who hang and relax after their day’s hunt.
Where to stay during a visit to Queen Elizabeth National Park
The park boasts quite a great number of excellent accommodation facilities ranging from luxury to budget lodges, including Elephant Plains, Elephant Hides, Pumba Safari Cottage, Mweya Safari Lodge, Ishasha Wilderness Camp, Park View Lodge, Queen Elizabeth Safari Camp, Queen Elizabeth Bush Lodge, among others. Get started planning now!
