Queen Elizabeth National Park -The Medley of Wonders
Queen Elizabeth National Park is located in the southwestern region of Uganda. It is the most famous safari destination in the country. You should look out for this park while planning an Uganda Safari. This is with no argument one of Uganda’s most visited parks, covering an area size of over 1978 square kilometers. The park is located in southwestern Uganda bordering the Great Virunga National Park of Congo. This Park was originally gazette in 1952 as Kazinga National Park, however, this name was changed to Queen Elizabeth National Park when the Queen of England Her Majesty Visited Uganda in 1954.
The name was changed in remembrance of her visit to Uganda in 1954. The park also Neighbors the famous Rwenzori Mountains National Park in the North also known as the Mountains of the Moon offering Uganda adventure Safari tour experiences to hiking lovers. The park also neighbors Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in the south and this is Uganda’s most famous destination offering gorilla trekking safaris to travelers that visit Uganda.
The park’s most dominant vegetation cover is pure savannah grassland, especially in the northern part of the park characterized by extended grasslands and scattered Euphorbia and small bush thickets. These parts in the North, also known as the Kasenyi Area, have supported a lot of wildlife, especially the cats that are lions and leopards. That is why many Travelers on Uganda tours carry most of their safari game drives in that Area. All this biodiversity in this National Park is an ideal home to over 95 mammal species, over 619 bird species, 10 species of primates with chimpanzees in this park, and 40 different reptile species and these can be best seen while doing a boat cruise along the Kazinga Channel.
Activities to do in Queen Elizabeth National Park
There are so many interesting tourist activities Uganda safari visitors can undertake while in Queen Elizabeth National Park and these include:
Game Drives in Queen Elizabeth National Park
The Safari Game Drives in Queen Elizabeth National Park are the most common Uganda tour activity in this park. These bring you closer to the park’s diversity as you are braced with a chance to spot lions killing early in the morning, big herds of Elephants, and endless lakes of Uganda Kobs feeding among others.
The Rift Valley
The park is home to two rift valley lakes and that is Lake George in the East and Lake Edward in the West and this is shared by Uganda and Congo. These 2 lakes are connected by a 40km water channel (Kazinga Channel). This channel offers Uganda tour lovers exceptional water-based experiences with a Boat cruise. This is a 3-hour boat cruise. While on it you are likely to spot big schools of hippos, basking crocodiles, wallowing buffaloes, and a lot of African Savannah elephants quenching their thirst as well as cooling down their body temperatures by swimming in the waters of the Kazinga Channel. While in the Park, you can also track chimpanzees of Kyambura Gorge down in Kigezi Wildlife Reserve. This Uganda tour activity is compared to a gorilla trekking safari.
Tree-climbing lions
Lions are among the few specific cats that do not climb trees, however, the lions in this Park specifically the Ishasha regions do climb trees. And it is, for this reason, they are regarded as the “Tree Climbing lions of Ishasha”. There are only two places in the whole world that are famously known as home for Tree Climbing lions that is Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.
Accommodation in Queen Elizabeth National Park
There are different kinds of accommodation facilities in the Park and these range from Luxury, Midrange, and Budget depending on your interests and financial capability, we could help you select the best accommodation that suits you. There is no time to wait book your next Short Uganda tour in Queen Elizabeth National Park or you can combine it with other Uganda Tourist Destinations to make your Uganda Safari long. Native Africa Tours will be more than ready and happy to take you on a tour of Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Accessibility
2 major means of transport can help any traveler access Queen Elizabeth National Park. They include Air Transport and Road Transport. Queen Elizabeth is about 420 km from Uganda’s capital city Kampala. The road is a smooth surfaced kind this drive can take you about 6 to 7 hours depending on the traffic on the road that day.
On the other hand, there are 2 major Airstrips from which you can connect to the Park. These are; Mweya Airstrip and Kasese Airstrip. This mode of transportation takes a shorter time of about 45 minutes to 1 hour and is mainly preferred by travelers on short notice or tourists doing luxury tours in Uganda.
