Queen
Elizabeth National Park is the most popular of Uganda’s National
parks. The park stretches from foothills of the Rwenzori mountains
in the north, shores of lake Lake Edward to Ishasha River in the
south.
Queeen Elizabeth is an important bird area(IBA), a biosphere(UNESCO
1979) and a RAMSAR site.
Access:
The
park lies 5-6 hours from Kampala on a surfaced road via Mbarara, and
can be reached on a dirt road from Bwindi.
Location:
Queen
Elizabeth National Park is located to the Southwestern portion of
Uganda, in the districts of Rukungiri, Bushenyi and Kasese.
The altitude Range from 900 metres (Shores of Lake
Edward) to 1845 metres (top of Western Rift Valley escarpments.
Queen
Elizabeth was gazetted in 1952 and occupies an area
of 1978 km sq. The
Habitats include, moist semi-deciduous forest, moist thicket,
riparian and riverine forests, bush savannah and open woodland, open
grassland, swamps and lakes.
Birdlife:
This
diversity of habitats has given rise to a profusion of bird life
with 606 recorded species in Queen Elizabeth.
Among the species to be found are mourning doves, Fly
Catchers, Wablers, Gonoreks, Pin tailed Whydahs, Eagles (Matial,
Verreaux) Storks (Open-billed, Shoe-bill, Gonoreks (Papyrus and
black headed), Pelilcans (Great White and Pink-backed) etc. Flocks
of flamingoes are resident in the crater lakes.
Mammals:
Queen Elizabeth National Park has over 100 species of mammals
recorded. These
include, warthogs, buffalo, rare aquatic sitatunga antelope,
giant forest hog, beautifully horned Uganda kob, topi, waterbuck,
elephant and leopard.
The primate population include the chimpanzees. The Kazinga
channel has hippos and crocodiles.
Tree
Climbing lions:
Ishasha
Sector of Queen
Elizabeth is famed
for its tree-climbing lions.
Chimpanzees
tracking & hiking safari:
To the NorthEast of Queen Elizabeth is the Kyambura Gorge
which harbors habituated chimpanzees.
South
of the Kasinga Channel is the
Maramagambo Forest, home to large numbers of chimpanzees,
plus a number of other primate species, including the Lhost monkeys, bush baby,
baboons, vervet monkeys, red-tailed monkeys.
Maramagambo
is the largest forest in Uganda with blue lakes and craters.
Chimpanzee tracking
safaris can organized from the park headquarters at Mweya.
Launch
Trips:
The Kazinga Channel is a 32 km and connects lake Edward and lake
George. Boat
rides or launch trips is a 2-5 hours tour on the Kazinga channel
waters.
The
best time to visit is December-February
ACCOMMODATION
There are a variety of accommodation
facilities in Queen Elizabeth varying from the luxury eco-lodges to
basic campsites.
-
Mweya Safari Lodge
(1954) - 5 star lodge with swimming facilities. The lodge is
located on a peninsular on lake Edward. All rooms have
balconies overlooking the lake or the Kazinga Channel. The
rooms have DSTV and Satellite TV.
-
Jacana Safari Lodge - built over the banks of a crater lake.
-
The Institute of Ecology - basic hostel style accommodation.
-
Camping – can be done at
Mweya, Maramagambo Forest and
Ishasha sector of the park. Come with your own camping gear
