Queen Elizabeth national park is the second largest after Murchison falls national park, occupying an estimated area of 1,978 square kilometers extending from Lake George in the North East to Lake Albert in the South West and it includes the Kazinga channel that connects the two lakes. It is the most scenic of all, making it the most visited with big variety of habitat including savanna grassland mixed with various kinds of trees and grassy plains but also tropical rain forest, different swamps and volcanic features comprising volcanic cones and deep craters, many crater lakes.
History
The park was founded in 1952 as Kazinga National Park to protect the existing wildlife from the communities from hunting them. In 1952, it was renamed after Queen Elizabeth 2 when she visited the park to commemorate the Queens visit.
Wildlife
Queen Elizabeth national park is a home to the famous tree climbing lions in Ishasha sector in Uganda. The park is the third richest park in wildlife population after Kidepo valley national park and Murchison falls national parks respectively. It’s an excellent place to sight large game such as the savannah elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, lions, leopards and different species of antelopes, chimpanzee tracking in kyambura gorge and different bird species. The park’s water bodies are habitats to Crocodiles and has the highest concentration of hippos in East Africa
Activities and Best time to visit.
The park has the highest number of activities to do while there, tourist activities carried out in park include game viewing, boat safaris, exploration of crater lakes, primates tracking, forest/nature walk sin kyambura gorge and kalizu forest. There are also community tours around the park including the Katwe salt mine where you will explore the way of life of people around the park.
Queen Elizabeth national park can be visited throughout the year however to have the best exploration of the park’s attractions, its best visited in the short period of December to February and in the long period from June to October, these are dry seasons of year in Uganda and its during then when transportation is easier and easy access to wildlife
Location and Accessibility
Queen Elizabeth national park is located in western Uganda in the districts of Kasese, Kamwenge, Bushenyi and Rukungiri and can be accessed from Kampala from through Equator the south through Mbarara approximately 420km and in the north through Fort portal approximately 410km. The park can also be accessed through domestic flights from Entebbe airport to existing airstrip of Kasese, Mweya and Ishasha.
