Top things to do in Queen Elizabeth National Park: We discuss the activities in which you may participate during your trip. It just so happens that Queen Elizabeth National Park is the most popular national park in Uganda’s western region. To safeguard various wildlife species, the government of Uganda gazetted the national park in 1952. The park has a total area of 1978 square kilometers.
Among the many attractions in Queen Elizabeth National
Parks are Lake George, Lake Edward, the Carter Lakes, the Kazinga Channel, 10 primate species, 600 bird species, 95 mammal species, and many more. Visitors to the national park are welcome to participate in as many events as they can during the year.
The best things to do in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Game excursions
This is the most popular activity in Queen Elizabeth National Park, which is home to more than 95 different kinds of mammals, 10 species of primates, and 600 species of birds. Tourists will be able to see as many wild animals as possible on game drives in the major regions of Kasenyi Plains, Ishasha Sector, and Mweya Peninsula. For those who enjoy watching nocturnal creatures, the game drives take place throughout the day, evening, and night. Tourists may observe park wildlife during game drives, including buffaloes, topis, lions, defassa waterbucks, hippos, leopards, spotted hyenas, olive baboons, warthogs, Uganda kobs, elephants, side-striped jackals, sitatungas, vervet monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, blue monkeys, and many more.
Trekking with chimpanzees
Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of the few locations in Uganda where you may view chimpanzees. Kyambura Gorge is where some of the park’s habituated chimpanzees may be found. Only tourists with trekking permits from the Uganda Wildlife Authority are permitted to hang out with the chimpanzees here, and trekking is the primary activity.
Only eight hikers participate in chimpanzee trekking in Kyambura during the morning and evening. After a first briefing about the trek’s rules and regulations, they are led down the forest by armed ranger guides in search of the whereabouts of these primates. Trekkers have an hour to hang out with them, observe their daily routines, learn about their behaviors, and take pictures, among other things.
Boat excursions
The boat trip along the Kazinga Channel is one of the most popular activities in Queen Elizabeth National Park. The Kazinga Channel, which connects Lake Edward and Lake George, is the biggest body of water in Queen Elizabeth National Park. You will be able to see creatures like crocodiles and hippos in the water, as well as birds like African fish eagles, pied kingfishers, shoebills, and papyrus gonoleks, on a boat cruise. Various park species will be seen around the beaches, eating or drinking water.
Birdwatching
In the western region of Uganda, Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of the top locations for birding. More than 600 bird species can be seen in the national park in places like Katwe, Maramagambo Forest, Katunguru Bridge, Lake Kikorongo, the Kasenyi area, the Ishasha sector, and the Mweya peninsula.
In Queen Elizabeth National Park, bird enthusiasts can participate in a birding expedition and observe species like the shoebill stork, laughing dove, Cassin’s hawk-eagle, lizard buzzard, vinaceous dove, grasshopper buzzard, mountain buzzard, African grey hornbill, spotted eagle, grey-checked hornbill, white-headed wood hoopoe, Montagu’s harrier, Verreaux’s eagle owl, rufous-breasted wryneck, buff-spotted woodpecker, piping hornbill, and African thrush.
The grey woodpecker, European bee-eater, grey-throated barbet, common chat, olive bee-eater, yellow-fronted tinkerbird, spot-flanked barbet, double-toothed barbet, yellow-billed barbet, southern carmine bee-eater, western black-headed oriole, black-throated wattled-eye, white shrike flycatcher, blackcap puffback, grey-green buck shrike, long-tailed hornbill, and
Fiscal in the north. red-necked francolin, red-knobbed coot, yellow bill, rufous-billed heron, fulvous whistling duck, African black duck, northern house martin, magpie manikin, fawn-breasted waxbill, pin-tailed whydah, purple-banded sunbird, mosque swallow, olive sunbird, lesser striped swallow, Angolan swallow, white-tailed ant thrush, and banded martin.
Nature Walks
Tourists should make sure not to miss out on nature hikes during their safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park. The nature walk is a guided tour where armed ranger guides lead visitors to various parts of the park depending on their interests. It is an activity carried out on foot in locations such as Ishasha, the Mweya Peninsula, the Kasenyi Plains, explosion craters, and the Maramagambo Forest, among others.
Tourists can observe a variety of vegetation covers, crater lakes, reptiles, butterflies, amphibians, and primates, including red-tailed monkeys, olive baboons, vervet monkeys, and black and white colobus monkeys, among others, during the nature walks. Tourists may also view animals like buffaloes, elephants, Uganda kobs, topis, sitatungas, waterbucks, and other species during nature walks.
Community tours
Although Queen Elizabeth National Park was gazetted and home to both humans and animals, they were forced to leave, so they chose to live in the surrounding areas. These communities are worth seeing when you come to the park; you should arrange a cultural tour where you will see various homesteads.
You can visit any of the tribes during the community tour in Queen Elizabeth National Park, where you will meet and learn about the daily lives of the people. You can participate in household activities like cooking, where you can sample African cuisine, hear historical tales, sample regional wines, contribute to the less fortunate, support local businesses, and enjoy traditional dancers, among other things.
Getting into Queen Elizabeth National Park
Any day of the year, tourists can arrive at Queen Elizabeth National Park by road or plane in a single day. Tourists may get to the park using the road transport route from Kampala/Entebbe through Masaka, Mbarara, Bushenyi, and Kasese, or from Kampala through Mubende, Kyenjonjo, Fort Portal, and Kasese.
If travelers are utilizing air transportation, they must make reservations in advance through Aerolink Uganda or Bar Aviation Uganda. The flights from these airline firms to Queen Elizabeth National Park leave from either the Kajjansi Airstrip or the Entebbe International Airport and arrive at either the Mweya Airstrip or the Kasese Airstrip in 1 hour and 15 minutes.
The best time to visit the park
You may visit the park at any time of year, but some times are more enjoyable than others. The greatest time to see the park is during the dry season, which runs from June to September and December to February, since there is little to no rainfall, leaving the game paths dry; the flora is sparse, providing excellent views of the wildlife and other sights; and the roads leading to the park are in good shape.
During the rainy season, when the lodges offer lower rates, tourists, especially those on a budget who enjoy bargains, may go to Queen Elizabeth National Park. There is a lot of rain during the rainy season, which runs from March to May and October to November, which may not be the greatest time to visit. The roads leading to the park are impassable, the game tracks are muddy and slippery, and the vegetation is tall and dense, making it difficult to see the animals.