Queen Elizabeth National Park
Queen Elizabeth National Park ; Let us explore Queen Elizabeth National Park is a unique Uganda safari destination with exciting excursions all year round. Queen Elizabeth national park, 1978km2 is a natural shimmering beauty sitting on the bed of Edward rift in the shadows of the legendary Ruwenzori Mountains. Queen Elizabeth national park is diverse in vegetation and plant cover. Maramagambo rainforest forms the southern shield from Kichwamba escarpment giving way to woodlands, thickets and bush to much of the southern plains on to the edges of Kazinga channel ringed with swamp and wetland vegetation. North of Kazinga channel onto the Ruwenzori Mountains, Kyambura and Ishasha sector; an extension of Virunga National park in DR Congo and wildlife corridor, are predominantly open grasslands and savannas. Many water bodies within the park have swamp and wetland vegetation all around them.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is a land blessed with magnificent landscapes and land features in extravagance. The Edward rift with a carpet of green savannas is appealing to travelers on safari to Uganda while many others get mesmerized by beautiful escarpment, craters, gorge, crater lakes, block mountain to mention a few.
A host of beautiful wildlife species; mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects, trees and plants are resident in this beautiful natural setting. The rainforest is natural habitat for primates and monkeys, forest elephants, forest buffalos and other mammal species that live in solitude, rare bird species and reptiles.
Chimpanzees with unique habits and behaviors inhabit a forest on the floor of river Kyambura in the middle of savannas. Hippopotamus, crocodiles, reptiles, water birds and a variety of fish species inhabit the water bodies. Every day, travelers on safaris into Uganda trek to the open grasslands and the savannas of Queen Elizabeth National Park, notably the Kasenyi circuit and Ishasha Edward flats to spot rare wildlife sightings. Elephants, lions, buffalos, hippos, hyenas, leopards, waterbucks, Uganda kobs, warthogs, giant forest hogs and a host of birds are some of the most common wildlife species often seen. Queen Elizabeth is magnet for game viewing safari with early morning and late evening game drives stand out Uganda tour activity amongst travelers seeking to drown, explore and adventure the beauty of the wilderness.
Chimpanzee tracking expeditions at Kyambura gorge have always been popular for adventure travelers in need of exploring nature and wilderness at great length and interacting with human kind’s closes wildlife species at close range. The visitors tracking chimpanzees explore the wilderness and discover peculiar behaviors similar to human kind. Besides sharing 98.7% genes with human kind, chimpanzees’ behaviors and characters are close to human kind. On scrutiny, visitors tracking chimpanzees can read their body language and discover moods. Chimpanzees can be excited and happy, angry and belligerent when tensed up, sad and grieving when they lose a family member or just relaxed when there is no threat. The visitors walking in the wilderness while tracking chimpanzees discover that chimpanzees have a set of five fingers with a detached thumb from the rest to grip on items; can transport items to a distance walking on two legs, have high sense of intelligence and an organized family structure.
Queen Elizabeth is an International Birding Area and diverse habitat with several bird species. Queen Elizabeth National Park is a magnet for Uganda birding safaris. It is easier to spot forest, woodland, open grassland and wetland bird species on Uganda birding expeditions into Queen Elizabeth.
Forest walks in Maramagambo rainforest are an exciting way to explore nature, body exercise and discovering the beauty of the wilderness. Travelers in Queen Elizabeth visit a cave in Maramagambo rainforest with millions of resident fruit bats that venture out in the evening to feed. Huge rock pythons and cobras predate on and share the cave with the bats.
Several water bodies in Queen Elizabeth offer wildlife species a lifeline but Kazinga channel is outstanding and more explored by the visitors into Queen Elizabeth national park. Morning and afternoon boat cruises traverse the Kazinga channel into Lake Edward and visitors observe wildlife congregate at the water holes to quench their thirst.
Many travelers on tour of Uganda visit the Katwe traditional salt mining to explore one of the oldest industries in the country that has stood the time. Casual labors scoop salt particles from shallow lakes using rudimentary tools. The
Several indigenous communities surround the park and engage in different economic activities. Fishing communities inhabit many landing sites spread in all corners around the park, herdsmen roam the Edward rift savannas with their large herds of livestock searching for fresh grass and watering holes while crop growing communities occupy the highlands. Safaris into Uganda have a component of visiting the indigenous people to explore their lifestyles and share life experiences.
The scenery of Queen Elizabeth is so beautiful and tempting to many other travelers who opt to walk in the wilderness with ranger escorts and get more personal with nature and the wilderness.
Queen Elizabeth sits is located in western touching into Kasese, Kanungu, Rubirizi, Bushenyi, Kamwengye and Ibanda districts while the DR Congo is the western boundary. A smooth circuit road network going to Kampala through Fort Portal town on one end and Mbarara town on another end bisects Queen Elizabeth National park. A dirt road, with ongoing upgrade, connects to Bwindi Impenetrable forest in the south. Scheduled flights to nearest airstrips from rest of Uganda are very possible at Kihiihi town 35 km south of Ishasha and Kasese town 30km north. There are airfields within the national park at Ishasha and Mweya peninsular for charter flights. Water transport through Lakes Edward in west and Lake George in the east to access Queen Elizabeth national park is possible.
