Queen Elizabeth National Park stands out as Uganda’s second-largest conservation area. It is situated in the western part of Uganda a common haven of birds in the country of 1030 species recorded about 600 birds can be spotted here, the national park is popular for the tree-climbing lions in the southwestern part of Uganda, named after Queen Elizabeth the second of England, the biodiverse environments hosts several animal species, this is an ideal place to see the so-called big four of the wilderness (Lions, Leopards, African Elephants, African Buffaloes). The park covers an area space of approximately 1978 square kilometer Park stretches through an open savannah and the unique gorge having a tropical forest. The park is placed at an altitude between 910-1390m above sea level, it was gazette in 1952 as a way of protecting the species that lie within the protected ecosystem.
The mixed ecosystem is comprised of Lakes, rivers, gorges, and open savannah dotted with shrubs, small bushes, thorny trees, and the fig trees to the south Ishasha sector of the national park, these act as habitats for wildlife including lions, leopards, waterbucks, bushbucks, elephants, buffaloes, topi, Kobs, hippos, among many other species, there are over 600 birds in the park, most of which are situated along the great Albertine rift valley region and hence more of endemics of the Albertine, example bird types include herons, sunbirds, martial eagles, black collard apalis, Abyssinian ground hornbill, pelicans, African fish eagles, grey crowned crested crane. The attractions of the national park are the wildlife species, crater lakes, Kyambura Gorge, tree-climbing lions, and the Kazinga channel.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of the best places of Uganda to do wildlife game drives through the well distributed game tracks, the drives are done in the morning time from 6:30 am, afternoon time at 2:30 pm, evening time at 5:00pm which will end in sundowners, this is one of the places to do night game drives in search of Nocturnal species, boat cruise along the Kazinga channel, it is has got the world’s highest concentration of hippos in the world , it is possible to view the many wildlife along the channel which joins the 2 rift valley lakes of Edward and George Tracking chimpanzee is done in the Kyambura Gorge, there are habituated families that are used to the presence of humans, the carry on their daily activities even when people are around, chimpanzee share up to 98% of the human DNA, closest to mankind, they are social, intelligent species with the ability to use tools, tracking begins in the morning and the gorge can be explored on foot under guidance from an experienced tour guide. Besides chimpanzees there are other primates present in the gorge such as the black and white colobus monkeys, baboons, and vervet monkeys, there is a high chance of spotting them in the valley.
The conservation area is an important birding area of Uganda, over 600 birds have been recorded here to date, along the Mweya peninsular, expect to see the best of the national park, Queen Elizabeth National Park can be accessed by road for approximately 6 hours’ drive stop over at the equator for a picture moment, charter flights can be arranged to land at the Kasese airstrip.