Queen Elizabeth National Park

Queen Elizabeth National Park

Queen Elizabeth National Park stretches across 1,978 square kilometres of Uganda's western rift valley, straddling the equator between Lake Edward and Lake George. It is Uganda's most visited national park, and for good reason: no other park on the continent packs such extraordinary biodiversity into a single landscape.

Within its boundaries you find open savannah teeming with Uganda kob, crater lakes that glow turquoise in the afternoon light, the legendary Kazinga Channel with its dense concentrations of hippos and waterbirds, the tree-climbing lions of Ishasha, chimpanzees in the underground forest of Kyambura Gorge, and over 600 bird species - the highest count of any protected area in East Africa.

The Kazinga Channel

The Kazinga Channel is the park's centrepiece - a 32-kilometre natural waterway connecting two great lakes. A boat safari along its banks is one of the definitive Uganda wildlife experiences. Hippos surface in pods of 30 to 50, spraying water and grunting their territorial bass notes. Nile crocodiles bask on sandy banks with jaws agape. Elephants wade into the shallows to drink and bathe. Pied kingfishers hover and dive. African fish eagles perch in dead trees, their piercing cry carrying across the water. The concentration of life along these banks is staggering.

Ishasha - The Tree-Climbing Lions

The southern Ishasha sector is famous for one thing: lions in trees. The Ishasha prides regularly haul themselves into the spreading branches of large fig trees, draping their bodies across the limbs with a lazy grace that makes it look comfortable. Finding them requires patience and a good guide - you scan the tree canopy rather than the grassland, which inverts every instinct you develop on a normal safari.

Kyambura Gorge - The Valley of Apes

Carved by the Kyambura River over millennia, this forested gorge drops 100 metres below the surrounding savannah. It shelters a community of habituated chimpanzees who live in a ribbon of tropical forest at the bottom of the canyon. Tracking them involves descending into the gorge on foot, navigating dense vegetation and river crossings. When you find them - cracking nuts, grooming, or swinging through the canopy - the contrast between the open savannah above and this hidden forest world is extraordinary.

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