5 Days Queen Elizabeth Park Safari Tour.
Queen Elizabeth National Park covers close to 2000 square kilometers and is dissected by the equator. The park is home to well over 600 bird species and 95 mammal species. Queen Elizabeth Park was named after the visit of Queen Elizabeth of England in 1954 and was originally until then names Kazinga National Park because of the Kazinga channel that connects lakes Albert and George.
Queen Elizabeth Park is undoubtedly Uganda’s most popular tourist park, perhaps only followed by Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park famous for its gorilla habitat. Queen Elizabeth Park famously hosts diverse ecosystems that range from vast savannah plains, forests, lakes as well as wetlands, making it ideal for hosting the Big Five game, 10 primate species, including chimps in Kyambura, tree climbing lions of Ishasha as well as a whopping 600 bird species.
Queen Elizabeth National Park has great views of the Rwenzori Mountains of the Moon as well as dramatic views of the Kazinga Channel that connects lakes Edward and George and its banks lined with buffalos, hippos and elephants. There are local communities that live on the edges of the park especially in the Kasenyi fishing villages which can be visited while on tour of the park to get to know the locals, their traditions, dance, music, culture and ways of living.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is teeming with wildlife, game and birdlife. The park hosts an estimated 5000 hippos, 10,000 buffaloes and 2500 elephants in addition to lions, leopards, civet, genal & serval cats, warthogs, waterbucks, kob, topis and sitatunga antelopes. The park also has 10 primates species including the popular chimpanzees, vervet plus black & white colobus monkeys and baboons.
A boat cruise along the Kazinga Channel is a beautiful way to spot wildlife and birds in Queen Elizabeth Park. The channel banks are teeming with elephants, hippos, buffalos and water birds, along with caimans, monitor lizards, marabou storks, weaver birds and fish eagles.
The neighboring Lake Munyanyange is a bird sanctuary, as well as a migratory location for the lesser flamingo from August to November. The beautiful crater lakes of the Kyambura Wildlife reserve, situated to the east of Kyambura Gorge, are perfect location for spotting many water birds including greater and lesser flamingoes and the great egret.
Maramagambo Forest is home to a number of primates including chimpanzees, baboons, ad several monkey species. Maramagambo Forest is also famous for a number of bird species
Buzzing with primates, including chimpanzees, baboons and several monkey species, the forest including the rare Forest Flycatcher, White-naped Pigeon and the striking Rwenzori Turaco.
5 Days Queen Elizabeth Park Safari.
DAY 1: Depart for Queen Elizabeth Park, Game Drives.
You will be met on arrival at Entebbe airport or be picked up from your Entebbe/Kampala hotel by one of our expert safari drivers. He will brief you about your safari tour to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Your journey will take you via the equator crossing where you may stop and take photos. You will arrive at Bush Lodge or Mweya Safari Lodge in the afternoon. Check into the lodge and relax before an evening game drive in the Kasenyi plains of the park.
DAY 2: Lion Tracking and Maramagambo Forest Walk.
An early rise today to explore another sector of Queen Elizabeth Park. You will meet with the park’s lion research team at Mweya and drive off road to track and monitor lions. Lunch will be at the Mweya peninsula or at one of the lodges near the Maramagambo Forest.
After lunch you will go on a guided walk through Maramagambo Forest in search of birds, forest antelopes, various monkey species, a bat cave and the “cormorant house” a large tree in the forest that has been turned white by the different birds species that nest there each night.
You will later return to the lodge for evening campfire to share stories, dinner and overnight.
DAY 3: Chimp Tracking in Kyambura.
Spend the morning tracking chimps in Kyambura Gorge. Explore Kyambura Forest before a picnic lunch at a beautiful spot overlooking Kyambura gorge, or at Kyambura Gorge Safari Lodge/Mazike Lodge.
In the afternoon you will go for a farming walking tour where you will explore local communities’ farms and gardens. You will get an opportunity to learn firsthand about farming techniques, medicinal plants and bee keeping. Time permitting you will have a chance of driving to the crater lakes and to the baboon cliffs for sundowners before returning to the lodge for dinner and overnight.
DAY 4: Tree Climbing Lions
Wake up early and drive to the southern sector of Queen Elizabeth Park and to the Ishasha plains in search of the tree climbing lions as well as large herds of buffalos and elephants that roam this part of the park. There is plenty of kob and topi to be found here. You will have picnic lunch under a fig tree.
In the afternoon you will have a guided nature walk along the Ishasha River to search for hippos, crocodiles and the abundant birdlife here. Ishasha River forms a natural border between Uganda and DRC. You will later in the evening have a game drive before returning to either Ishasha Wilderness Camp or @The River Camp for dinner and overnight.
DAY 5: Morning Game Drive & Departure.
It is time to depart from Queen Elizabeth. Before setting off, you will have a morning game drive through the Ishasha plains in search of the tree climbing lions and other game before heading out of the park onto your next destination of either Bwindi or back to Kampala.