Uganda · East Africa
Queen Elizabeth and Ishasha.
Queen Elizabeth is Uganda's most visited savannah park, and the Ishasha sector in its south is known for lions that rest in fig trees.
Photo Lisette Verwoerd / Unsplash
The Kazinga Channel between Lakes Edward and George gives one of the best boat safaris in East Africa for hippo, buffalo and birds. The park sits beneath the Rwenzori and holds a set of explosion craters that are worth the drive on their own.
Ishasha is the natural stop between the savannah and Bwindi, which is how most itineraries link the gorillas to the game.
How do you get to Queen Elizabeth National Park?
By road from Kampala, most of a day's drive, often broken at Kibale. Light aircraft fly from Entebbe to airstrips at Mweya and Kasese. Ishasha, in the south, is the usual route onward to Bwindi, a drive of a few hours.
How big is Queen Elizabeth National Park?
About 1,978 square kilometres, between Lake Edward and Lake George, with the Rwenzori mountains to the north. It was established in 1952 and named for Queen Elizabeth II after her visit in 1954. The equator crosses the park.
Where are the tree-climbing lions in Uganda?
In the Ishasha sector, in the south of Queen Elizabeth National Park, where lions rest in the branches of large fig and acacia trees. The behaviour is recorded in only a few places in Africa.
What is the Kazinga Channel boat trip?
A boat safari along the natural channel that links Lake George and Lake Edward, past one of the largest concentrations of hippos in Africa, with buffalo and elephant coming down to the banks and abundant waterbirds. The park has recorded more than 600 bird species.
How long should you spend in Queen Elizabeth?
Two or three nights, usually one on the Kazinga Channel side and one at Ishasha on the way to Bwindi. Chimpanzees can also be tracked in the Kyambura Gorge, inside the park.
What is there to see in Queen Elizabeth and Ishasha?
What does Queen Elizabeth and Ishasha pair well with?
- Bwindi Impenetrable ForestBwindi holds around half the world's mountain gorillas and is where most Ugandan itineraries are built to reach.
- Kibale and the crater lakesKibale has the densest chimpanzee population in Africa, and the crater-lake country around it is some of the prettiest in Uganda.
- Murchison Falls and the northMurchison is where the Nile is forced through a gorge seven metres wide and falls into the Albert Nile below.
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