Queen Elizabeth National Park is the second largest national park in Uganda at 1,978 sq. km and lies north and south of the equator in the West of Uganda. It is a 5-6 hour drive from Kampala.
It is a world biosphere reserve since it is the only park in Uganda that is inhabited by human beings and animals. Queen Elizabeth incorporates a variety of fresh water and crater lakes it is a classified by Birdlife International as an Important Bird Area with 568 of Uganda’s 1017 of bird species, more than any other park in Africa, the mammals checklist of Queen Elizabeth is up to 66 species.
The park is divided into two Peninsulas; the Northern peninsular is the Mweya area that has the park Head quarters and the southern part of the park is the Ishasha Sector. The Mweya Peninsular houses Mweya Safari Lodge; Jacana Safari Lodge situated on the margin of Maramagambo Forest close to Lake Nyamusingiri and Kyasanduka both are upgrade hotels. Albertine Rift Safaris camp, Kingfisher Safari Lodge are budget facilities There are hostels and dormitories that only provide basic facilities of bed, toilet, bathroom and breakfast at the Ecotourism center hostel for back packers and drifters. The Kyambura Gorge is famous for its tranquil atmosphere ideal for picnics as well as chimp tracking. Mweya houses the Maramagambo forest, a series of crater lakes, Katwe salt works.
Ishasha Sector is known for its expansive savannah landscape teeming with a variety of wildlife possibly due to its continuity cross border migration of wildlife and is famous for the tree climbing lions. Ishasha Sector is served with accommodation facilities like the bandas, the camp sites (3) and the tented bush camp. At the tented Bush Camp, accommodation and meals are provided. “Missing Ishasha is simply missing QENP”.
The most popular activities in Queen Elizabeth include launch trips on the 33 km Kazinga Channel, chimp tracking in Kyambura gorge, nature walks In Maragambo forest, game drives to the Kasenyi area as well as in the Ishasha sector, to katwe salt works, a drive to view the crater lakes and the fishing villages.