Day 1: Arrival in Uganda/Transfer to Queen Elizabeth
Our Guide will pick you up very early (6am) from either Entebbe or Kampala before starting the long journey to Queen Elizabeth national park. This journey takes between 5 to 6 hours and goes through amazing countryside with beautiful landscape and landmarks. You will stop at the equator crossing in Kayabwe (near Masaka) for photographs and a chance to count yourself among the few who have stood in two hemispheres at the same time. The equator is the planets main latitude that separates the planet earth into two sections – southern and northern hemispheres. As you continue your journey towards western Uganda, watch out for the amazing landscape consisting of endless savannah, large farms of the long horned ankole cattle and local people going about their daily business. Lunch will be in Mbarara town or another location depending on how the trip goes.You will reach the park around early in the afternoon. Check into your hotel if time allows or go straight for the afternoon boat cruise at the Kazinga channel. The Kazinga channel has one of the largest collection of hippos in Africa. It is a birders paradise with countless water, resident and migratory birds. Prepare for a treat as you spot buffaloes, crocodiles, elephants and hippos bathing by the water channel. Watch out for birds like pelicans, the Knob-billed Duck, African Jacana, yellow wagtail, common squacco Herons, flamingos, kingfishers, saddle-billed stork and the famous Shoebill Stork. You will also catch sights of primates like red tailed monkeys, white and black colobus monkey, olive baboons and vervet monkey.Dinner and overnight will be at either Simba Safari Camp, Bush Lodge or Kazinga Channel View Lodge for budget travelers. Moderate or Mid-range travelers will sleep in either Enganzi Lodge, Buffalo Safari Resort or Ihamba Safari Lodge. The luxury traveler will go for either Jacana Lodge, Katara Lodge or Mweya Safari Lodge.
Uganda’s top safari park, Queen Elizabeth is the one must-visit on any Ugandan safari. It still can’t boast wildlife numbers like the best Kenyan and Tanzanian parks, but there are plenty of big animals here and it has one of the highest biodiversity ratings of any nature preserve in the world. This includes an incredible 612 bird species. Nearly every visitor takes a boat trip on the Kazinga Channel where the hippos and crocodiles are the stars, but buffaloes, elephants, lions, leopards and just about all other animals might be seen. Wildlife drives are best in this northern region, but the famous tree-climbing lions are only found in the distant Ishasha region. You’re more likely to see them here than any other place in Africa, though it’s far from guaranteed, as I can personally attest since I struck out on my quest to find them, even though my guide seemed to know every tree in the sector. But, the search was still rewarding since there were plenty of other animals around including
a lot of elephants.
My favorite place at QENP is the jungle-filled Kyambura Gorge, a beautiful slice of green in the savannah with a habituated troop of chimpanzees adding some variety to the typical safari experience. Staying inside the park at Mweya or Ishasha puts you in prime wildlife territory, though the lodges atop the Kichwamba Escarpment have inspiring views over the park and out to Lake Edward and the Rwenzori Mountains