Sectors in Queen Elizabeth National Park : Queen Elizabeth National Park is the second-largest national park, is divided into four districts: Kasese, Kamwenge, Rukungiri, and Rubirizi. As one of the earliest parks, Queen Elizabeth National Park was originally known as Kazinga Channel when it was gazetted in 1952. To honour Queen Elizabeth 11 of Britain’s visit, the park’s name was changed to Queen Elizabeth National Park in 1954. Queen Elizabeth National Park is home to over 95 animal species, including the big four mammals (elephants, buffaloes, lions, and leopards) as well as other creatures like the giant forest hog, Uganda kob, hippos, warthogs, crocodiles, waterbucks, bushbucks, primates like chimpanzees, baboons, black and white colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys, and over 612 bird species. Queen Elizabeth National Park is separated into numerous sectors, each of which houses a variety of attractions and provides visitors with exhilarating activities to partake in while on a safari.
Sectors in Queen Elizabeth national park.Â
Ishasha sector.
Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park is well known for its tree-climbing lions. It is situated in the park’s southwest corner. During your safari in the Ishasha sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park, you will go on a game drive through the savannah plains where you will be able to see Uganda kobs grazing and tree climbing lions resting in the branches of acacia and fig trees. According to legend, lions in the Ishasha region climb trees to get a better view of their food, escape insects like tsetse flies that attack them, and escape the intense heat on the ground. Lions that can climb trees are unusual animals that can also be found in Tanzania’s Lake Manyara National Park.
Bird watchers should keep an eye out for bird species like Ross’s turaco, African crake, black bellied bustard, broad billed roller, white headed barbet, helmeted Guinea fowl, African crowned eagle, yellow billed woodpecker, grey woodpecker, and striped kingfisher among others in the Ishasha sector, which also offers other safari activities.
Kasenyi sector.
This is situated in the northeastern region of Queen Elizabeth National Park, 48 kilometres from Kasese town. Because the Kasenyi sector is made up of wide savannah and a breeding ground for Uganda kobs, lions can also be observed nearby. Safari activities available in Kasenyi sector include;
Because of the high concentration of Uganda kobs, lions, elephants, buffaloes, bushbucks, palmnut vultures, brown snake eagles, hooded vultures, martial eagles, grey capped warblers, white tailed larks, and black bellied bustards that can be seen there, game drives are conducted in Kasenyi plains. An open-roof safari vehicle is used for the game drive, allowing you to see the animals well and snap lots of pictures. The game drive can be done either early in the morning or late in the afternoon.
One of the intriguing and daring experiential tourism safari activities in the park is lion tracking. Under the Uganda carnivore project, lion tracking safari is exclusively done in Queen Elizabeth National Park. A team of researchers and trackers will use radio collars to track lions during the safari activity, which is conducted twice a day and only allows a small number of people. Lion tracking safari at the Kasenyi Plains lasts around three hours, and you have a 95% probability of seeing the lions there. You may also see them in their hiding places because you are allowed to stray from the path while tracking them. Additionally, you will get knowledge of the lions’ habitual calls, observe their weather patterns and behavioral patterns, snap pictures, document the events, and submit the findings of your observations to a database. Lion tracking safari is an activity that guests interested in participating in can reserve 24 hours in advance through the Mweya visitor centre.
Kyambura Gorge sector.Â
Known also as the Valley of the Apes, Kyambura Gorge is situated in the eastern region of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Visitors can enjoy fascinating safari activities in the park’s Kyambura gorge, which is a lovely area.
Chimpanzee trekking: After the mountain gorillas, which may be found in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, chimpanzees are the second most popular tourist attraction in Uganda. One of the protected areas that offers chimpanzee trekking is Queen Elizabeth National Park. The activity begins with a briefing on expectations, rules, and regulations to be observed while hiking. It can be done either in the morning or in the afternoon. After the briefing, you will trek a family of habituated chimpanzees. This will take 2 to 3 hours, or longer depending on the chimpanzees’ location as they like to travel far into the forest in search of food. Once the chimpanzees are located, you will spend an hour with them in their natural habitat learning about their behaviors and habits while also taking pictures and video to preserve the moments for future reference.
When going on a safari in Kyambura Gorge, keep an eye out for bird species like the blue-headed bee-eater, napping pigeon, swamp flycatcher, and African bird, among others. Kyambura Gorge is one of the regions in the park that harbors bird species.
A guided nature walk is a fun safari activity that involves moving about the park on foot to experience its lovely vistas, landscapes, and wildlife, among other things. The guided nature walk in Kyambura Gorge may be done either early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and it lasts for around 2 to 4 hours. Along the way, you’ll see black and white colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, big forest hogs, birds, and more.
Mweya peninsular.
This is situated on the northern bank of the waterway known as Kazinga Channel, which connects Lake Edward and Lake George. Visitors to this industry partake in a variety of activities, including picturesque Kazinga waterway is the setting for this thrilling boat tour, which departs from the landing area close to the Mweya safari lodge. The boat cruises in the park are conducted according to schedule, with the first session beginning at 9:00 am and the second session beginning at 2:00 pm. Both sessions last for two hours. During the boat cruise you will have great views of the animals like hippos, crocodiles which will be in water, other animals like elephants, buffaloes, waterbucks, Uganda kobs among others which will be along the water banks drinking water especially during the dry season, water birds like pygmy kingfisher, swamp nightjar, African mourning dove, red capped lark, swamp flycatcher, little bee-eater, scarlet-chested sunbird, Diederik cuckoo among others.
A fascinating safari activity in the park is night game drives, where guests travel in a safari vehicle at night with an armed park ranger and spotlight torches to watch the nocturnal creatures. As Kasenyi plains are always crowded with cars and visitors during the day, night game drives are only permitted there to prevent stressing the animals. Night game drives are only permitted on the Mweya peninsular of the park. You can see hippos grazing and possibly see lions, leopards, hyenas, and civet during the nighttime game drive.
Maramagambo forest.
Maramagambo forest is found in Bushenyi district, a natural reserve well-known for its encounters with bats. Chimpanzees, blue monkeys, baboons, gigantic forest hogs, African buffalo, bush pigs, pygmy antelopes, and pythons are just a few of the seven primate species that call the forest home. When you visit this area, you can partake in safari activities like a nature walk, which lasts between two and six hours, following trails in the forest as you explore views of the waterfall, trees, and crater lakes like Kyasanduka and Nyamasingiri. You can also participate in a primate viewing activity where you can see all seven primates, including chimpanzees, baboons, blue monkeys, bush babies, pottos, and bats.
Best time to visit sectors in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
The park is open all year round, however the best time to visit is between the months of December and January and the dry season from June to September. Since there is less rain in the park at this time, most activities will be successful because there will be short grass for clear animal viewing, lots of animals will congregate along the banks of the water, allowing you to take lots of photos, and the chimpanzee trekking and nature walk trails will be passable as opposed to the wet season when they will be slick and difficult to navigate.