Geography & Climate

Queen Elizabeth National Park is located within the Albertine Rift Valley in western Uganda near the Rwenzori Mountains. It covers a total area of 1,978 km2 of hills, plains, forest, and swamp. QENP is continuous with Parc National des Virunga in Congo and therefore forms one of the largest protected area systems in eastern Africa, in the Greater Virunga Landscape. The park has two rainy seasons, from March-May and from September-November, but rainfall varies greatly within the park. The highest is about 1,250 mm per year and occurs in the Maramagambo forest but only about 750 mm per year falls in the area along the Kazinga channel. This probably results from interference with air circulation patterns by the Rwenzoris to the north, and the Kichwamba escarpment to the east.

The area around Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) has two pronounced rainy seasons, due to its location on the equator and the annual migration of the Inter tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The onset of the first rains is typically around late February for all four stations. The onset of the second rains is typically around mid-August. There is no significant difference in the duration of the two rainy seasons at any station. There is equally no significant difference in the amount of rainfall received during the two rainy seasons at any station, except for at Kitwe, where more rainfall occurs during the second rains than during the first rains.