Game Viewing

Game viewing involves drives through the national park while watching and studying about different wild animals, bird life and vegetation in Queen Elizabeth national park.

Queen Elizabeth national park is a known outstanding park with in Uganda with an excellent vast community of; wild animals, avian/bird life, spectacular beautiful scenery like Kyambura Gorge, the wide savannah plains among others.

Queen Elizabeth National Park has a variety of wild animals that make game drives memorable for the tourists that visit Africa. Queen Elizabeth national park has about 3000 African elephants, 1000 buffaloes, 5000 hippos, over 619 bird species, warthogs, Mongooses, monkeys, chimpanzees in Kyambura Gorge, Kobs , Statungas, Topis, Waterbucks, Lions Leopards, Civet, carvel cats among others.

The best season for the drive is the dry season; January to February and June to September. During the rainy season game viewing is hard as the tracks are slippery and make game drives very difficult and thses months include October to December and March to May. Also the rain interrupts the game drives and game viewing at large since during the rainy seasons some animals hide and it becomes hard to see them.

GAME VIEWING ACTIVITIES

Since game viewing involves watching wild animals, queen Elizabeth national park has an abundance of wild animals. Some animals are actually not easy to see so they need to first be tracked down such as lions, chimpanzees, and mongoose in Queen Elizabeth national park;

Lion tracking.
lion tracking

This is actually a different activity from the normal game drives. It is also known as the scientific experiential lion tracking, because, it is technically a research than a tourist designed activity. It is a special activity that needs a researcher aboard and a few other persons. The research is carried out by the Uganda carnivore project to track the behavior of the lions that have radio collars. They use the radiator locators to track these animals. This activity is carried out in the savannah plain of kasenyi especially in the south; ishasha sector for tree climbing lions. Something interesting is that you can also help the researchers to tack the animals. And you can get a closer look at the lions and this is awesome because you are going to “feel the experience”, and you can also take closer and more real picture.
Chimpanzee tracking.
Chimpanzee Tracking

It is carried out in kyambura gorge also known as the valley of apes. The gorge has a number of habituated chimpanzees; familiar to humans. This makes there tracking easy. The morning hours are favorable for this activity. The chimpanzees are diurnal; they start their day’s routine of looking for food in the morning. They are both boreal and terrestrial; they sleep in the trees and also spent some time during the day up in the trees, they also walk on the ground to look for food like termites and nuts from the tree roots. Chimpanzee tracking will help you learn about the dramatic primates in kyambura gorge. Did you know that chimpanzees have tools used when looking for their food? They crack nuts using stones and also use sticks and twigs to get the termites out of their anthills. It is a thrilling and enjoyable activity: tracking chimpanzees in kyambura gorge, you would not want to miss this activity when you visit Africa.
Mongoose tracking.
mongoose

Mongooses are small animals that fall under the rodent group of animals in the park, that is, queen Elizabeth national park. It is just a three hour activity for visitor to Queen Elizabeth national park. It is carried on mweya peninsular overlooking kazinga channel. Mongoose tracking is done on foot with the tour guide leading the walk through the tracks in mweya peninsular. It will help you learn about the mongoose behavior. You will also be able to see birds and warthogs during this activity. This will help you get out of the car and make your legs do some walking as you enjoy mongoose tracking activity in Queen Elizabeth national park.
Birding; This is a relaxing and enjoyable activity you can do when you visit Uganda.
flamingoes

Queen Elizabeth national park is gazette as an important birding area (IBA) because of the many bird species this area harbors. Queen Elizabeth national park has over 619 bird species; shoe bill stock, king fishers, African fish eagle , flamingos (seasonal), African broad bill, martial eagle, god wit among other interesting birds along kazinga channel and kyambura gorge. Queen Elizabeth national park is a must visit for the birders that visit Africa. The forest vegetation link central Africa (Congo) to east African (Uganda). For this reason you will have a glance at both central and eastern bird species of Africa.
Boat cruise should be a must for all visitors to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
boat cruise

This is carried out along Kazinga channel during the mid-morning hours and a cruise normally last for not less than 2 hours. During the boat cruise, you are going to get the chance to see the crocodiles along Kazinga channel, bathing Hippos on the shores, the birds and how they play around big mammals like buffaloes and at times Lions. And the birds on the shores of Kazinga channel are interesting to watch all paraded up like a battalion of soldiers ready to be commander for action. A boat cruise will also allow you see Katunguru fishing village and by chance can watch the fisher men and they drop their nets into the water ready to yield fish.

Hiking is another activity you can engage in when you visit Queen Elizabeth national park. This is carried out in Maramagambo forest through Kyambura Gorge where you will enjoy the vegetation in the gorge; tall trees of a rainforest and underground forest in Kyambura Gorge harbor a lot of wild animals. You will definitely enjoy the hike when you visit Queen Elizabeth national park.

Nature walks around Mweya peninsular will leave you all feeling happy. Nature walks are interesting; you will see different animals along the tracks like water backs, losers (single male buffaloes), elephants, warthogs, monkeys, mongooses, lizards and monitor lizards.

To note, nature walks and hiking are done freely in the nearby semuliki national park. The Uganda wild life authority stopped the charges for seeing sempaya hot springs in semulik national park. This was done to improve your experience. The only now is the park entry fee and the rest of the activities are free of charge like, birding, nature walks, and butterfly watching among others.

Visiting a cultural cave (Nyanzubiri) will leave you amazed at by the big snakes that come out to get some heat in the afternoon. The cave is also known for the bat; sometimes it is called the bat cave.

Apart from game viewing you can also enjoy the cultural encounters in the neighboring communities of the national park. When you interview these people, they can let you know how the national park is so useful to them and how they have benefited from engaging in the nature conservation. You can as well buy some African crafts from the villagers for souvenir from katwe town, kasoga community and katunguru trading center among other towns.

They also do salt mining in Katwe crater lake, the miners can narrate to you how the salt is mined and the dangers they face doing this activity of salt mining. You will also learn about the old Germany salt factory that closed when the pipes good corroded from the chemicals from the salt. “If metals failed to process the salt, don’t you think that it is interesting to find out how these miners do it?”

Accommodation in Queen Elizabeth national park ranges from budget to luxury safari lodge. This means you will not have to worry about where to reside when you come for the game viewing in Queen Elizabeth national park. Accommodation facilities include;