Getting To Queen Elizabeth National Park : Queen Elizabeth national park is one of the best wildlife destinations in the world and a great Uganda wildlife destination boasting a high biodiversity and a range of landscapes including savannah, bushland, wetlands and lush forests. This amazing national park covers an area of 1978 square kilometers inhabited by 96 species of mammals including hippos, elephants, lions, leopards, hyenas and chimpanzees.
This is the most visited wildlife destination in Uganda renowned for its amazing landscapes, tree climbing lions found in the Ishasha sector and is among the popular safari destination in East Africa and Africa as well.
The park’s biodiversity include 4 of the big Five (lions, elephants, cape buffaloes and leopards), hippos, antelopes, giant forest hogs, Uganda kobs, hyenas, warthogs and a wide range of birds recorded to be over 612 species and is ranked 6th world wide for the protected area bird diversity and 2nd in Africa. Some of the birds in Queen Elizabeth national park include Martial Eagle, Black-rumped Buttonquail, African Skimmer, Chapin’s Flycatcher, Pink-backed Pelicans, Verreaux’s Eagle Owl, Papyrus Canary, Corncrake, Lesser And Greater Flamingo, Shoebill, White Naped Pigeon, Forest Flycatcher, and Ruwenzori Turaco and Bar-tailed Godwit among others.
This is located in western region of Uganda approximately 410 kilometers from Kampala the capital city of Uganda, the main entry point to Uganda while on a Uganda to Queen Elizabeth national park is Entebbe International airport which is situated approximately 46 kilometers from Kampala.
How to get to Queen Elizabeth national park
To get to Queen Elizabeth National park, two mode of transport are used from Kampala city that are by road and by air.
By Road
By road, it is a drive approximately 8 hours along a tarmac road to Queen Elizabeth national park. From Kampala there are two routes used that are Via Mbarara to the east of the park covering a distance of 250 miles and Via Fort Portal to the north of the park covering a distance of approximately 260 miles. During the journey from Kampala to the park , a few stopovers are made rather than driving direct to the park which is preferred by most visitors. While on a safari to Queen Elizabeth national park it is possible to pair it with trips to Kibale Forest national park for chimpanzee trekking, Semuliki national park, Rwenzori Mountains and Bwindi impenetrable national park.
The Fort Portal – Kasese – Mbarara road provides opportunities to reach locations such as Kikorongo junction, Katinguru and Kyambura – a famous center for accommodations and starting point for wildlife safaris in the park.
- From Kibale national park, it is a drive of about 3 hours on gravel roads
- From Semuliki national park, it is a distance 139 kilometers and a drive of approximately 3 hours.
- For tourists on a gorilla trekking safari to Bwindi impenetrable national park, Queen Elizabeth national park is a great stopover during the long journey of Kampala to Bwindi. From Queen Elizabeth national park, you can drive from the Mweya Peninsula to Buhoma through the Ishasha Sector where you will spot tree – climbing lions. Buhoma is the entrance town in northern Bwindi and from Queen Elizabeth national park, it is a drive of approximately 4 hours along a gravel road.
- From Rwanda, Queen Elizabeth national park can be accessed through Ntungamo – Kasese road
- From Congo it can be accessed through Fort Portal – Mpondwe road
By Air
By air, There are daily domestic and chartered flights from Entebbe International Airport or Kajjansi airstrip to the park’s airstrips. There are several airstrips including
- Kasese airstrip
- Mwaya Airstrip
- Ishasha Airstrip
Flights to the park take approximately 2 hours and they are offered by several domestic flight companies including safarilink, Aerolink and Bar Aviation.
