Attractions of Queen Elizabeth National Park

Attractions of Queen Elizabeth National Park are possibly the reason for the fame it has earned on the world map. Queen Elizabeth national park is located in western Uganda, in the district of Kasese; famou s for the mountain of the moon or mountain Rwenzori. The summation of the glamour in Queen Elizabeth National Park; flora or plants, fauna or wild animals and the landscape, are a real reason as to why queen Elizabeth national park is called the “medley of nature” by many authors and writers.

Queen Elizabeth national park is the best protected area in Uganda with quiet a diversity of wildlife. It is also the second to Murchison falls national park when it comes to size, and these both national parks, where gazette together in 1952. Therefore, the information about Queen Elizabeth national park, perhaps, can be an attraction too, to the visitors; as told by the local people and the game rangers.

Attractions of Queen Elizaneth National Park

Equator

Queen Elizabeth national park is crossed by the equator at zero coordinates; the land mark for this major latitude is demarcated with a circular sculpture. At the equator, many visitors stop by and take photos, and sometimes are joined by the local children, who spread happiness to these moments with their wide smiles. Thus, the equator becomes the very first attraction for visitors that come to Queen Elizabeth national park.

The queen’s pavilion is another attraction in Queen Elizabeth national park besides the wildlife. The pavilion was constructed for Queen Elizabeth the second of England when she visited Uganda in 1952; it was later renovated for the royal guests from England in 1954. At the queen’s pavilion, you can have the best photography of Queen Elizabeth national park. After your game drive, it would be an awesome idea if at all you tell your guide to pass you by the queen’s pavilion where you can clearly see most of the park’s land; it is a very spectacular view of the national park.

Katwe salt works

Lake Katwe is located north of mweya peninsular, north western part of queen Elizabeth national park, and, katwe salt crater lake is one of the crater lakes that crest the crater area of queen Elizabeth national park; famous for the splendid crater drive. Katwe is a saline crater lake; it has inlets but no outlets which makes it salty. In the dry season the water becomes concentrated thus forming salt pans on the bottom and also crystalized salt forms on the surface.

At lake katwe you can visit the historical Germany salt factory and also get to find out why the factory stopped operating way back. You can enjoy the salt mining process and the narrative as told by the salt miners. However, it might be really emotional story of mining the salt as told by the women miners at katwe salt lake.

The landscape

The Landscape of Queen Elizabeth national park is breath taking cool and beautiful enough to give you a glimpse of the true pearly glamour of Uganda. Queen Elizabeth national park has undulating hills that make beautiful scenery for the sight. The fact that queen Elizabeth national park is located on the back drop of mountain rwenzori, gives it a very beautiful view if the rwenzori ranges and during the sunny days, you can see mountain rwenzori as touching the clouds; reason why it is called the mountains of the moon. Then the plains filled with golden brown savannah grassland vegetation, is something you can real relax your mind on when you wake up in the morning.

Kyambura escarpment

Kyambura is associated with a lot of interesting features; kyambura gorge is something that is not common. Kyambura gorge is a strip of a rain forest in through the vast savanna grass land plains. The gorge was shaped by Kyambura River; as told by the local folklore. The strip kyambura escarpment is a beautiful site for many safari accommodation facilities within Queen Elizabeth national park. And from the escarpment you have a spectacular view of Queen Elizabeth national park and the vast Savannah plains dotted with the Savannah woodland tree species like the acacia a trees.

The crater lakes

Queen Elizabeth national park is truthfully located in the western rift valley of Africa, this fact is the reason for a number of volcanic craters in the area; queen Elizabeth national park has about 10 crater lakes. Along the 27km crater drive you can spot a number of crater lakes, the story about their formation is an interesting one as told by the Uganda wildlife authority (UWA) guides. The crater lakes are also associated with beautiful scenery good for photography and hiking.

Wildlife

Queen Elizabeth national park is a place where you can go to quench your thirst of game viewing. Queen Elizabeth national park is naturally gifted with 95 mammal species, over 600 bird species, bats, reptiles, and a lot of insect species. Queen Elizabeth national park is a protected area with the highest number of hippos in east Africa, it has over 3000 hippos. It also has over 4000 elephants, and about 2000 buffaloes, what a great deal of wildness it can be!

Tree climbing lions/ cactus climbing lions

Tree climbing lions are not just like any other lions you have seen on television or in the lion king series of somewhere else in the world. I am always forced to talk about the tree climbing lions separately from other wildlife. The tree climbing lions are a species of lions that id so unique and really exclusive to east Africa. They are found in Queen Elizabeth national park and Lake Manyara in Tanzania, however, you stand a better chance to view a number of tree climbing lions in ishasha sector south of Queen Elizabeth national park than in Tanzania.

Indeed they manifest the majesty of the king of the African jungle. They hung up in the candelabra trees during the hot weather to cool down, but also climb to the trees spotting their next prey; kobs, grazing in the fields, they also tend to run away from the disturbing tsetse flies from the ground, hence climbing up in the wide tree branches; they sometimes also nap from up in the tree branches. The tree climbing lions are the highlight of any African safari; it is the major attraction brings a lot of visitors to the southern part of Queen Elizabeth national park.

Kazinga channel

This is the beauty spot of Queen Elizabeth national park and it is described as magical by the visitor’s basing on the guest reviews on “trip advisor”. Kazinga channel harbors most of the wild animals in queen Elizabeth national park during the dry season; the peak visitor season. It is where the famous launch cruise is operated. Along the shores of kazinga channel, you can spot a number of schools of hippos cooling in the water, herds of buffaloes is wallowing in the mad, snapping crocodiles trying their trick hunt, and many elephants showering along the shore line. With launch cruise you can spot a pride of lions with cabs trying to run after the birds at the shore of kazinga channel. kazinga channel also has a lot of uncommon bird species, it is also categorized among the important birding areas in Africa but the international birding organization.

Local communities

When it comes to cultural encounters, Queen Elizabeth national park is a place in east Africa where you can get a superb community tour. Queen Elizabeth national park has a number of communities where your community walk can be planned; for example busonga fishing village found on the further shore of Lake George. From the community you can do a lot of activities like sport fishing, boat racing, tasting of the local fish prepared fresh from the water. The local people also tell interesting stories about Queen Elizabeth national park you do not want to miss this on your itinerary to Queen Elizabeth national park.

Omwani coffee plantation

This is another exciting attraction for the coffee lovers and feminist visitors. The omwani is a women association that is dedicated to producing exclusively organic coffee for both the local market and export. They grow coffee with nothing artificial applied as manual in order to come up with the organic quality they aim at. The essential needs of the members of omwani women cooperative, forced them to working hard towards a common goal that helps them to earn a living for their kids and some husbands. A walk in the coffee plantation and the study of the local coffee making process will add a lot to your Ugandan coffee tour and also accelerate your safari experience.

Accommodation

Queen Elizabeth national park is stained with quite a number of safari accommodation facilities ranging from luxury to the ones that can fit perfect into your Ugandan budget safari. Similar to other protected areas, the accommodation facilities in queen Elizabeth national park is built to perfection of a staged authenticity of the natural surroundings. The beautiful locally constructed cottages reflect the African tradition way of building; they are thatched with grass and some are constructed using reeds and other woods from around the area. Most of the cottages in Queen Elizabeth national park have very nice views of the park, the savannah plains and the famous mountains of the moon/ mountain rwenzori which makes your mornings full of beauty to make for your heightened wild experience.

There is a lot you can enjoy at queen Elizabeth national park, form the animals; the unique ones like the tree climbing lions, to the smallest but interesting mongooses. Your safari is always a true package if at all it is a queen Elizabeth national park safari package by the best tour operator company.