Game Drives for Wildlife safaris
Queen Elizabeth National park is the floor base of the Great Western arm of Rift Valley with lots of wildlife making it one of the treasures of this continent Africa. Game drives are done morning, evening, and night game drives are done. Travel Hemispheres safaris provide pop up roof safari vehicles that offer 360 degrees all sides. Early morning game drives are the most rewarding. Will wake up at least 5.30 am get served on snack and head for the game drive. On the Northern bank of Kazinga channel plains will find herds of Elephants, buffalo, lion, leopard, waterbuck, bushbuck, and many warthogs. Another prize animal could enter here on this track is forest Giant Hog call it African pig was usually seen in dense forest and thick bush shrubs.
The Kasenyi sector East of Kasese town is other rich plains with vast grasslands attract lots of lions targeting to pre on the large population of Uganda Kob, buffaloes and bushbucks. Kasenyi form mating grounds for Uganda Kobs and morning and evening game drives off fantastic wildlife safaris in this park. Lots of elephants, buffalo, lion leopard,
Chimpanzee tracking: Kyambura Wildlife and Kalinzu Forest,
Chimpanzee tracking safaris take place at dramatic Kyambura Gorge. Here chimpanzees were habituated for human interaction. The gorge is also home to many other primates including baboons, Colobus Red-tailed, and Vervet monkeys. The gorge is like 100 m deep varved out of Kyambura River as it floes along the rift valley floor toward the Kazinga channel. Guided walks take place here looking for chimpanzees. Kyambura Wildlife Reserve is on the eastern side of the park and supports many wildlife animals and has got saline crater lakes which attract large numbers of flamingos that are not found anywhere else in Uganda.
The Kazinga Channel Launch Cruise
Lake Edward and Lake George inside Queen Elizabeth National park are connected with a water channel called Kazinga channel. The channel is 40 km long and alongside its shoreline provides a prime area for wildlife concentration. A boat trip along this channel will give you sight of schools of hippos all along the channel. Visitors will enjoy lots of wildlife looking for prey and others accessing the channel to drink water. Lots of Birds also concentrate here and for bird watching is a paradise lot of bird species are seen here in the large number of concentrations.
Will take launch cruise at scheduled time. Different times have been fixed from 11.00 am until 6.00 pm. The boat cruises are run by the park authorities. However other private boat cruises have been introduced like that of Mweya safari lodge and of Recent Mv Kazinga was also introduced.
The channel attracts a varied range of animals and birds, with one of the world’s largest concentration of hippos and numerous Nile crocodiles. These boats continue to promote Ugandan tourism. These boats are safe, convenient, and equipped with modern and latest technology amenities such as an air conditioner, radar, sonar, bells, life jackets, and whistles. The cruise boats are also safe with up to many seating capacities and lifesaving jackets that give passengers the comfort and ability to enjoy tourism on the water channel.
Nature Walks in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Maramagambo Forest forms part of Queen Elizabeth Nation Park. The word “maramagambo” is Runyankole word meaning getting short of words. So people used to walk through this forest to lake Katwe to look for salt. But because of the size of the forest by time people would finish walking through nobody would be talking to one another. So still many natural walks continue to take place here in this forest. Short and long guided natural walks take place here . Pythons and other reptiles are often seen in crevices of Bat Caves preying on bats. Other trials will take you into the heart of the forest and may view some crater lakes, caves, and primates including chimpanzees and forest bird species.
Ishasha Sector Famous for Climbing Lions Game Drives.
Ishasha is the pearl of Queen Elizabeth National Park, located at the southern tip of the park bordering with Congo, this sector ha vast savannah flat grasslands. Here the famous climbing lions safaris can be spotted on large fig tree basking in the sun. Here will enjoy true wilderness experiences. It has diverse habitats of Ishasha River, savannah woodland and marsh swamps extending into Lake Edward. This is area is famous for game drives looking for climbing lions. Also lots of other wildlife and easily seen like elephants, buffalo antelopes bushbucks. Ishasha is located on the way to Bwindi Impenetrable forest National park and in most cases some will spend the night to get good views of morning game drives before proceeding to Bwindi for gorilla trekking adventure safari.
The Katwe Explosion Craters: sightseeing and Scenery viewing
Here its where God rested for some time to design a cluster of volcanoes that are now extinct. Some of these craters are empty while others are now filled with water. They form beautiful scenery of this park. The is located 27 km from the Equator Gate. They provide superb views into numerous craters some filled by lovely lakes and feature reflection of mountain Rwenzori at distance.
People and Wildlife at Queen Elizabeth national park.
Lake Katwe situated inside the park used to be known from far as northern Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Vast of Congo. 100 years ago all communities from mentioned regions converged here at this lake Katwe to mine salt. During that period salt was a medium of exchange – money and whoever had lots of it would be called Richman but fetching it from lake Katwe was not easy. Hence saying in Runyankole: “ Ebirungi butura hare nko mwonyo gwa Katwe” Katwe here refers to lake Katwe. So Kawe Town now run-down used to the hub commercial center of all the region because of salt that was produced here. Today still communities come here and mine salt. This unprocessed salt is given mainly today to animals – cattle, goats, pigs, etc and is still a potential industrial point to be developed. The economic importance has since not so much but salt is still produced using the traditional evaporation process and the lake accepts guided tours. Today when COVID 19 virus has put many countries at isolation, self-sustaining, Lake Katwe salt mining and processing should be revived as it was done by President Amin during the 1970s