3 Days Queen Elizabeth National Park Safari

The 3 Day Wildlife Safari in Uganda takes you to Queen Elizabeth National park located on the western arm of the Great Rift Valley. The park boasts of a variety of ecosystems, from semi-deciduous tropical forests to green meadows, crater lakes, savannah, and swamps. Queen Elizabeth National park is famous for tree-climbing lions found in the Ishasha sector, other wildlife species to watch out for including the Uganda kob, antelopes, elephants, baboons, hippos, buffaloes, chimps, leopards among others.

Over 500 species of birds have been recorded, making the park a magnet for bird watchers. The bird species include the black bee-eater, 11 types of kingfishers, raptors, and several species of falcons and eagles. A favorite way to view the game and birds on our 3 days queen Elizabeth national park tour is by taking a launch trip on the Kazinga Channel which connects Lakes George and Edward.

Tour Highlights

• Day 1: Entanda Community Cultural center and lake wamala

• Day 2: Transfer to queen elizabeth and bigodi swamp tour boat ride

• Day 3 : game drive and transfer back to Kampala

getting there

This tour starts and ends in Kampala or Entebbe

• Book your own international flights - Fly to/from Entebbe International Airport

• A transfer from and back to the airport can also be arranged

• Additional accommodation in Kampala or Entebbe before and at the end of the tour can be arranged for an extra cost.

Entanda Community Center

Entanda is a Luganda word that refers to a package which you offer to people that you love and care about. The package could be useful advice or physical valuables which you offer to help someone in the future. The Entanda Initiative offers visitors an opportunity to learn and explore Ugandan culture and norms. Located in Kijjudde (which means a community blessed with abundance), about and an hour and half from Kampala, the center promotes traditional practices in the areas of music, games, hunting, back cloth making, traditional medicine, food preparations and dining, religion, taboos and totems, among others. There is a hunting expedition undertaking with the visitors to save wildlife and as a result of this approach, many hunters/ poachers have laid down their tools.

Initiated in 2013, Entanda was aimed at protecting and revitalizing the waning Buganda cultural practices and natural environment through tourism. Buganda Kingdom is one of the largest and most influential pre-colonial kingdoms in what comprises the territory of Uganda. The Kingdom has a rich history which visitors experience through music, dance and drama.  There are also cooking classes, village walks, hunting expeditions, bark cloth making, traditional games, local medicinal wine processing and tasting plus classes on traditional dressing.

Lake Wamala

Lake Wamala derives its name from the last king of the Bachwezi dynasty, who founded the Kitara territory that covered the central, western and southern parts of Uganda and part of northern Tanzania, western Kenya and eastern Congo during the bronze age.  A local legend suggests that King Wamala disappeared into the lake at a site near the fishing village of Nakyegalika and his spirit lives on in the lake, making the lake of strong traditional and cultural significance to the people of Buganda. People from all walks of life and from as far as Kampala frequent this site to perform rituals. At Nakyegalika – one of the spiritual sites where Buganda kings performed rituals to appease spirits, there is a cave of cultural significance that is overseen by the Lugave clan, one of Buganda’s major clans.

 The lake covers a total area of 250 square kilometers and is fed by rivers from the surrounding areas including the Nyanzi, Kitenga, Kabasuma, Mpamujugu and Bimbye rivers. The vegetation surrounding Lake Wamala is dominated by papyrus, other spectacular floaters and water based vegetation. Fishing and other activities along the river make it not suitable for bathing and swimming. There are also trees such as Raphia and other palms. There exist remnants of a variety of species such as wild pigs, hippopotamus, bush bucks, water bucks, velvet monkeys, baboons and a variety of birds such as guinea fowls, turraco and francolins in the forests, while a diversity of water-based birds are visible in the remaining wetlands. Existing fish species include tilapia, catfish and lungfish.

 Different bird species have made the islands in the lake their home and some of these islands are used for cultural functions. The main islands include Lwanja, Mabo, Kizara, Kazinga and Bagwe islands. Among the Baganda, it is believed that some islands are a home to their ancestral spirits that would help solve their problems and many other ailments.

KAFRED - Bigodi Swamp

Kibale Association for Rural and Environmental Development (KAFRED) is an important stakeholder in eco-tourism in Bigodi, a village situated in the highlands of Western Uganda. KAFRED was founded in 1992 in order to conserve areas of rich biodiversity outside nationally protected areas; wetlands in particular, and to benefit communities from tourism businesses in the area. Bigodi lies in the shadows of the Rwenzori Mountains, the famous “Mountains of the Moon”. The community is located about 40 kilometers outside Fort Portal and borders Kibale National Park, which has the highest population of primates in the world. KAFRED’s main focus is to conserve Magombe swamp, also known as the Bigodi Wetlands Sanctuary.

Other than being the home of the Great Blue Turaco, this bird watcher’s paradise shelters over 200 species of birds. Local guides take visitors through the lush vegetation where in addition to birds, many animals and magnificent flora can be admired.

KAFRED also offers a cultural experience which takes up to 3 to 4 hours depending on the pace of the group, where you explore the village of Bigodi, including the option of visiting a traditional healer who will share his knowledge about spirits, herbs, plants and local medicines.  A visit to the local school, church and the trading center –the hub of rural life – is also included in the tour.  Visitors can also admire the work of more than 150 weavers of Bigodi Women’s Group who sell baskets, mats, bags, jewelry and other crafts.

The income earned by KAFRED is used to fund projects in the community including water kiosks and water pumps which provide clean and safe drinking water for over 2,000 households. The construction and management of Bigodi Secondary School, which is the only secondary school in the Bigodi parish is another successful project and thanks to the tourism revenues, KAFRED is able to support the parents with payment of the school fees and offers education to the less fortunate.  A beehive project has also played a role in generating additional income for the locals.

Queen Elizabeth National Park

Queen Elizabeth National Park is understandably the most popular and visited wildlife conservation area of all Uganda destinations . The park lies in the western part of Uganda in the districts of Kamwenge, Rukungiri, Rubirizi, and Kasese. Queen Elizabeth National Park has green scenery for most of the year with sprawling savannah, shady, humid forests, sparkling lakes and fertile wetlands, making it the ideal habitat for wildlife. Named after Queen Elizabeth II, this park was previously named Kazinga National Park.

This gazetted park ensures the conservation of its ecosystems, which in turn benefits the surrounding communities. The park is home to over 95 mammal species including the classic big game, ten primate species including chimpanzees and over 600 bird species. Some of the activities to carry out in this popular national park include wildlife/game viewing and local community visits. Other exciting sought-after activities include game viewing, chimpanzee tracking, hot air ballooning, birding, hiking and nature walks, bird watching, launch cruises on the Kazinga Channel, lion tracking, a visit to the explosion crater and a visit to the Katwe Salt Works.

Tourists mainly come to Queen Elizabeth National Park for lion tracking because of the famous cactus tree climbing lions. It also gives them a chance to get an up-close session with the lions and get to study their behaviors. There are only two populations of these mysterious tree climbing lions in the whole world; Queen Elizabeth national park and Lake Manyara National Park in the southern part of Tanzania, making these big cats a major attraction for the tourists that visit East Africa.

The park is set against the back of the great Rwenzori Mountains with beautiful views that are made up of various crater lakes. These lakes are carved dramatically into the green rolling hills. The Kazinga Channel's shores are also a spectacle and are packed with hippos, elephants and buffaloes. You will also see the savannah plains of Ishasha, whose fig trees cover the majestic tree-climbing lions.

 Some of the exciting scenery locations in the park include the Kazinga Channel that harbors a couple of wildlife including the Nile crocodiles. It is a major attraction as tourists take a boat cruise across its shores to view the magnificent wildlife scenery. The Mweya peninsular into Lake Edward covered by candlestick thorns with the outlying impressive savannah also make it an excellent area for game viewing. Lake Katwe salt works and the explosion craters, Kyambura Gorge, the magnificent valley of apes, Maragambo forest (known for its bat caves and resident African rock pythons) are all worth visiting. The endless views of savannahs with roaming antelopes and the Uganda kob in Kasenyi plains are all found here. It also harbors numerous lions, leopards plus many other cats and the extraordinary views of wildlife, primates and butterflies at Kyambura Wildlife Reserve.

 Queen Elizabeth National Park has a fascinating cultural history on top of its outstanding wildlife attractions. There are also opportunities to visit the local communities and enjoy sessions of music, dance, drama and storytelling. 

How to get to Queen Elizabeth national park

Queen Elizabeth national park provides a natural habitat for a good number of species ranging from grassy plains, savannah woodlands, tropical forest, swamps, wetlands, lakes and rivers along the floor of the Albertine rift valley between the lakes of George and Edward. It contains the highest number of bird species over 619 kinds second highest in Africa and 6th in the whole world named as a paradise of birds, it is home to the tree climbing lions in the southern sector of the park (Ishasha) a corridor connecting from Kibale forest national park and Bwindi Impenetrable national park. It takes approximately 376km from Entebbe to the park in 6 and half-hour’ time, to the north through fort portal from Kampala by road, chatter flights can be organized to the existing airstrips Kasese, Mweya and ishasha form Entebbe or Kajansi. The national parks can be visited all year round but best during the dry seasons of December-February, and June-mid- September, with the gazette areas are distributed routes that make it easy to access doing activities like game drives and nature walks.

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SAFARI INCLUSIONS of the 3 days queen Elizabeth national park tour

Safari includes:

Transportation in a Tour Van/Land Cruiser

Service of an English-Speaking tour guide/Driver

All activities mentioned in the itinerary

Park admission fees

Drinking water

Accommodation on full board

Entrance fees to all destinations as per the program.

Transfers to and from the airport/Kampala

Free WIFI for the entire trip

SAFARI EXCLUSIONS OF THE 3 DAYS QUEEN ELIZABETH NATIONALM PARK TOUR

All activities not mentioned in the program

Phone call bills

Tips

International transfers

Visas to Uganda

Gratitude to tour-guides

Personal insurance

Visas to Uganda

Personal effects of any nature

Hotel fees before and after the safari