Queen Elizabeth National Park

Conservation importance:

The Park is a world biosphere reserve (UNESCO 1979) that includes a RAMSAR wetland site and is classified an Important Bird Area (IBA) by Birdlife international.

Has a mammal species checklist of 95 and a bird list of 568 of Uganda’s over 1027 species of birds. A variety of habitats, including grassland, acacia woodland, forest, wetland and open water, sustains a wide range of mammals while the park’s bird species is a quite remarkably tally for a protected area covering less than 2000km2.

Size and location:

The Park covers an area of 1,978km2, situated astride the Equator with a fabulous setting on the rift valley floor, surrounded by lakes, escarpments and the snow-capped Rwenzori Mountain in Western Uganda.

Tourist activities:

Highlights in Queen Elizabeth National Park include the launch cruise on the Kazinga Channel, past residents hippos and water birds; the improbably scenic 24km crater drive which winds around the rims of extinct volcanoes; chimpanzee tracking in the deep underground, forested Kyambura Gorge; and the search for tree-climbing lions under vast rift valley skies in the remote, southerly Ishasha sector.