National ParkReserva de la Biosfera

Queen Elizabeth

Uganda · East Africa

East AfricaDeclared in 19521,978 km²

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Uganda's most visited park, between two Rift lakes, with lions that climb the fig trees of Ishasha.

Area

1,978 km²

Declared in

1952

Region

East Africa

Climate

Tropical, Montañoso

Best time

December to February

Savanna Biosphere Reserve

Plan your visit

Best time: December to February
Area: 1,978 km²

Highlight

The Kazinga Channel between Lakes Edward and George, and volcanic craters

Queen Elizabeth National Park was established in 1952 in south-western Uganda, on the floor of the Albertine Rift, and protects some 1,978 km². It is the most visited park in the country.

It stretches between Lakes Edward and George, joined by the Kazinga Channel, a natural watercourse some thirty kilometres long on whose banks one of the greatest densities of hippopotamus in the world gathers, alongside buffalo, elephants and an abundant waterbird fauna; the boat trip along the channel is the park's characteristic activity. To the north, the ground is dotted with dozens of explosive volcanic craters, some occupied by saline lakes.

The southern sector of Ishasha is famous for its tree-climbing lions, which rest in the branches of fig trees, a behaviour regularly seen only here and at Lake Manyara, in Tanzania. The Kyambura Gorge, a wooded canyon sunk into the savannah, holds chimpanzees. The park borders Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and has formed part of the network of biosphere reserves under UNESCO's MAB programme since the 1970s.