Things to Do in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Kazinga Channel boat cruise

The two-hour launch trip along this 32-kilometre waterway connecting Lake Edward and Lake George is probably the single most reliable wildlife encounter in the park. You'll drift past hippo pods so dense the water seems to bubble. Nile crocodiles bask, jaws cracked open. Elephants wade in to drink. African fish eagles call overhead. The afternoon light on the channel turns everything coppery. The smell of warm mud and waterbird droppings is, for whatever reason, oddly pleasant.

Tree-climbing lions of Ishasha

In the southern Ishasha sector, lions have developed the unusual habit of lounging in the lower branches of fig and candelabra trees, possibly to escape biting flies, possibly just because they can. Spotting them takes effort. A sharp-eyed guide helps too, one who knows which trees the prides favour. When you find a pride sprawled along a horizontal branch with paws dangling, the sighting justifies the bumpy three-hour transfer south.

Kyambura Gorge chimpanzee tracking

The 'valley of the apes' is a 100-metre-deep rift slashed into the savannah, hiding a dense gallery forest along its floor. Tracking the habituated chimp community here means scrambling down steep paths into a humid green world. Fig trees drip with vines. The air tastes of leaf mould. Sightings aren't guaranteed (the success rate hovers around 60 to 70 percent), but hearing chimps pant-hoot through the canopy is striking even when you don't lay eyes on them.

Mweya Peninsula game drive

The northern Kasenyi plains are the park's classic safari ground, rolling grassland punctuated by candelabra euphorbia and the occasional cactus-like Euphorbia candelabrum tree. You'll likely see elephant herds, Uganda kob (the small antelope that's the country's national symbol), buffalo in cantankerous clusters, and with luck, the resident lion pride that hunts the kob breeding grounds. Early morning drives have the cleanest light. Predators are most active then.

Maramagambo Forest and bat cave walk

This forest on the park's southeastern edge feels like a different country. Cool. Dim. The air smells of wet bark and decaying leaves. A guided walk takes you to a bat cave where thousands of Egyptian fruit bats squeal and shift on the rock ceiling, and where pythons reportedly lurk waiting for an unlucky one to drop. The forest also holds blue monkeys, l'Hoest's monkeys, and an extraordinary variety of birds for anyone with patience and binoculars.

Mweya Peninsula. This is the safari hub with the widest range from budget hostels to upmarket lodges, plus easy access to Kazinga Channel cruises.

Katunguru. The small trading town at the park's northern gate, useful for budget travellers wanting cheap rooms and street food before heading in.

Ishasha sector. Remote and quiet, with a handful of tented camps right where the tree-climbing lions live.

Kyambura. Perched on the edge of the gorge, with mid-range lodges that work well for chimp trekkers.

Kasenyi. Basic bandas and community-run guesthouses near the kob breeding grounds, popular with researchers and budget safari-goers.

Lake Nyamunuka area. A few crater-lake lodges offering a quieter alternative to Mweya, with striking views and fewer vehicles passing through.