Things to do in Queen Elizabeth National Park in 2025-2026.
Things to do in Queen Elizabeth National Park in 2025-2026: Queen Elizabeth National Park is a popular safari location in Uganda, located in the western part of the country.
The national park is the second biggest savannah park of Uganda and is known for its diversity. Queen Elizabeth National Park has a variety of landscapes and is a popular hiking spot. Tourists can enjoy many activities there, including watching wildlife, bird watching, encountering primates, and experiencing local culture, among other things.
To enjoy events at Queen Elizabeth National Park, tourists need to pay an entrance fee. It costs 40 USD for foreign visitors, 30 USD for foreign residents, and 20,000 Uganda shillings for East African citizens.
Here are some things you can do around Queen Elizabeth National Park:
Game drives are a popular activity in Queen Elizabeth National Park. They involve taking a 4×4 vehicle to look for various wildlife.
During game drives in Queen Elizabeth National Park, visitors can spot many animals, such as elephants, lions, leopards, buffalos, impalas, hippos, waterbucks, hartebeests, Uganda kobs, warthogs, bushbucks, and more.
The activity happens in the morning and also in the afternoon or evening. It can be done in different areas of Queen Elizabeth National Park, like the Kasenyi plains, Mweya peninsula, and Ishasha sector, among others.
Boat trips.
The Kazinga Channel links Lake Edward and Lake George and is a popular spot for boat rides during safaris in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
The boat ride on the Kazinga waterway lasts about 2 hours. You can take a scheduled boat from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) or use a private boat. On boat tours in Queen Elizabeth National Park, visitors can see birds and animals along the shores, including hippos, buffalo, elephants, and Nile crocodiles.
Tourists can go for boat rides on the Kazinga Channel in the morning or in the afternoon. People living in the fishing towns along the Kazinga Channel provide boat tours and also serve as guides for safaris in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Tracking chimpanzees.
Queen Elizabeth National Park has chimpanzees that you can see in the Kyambura Gorge, which is part of the Kyambura wildlife area.
Tracking chimpanzees in Kyambura Gorge costs 50 USD per person. Tourists can join a guided trek to see these interesting chimpanzees in their native home. The practice can be done in the morning or afternoon and is led by a ranger guide.
Kyambura Gorge is around 100 meters deep and is a safe home for chimpanzees and other monkeys, such as red-tailed monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, baboons, and vervet monkeys, in Queen Elizabeth National Park.
Tracking lions.
Queen Elizabeth National Park offers lion tracking adventures in the northern area, specifically in the Kasenyi plains, as part of their tours.
Park guards and researchers use different ways to track lions in Queen Elizabeth National Park. They look for paw prints or scratches on trees and check for fresh animal remains in the grasslands, which can show that a lion pride is close by.
In Queen Elizabeth National Park, researchers can watch lions by using GPS collars. These collars send signals that help them see where the lions are and how they move.
This action makes it more likely to see lions while on a safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park. You can see tree-climbing cats in the Ishasha area of the national park.
Watching birds.
Queen Elizabeth National Park is home to more than 600 bird species that you can see on safaris. Some of these include the Great Blue Turaco, Gray Crowned Crane, Long Crested Eagle, Black Headed Gonolek, Papyrus Canary, Yellow Billed Stork, Swamp Flycatcher, and Pied Kingfisher.
Some good birdwatching spots near Queen Elizabeth National Park are the Kazinga Channel, known for many birds like African fish eagles, pink-backed pelicans, and yellow-billed storks. Other areas include Maramagambo, the Kasenyi region, and Kyambura Gorge.
The best time for bird watching in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda is during the wet seasons, which are from March to May and in November, when migrating birds are there. You can go birding all year because there are many different bird types in the park.
Nature walks
Visitors to Queen Elizabeth National Park can enjoy guided wildlife walks to explore the area on foot.
There are various trails for nature walks around Kyambura Gorge, Maramagambo Forest, the Ishasha area, and Kasenyi Plains in Queen Elizabeth National Park. Tourists walk these paths with ranger guides.
During these nature walks around Queen Elizabeth National Park, you can see wildlife like buffalo, deer, and elephants.
Neighborhood tours
Tourists can see wildlife and also meet local people from nearby towns around Queen Elizabeth National Park.
You can take community tours in places like Rubirizi, Kasese, and Katwe. During these tours, tourists can learn about and enjoy local culture through traditional dances, storytelling, cooking, and touring homes, among other activities.
Mongoose tracking.
Mongoose tracking is a fun sport you can do during wildlife safaris in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda.
You can see Banded mongooses in Queen Elizabeth National Park, especially around the Mweya peninsula.
Going to see crater lakes.
There are various crater lakes around Queen Elizabeth National Park, including the Katwe crater lakes and the Bunyaruguru lakes.
People can enjoy hikes, boat rides, bird watching, taking photos, and walking in nature around the crater lakes.
