Tour Queen Elizabeth national park from Mbarara

Do people in Mbarara know that queen Elizabeth national park is just a few kilometers from the city and they can book a safari tour to see several attractions in the park? Mbarara people can take a visit to Queen Elizabeth national park at any time of the year by just using road transport to the park. Queen Elizabeth national park is the second largest national park in the country and visiting the park has always been a dream come true for all tourists around the world.

Queen Elizabeth national park is home to over 600 bird species and over 95 mammals including the famous tree-climbing lions that are found nowhere else in the world but this park. The park hosts the Kazinga channel which is home to the largest number of hippos in the world. There are so many activities that people from Mbarara can be part of birding, game drive, boat cruise, chimpanzee trekking, and much more.

Activities to do on Queen Elizabeth national park tour from Mbarara

Game viewing in Queen Elizabeth from Mbarara

Tourists in Mbarara intending to visit queen Elizabeth national park shouldn’t miss out on the fascinating game drives through the Kasenyi plains, Ishasha sector, and the North Kazinga plain. The game drives in these areas are done in the morning and evening hours although night game drives are conducted in the park too but with a help of a ranger guide at a fee.

The game drive in Queen Elizabeth national park introduces you to animals such as warthogs, giant forest hogs, elephants, lions, topis, hyenas, tree-climbing lions, Uganda kobs, leopards, buffaloes, banded mongoose, and waterbucks among others. There are also night game drives in Queen Elizabeth national park and by taking part in them you have opportunities of seeing nocturnal animals such as leopards, serval cats, white-tailed mongoose, genets, bush babies, civets, lions, and bush pigs among others.

Boat cruise in Queen from Mbarara

A boat cruise is another activity that tourists from Mbarara need to do while on a safari in Queen Elizabeth national park. There are so many boats at the Kazinga channel which can take you around the lake with a help of a guide. The boat cruise in Queen Elizabeth national park can be done in the morning and evening hours but the experience is the same because you get to see different water animals such as elephants, buffaloes, and different types of antelopes around the lake shores drinking water most especially in the dry season.

During the boat cruise, you will also see different waterbird species of queen Elizabeth national park such as yellow-billed stork, malachite kingfisher, pink-backed pelicans, plovers, black bee-eater, papyrus gonolek, martial eagle, black crake, and white bullied cormorants among others.

Birding in Queen from Mbarara

Are you a bird lover in Mbarara and wondering where you could do birding from? Well, Queen Elizabeth national park is one the best places around Mbarara where you can go and see over 600 bird species that are in the park. All you need to move with is a birding book and a pair of binoculars to see birds such as African finfoot, Black-rumped Buttonquail, barbets, African hobby, Martial Eagle, African Broadbill, Chapin’s Flycatcher, Pink-backed Pelican, Verreaux’s Eagle Owl, White-tailed Lark, Black Bee-eater, Africa emerald cuckoo, African Skimmer, Heuglin’s gull, brown illadopsis, pink-backed pelican, African jacana, pied kingfisher, papyrus gonolek, marsh tchagra, crab-plover, Papyrus Gonolek, white-winged tern, Papyrus Canary, Corncrake, Shoebill, Bar-tailed Godwit, shoebill stork, yellow-throated cuckoo, White-winged Warbler, Lesser and Greater Flamingo, and lesser swamp warbler among others.

Chimpanzee trekking in Kyambura Gorge from Mbarara

People from Mbarara intending to visit queen Elizabeth national park can do chimpanzee trekking in Kyambura gorge or even those looking for where to trek chimpanzees from Mbarara, Kyambura is just located a few km’s in Queen Elizabeth. To trek chimpanzees, you will have to tell your tour operator in advance so that they book you a trekking permit from the Uganda Wildlife Authority. The permit is $50 for both foreign non-residents and foreign residents while UGX30,000 is for East Africans.

All people on the day of trekking including those from Mbarara will have to wake up very early in the morning and gather at the briefing point. At the briefing points, the trekkers will be taught about the dos and don’ts of trekking chimpanzees in Kyambura after which rangers will lead the trekkers down in the valley of apes. While searching for these apes, the trekkers are likely to see different animals in the gorge but on meeting the endangered chimpanzees, they will be given 1 hour to be around these primates, watch them do daily activities, learn about their behaviors and take photos.

What is the best time to tour Queen Elizabeth national park from Mbarara?

Tourists in Mbarara planning to visit Queen Elizabeth national park can do so at any time of the year but there are some months that are better than the rest. The drier months are the best to visit Queen Elizabeth national park from Mbarara because during these months, there is little or no rainfall, the game trucks in the park are dry, the vegetation is thin giving clear views of the park animals and the roads leading to the park are passable.

Tourists in Mbarara can still visit Queen Elizabeth national park for different activities in the rainy season but they need to know that during this time, there is plenty of rainfall, the game trucks are muddy and slippery, the vegetation is thick giving unclear views of the park animals, and the roads to the park are impassable. During the rainy season when you visit Queen Elizabeth national park, there are huge discounts on accommodation facilities. A tour to Queen Elizabeth national park from Mbarara can be extended to Bwindi impenetrable forest national park for gorilla trekking experiences and Kibale forest national park for chimpanzee tracking.