The size of Queen Elizabeth National Park
The national park size of Queen Elizabeth is half-way Murchison falls in northern Uganda’s park. Running from beneath/the foot hills of the well-known Mountain Rwenzori also known as the mountains of the moon to the Southern Ishasha border, it covers an area of 764 sq. miles in a region of rolling hills and plains east of Lake Edward. Queen Elizabeth falls in the districts of Kabarole, Kaasese, Rubirizi and Rukungiri and Kanungu. Comprising category 2 of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Queen Elizabeth national park is also the most visited national park in Uganda.
Under the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), Queen Elizabeth national park is situated in the Kasese District. Its geographic area is roughly 1978 sq. km. Adjoining the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the west is Queen Elizabeth’s national park. The western section of Queen Elizabeth National Park is littered with several volcanic craters created many years back during the Pleistocene era, 26 million years to 11700 years ago.
Specific distribution of Queen Elizabeth National Park
About 2500 square km of the western rift valley include Kigezi Wildlife Reserve, Kyambura Game Reserve, and Queen Elizabeth national park. About 250 kilometers of lakeshores, water bodies predominate in Queen Elizabeth national park territory. Among the lakes in Queen Elizabeth national park are Lake George, Lake Edward, Kazinga Channel, River Ishasha, and Kyambo River. These water bodies give the guests a great wildlife viewing experience and offer quite amazing homes for birds and mammals.
Since Kazinga Channel is the main fresh water source, it is 40 km long and the water body that links Lake George to Lake Edward. This is the part of the national park most likely to show most of the species. The variety of bird species that call this area home excites birders from Kazinga Channel.
Another feature across Queen Elizabeth National Park is Kyambura gorge. For the threatened African chimpanzees, it is their home. The flowing Chambura River, which crosses the rift valley and links to Kazinga Channel draining to Lake Edward in the west, sculpted the gorges. Viewing butterflies and many birds in the rain forest of Kyambura, you can appreciate the guided nature hikes in Kyambura gorge.
Ishasha sector is southward from the Mweya Peninsula and covers 100 km. Beautiful tree climbing lions, sometimes known as cactus climbing lions, call Ishasha area home. Ishasha is where you will also discover the shoe bill stock, an endangered bird.
Another woodland spread over Queen Elizabeth National Park is Maramagambo. Stretching from the eastern rift valley escarpment, Maramagambo forest supports several species. The Maramagambo forest is ideal for the nature walks; new paths have been built like a walk around Lake Nyamizingiri, hiking through the dark forest, in the forest you can visit the bat caves and view a milliard of bats hanging in the cave, plus the giant pythons inside the cave.
The four crater lakes may be located in the southern section of Kazinga Channel; among them, Lake Nyamunuka (not seen anywhere else in Uganda) is surrounded by many flamingo birds.
