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majzik viktor
CH
Visited:
August 2010
Reviewed: Jul 12, 2012
Email majzik viktor | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
amazing encounter with elephants, lots of antilopes, giraffe, baboons, and a funy boat trip on the nile
erbsl99
Visited:
July 2011
Reviewed: Jun 16, 2012
A enourmas park, but less animals.
originalribenababy
GB
Visited:
December 2010
Reviewed: Jun 9, 2012
Email originalribenababy | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Chimps, boating and the savannah all in one
I visited Uganda with Lake Kitandara Tours for just over two weeks. We had a private vehicle and our driver/guide, Matia, was fantastic!
We stayed at Hippo Hill Camp and Ishasha Wilderness Camp during our time in Queen Elizabeth NP. We also got chance to visit Mweya Safari Lodge and Katara Lodge. Personally I prefer the likes of Ishasha Wilderness Camp, for it's laid back bush camp atmosphere (with luxury little touches) but seeing other camps I understand Uganda offers a range to suit many safari goers from honeymooners to families.
Food was always good and plentiful, all western fare. Cheaper accommodations produced simpler food but still tasty.
The highlight of our time in Queen Elizabeth was seeing tree climbing lions in Ishasha (after a long time searching!); meeting chimpanzees in the Kyambura Gorge - and having a face off with one of the males!; listening to hippos around our tent as we slept and having an amazing birding experience on the Kazinga Channel.
snowcopito
ES
Visited:
July 2008
Reviewed: May 23, 2012
Email snowcopito | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The Uganda's National Park: The Queen Elizabeth
This time we were thinking about the high mountains of central Africa. First option was Kilimanjaro, but we couldn't; so we thought about the Mountains of the Moon. We tried to arrange a hiking up to those mountains but we didn't have enough days for it. Finally we chose Uganda because all its highlitghted places: Virunga NP, Lake Bunyonyi, Bwindi Impenetrable NP, Rwenzori Mountains, Lake Victoria and Queen Elizabeth Park.
We went by our own with a driver and the Bradt guide under the arm. We entered the Q.E.N.P. by Ishasha where the climbing lions live, crossing tea plantations. Unfortunately, we weren't lucky and we couldn't enjoy the beauty of these feline although we
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saw a variety of animals: buffalos, impalas, monkeys, elephants, antelopes, and the screams of hippos in the river... When we arrived to the camp, we met a dutch guy who showed us the climbing lions on his videocamera. That's safari, luck.We headed towards our cottage, typical round house with three beds with mosquito net and a oil lamp. The accomodation was fair for our budget and the toilettes I don't remember, but when you are in safari...
Next day we headed to Mweya, where the Q.E.N.P. headquarters are. The trip was a tough one due to the condition of the track. It rained and the dirt road was very muddy. Finally we arrived Mweya. We couldn´t afford the Mweya Safari Lodge, but it looked great. Actually we went there for a delicious dinner and for a whisky on the rocks, all of it for a very reasonable price. If I remember well, the whisky was 2 euros. We lodged at the Mweya Hostel which was simply ok, just for sleeping. That afternoon we took the boat that goes along the Kazinga channel, an extremely recommended activity. We watched lots of animals: hippos, buffalos, elephants, cocodriles, antelopes and, over all, birds, lot of them, it was a great spectacle. And the sunset over the Lake Edward, superb.
Next day, we took a loop around the Q.E.N.P. with no luck again, no felines sighted. We exited the park and we headed towards the close Kyambura Gorge where we enjoyed watching the chimpances jumping from tree to tree and the hippos bathing. And we left behind the Q.E.N.P. stopping at the equator line enjoying a fresh Nile Special.
Conclusion: we enjoyed being at Q.E.N.P. although we weren't lucky with felines. It is a very easy-to-handle park.
Here you can take a look of one of my videos there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI_aDSUC6vk
Thije Kor
NL
Visited:
December 2011
Reviewed: May 18, 2012
Email Thije Kor | under20 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Fantastic wildlife experience in an overly complicated park
This continued as I arrived at the chimp tracking site on a motor taxi. As it turned out, my reservation hadn't come through at all. Luckily I was able to take somebody else's place. Then there was the problem of my transport. I didn't have my
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own car, even though that's usually a requirement for the Chimp tracking safari, since the tour guide has to bring us to a yet to be defined location in the park (and of course the company doesn't have its own transportation). Unfortunately none of the at least six people I spoke to over the phone to try and make a reservation, had the courtesy of telling me this. Again luckily, I was able to drive along with another tourist who did have his own car.The Chimp tracking safari itself turned out to be amazing. Our tour guide, Stephanie, lead us through a lush piece of rainforest in the beautiful Kyambura gorge, sharing all sorts of information with us about the things we stumbled upon. The site wasn't the ideal place in Uganda to do Chimp tracking (this is most likely Kibale Forest NP), and we were aware of the reasonable possibility of not finding any chimps at all. After a three hour walk uphill, downhill, through bushes and pools of mud in the middle of the jungle, our guide finally spotted several chimps in the distance. Before that, we had already seen a wide range of tropical birds, hippos, baboons, crocodiles, velvet monkeys and an elephant. Even without the chimps it would've been worth the $50. Our guide was an absolute genius and the scenery was beyond beautiful
Almost every other activity happens all the way on the other side of the park, which is about an hour and a half away by car from the chimp tracking site. In the meantime you drive through scenic pieces of savanna, where elephants play games with each other, gazelles graze freely and baboons block the road just to take the piss out of you. Passing the main gate, you arrive at the Mweya peninsula, where you can find a tourist information office, a gas station, a cute restaurant/bar and a wide range of hotels and hostels. I can't judge any of these accommodations as I haven't spent a night in any of them, but the general opinion seems to be that they are remarkably good and well priced for national park standards. The scenery around here is once again brilliant, as you're surrounded by beautiful nature on one side and the stunning lake Edward and the Kazinga channel on the other side.
At the end of the afternoon I went downhill to the shores of the channel, to do the Channel launch trip. This is being done in a standard type touring boat in groups of about 20 people. This was an absolutely amazing experience not many other moments during my time in Uganda can compete with. From the upper deck of the boat I was able to see loads of elephants, hippos, African buffalos, crocodiles, gazelles and monitor lizards on the shore of the channel, living in peace with each other and not caring the slightest bit about us tourists coming so close. Our tour guide was a slightly nervous, but funny man, who enthusiastically provided us with tons of information about literally everything that moved around us. Lastly, seeing the sun setting above the horizon over Lake Edward was a very nice bonus.
Going back wasn't as much a pain in the ass getting there, but only because the staff of the fancy Mweya Safari Lodge were so kind to help me getting a taxi and use their phone to call him, even though I wasn't even a guest of theirs. The taxi brought me to the village of Katunguru, near the main entrance next to the freeway, seperating one side of Queen Elisabeth from the other. From there I was able to take public transport back to civilization.
All in all, Queen Elisabeth National Park provides some of the best tourist attractions in the whole country, for better prices than your average safari in Kenya or Tanzania. It's a major hassle to get there, and dealing with all the complications and the bureaucracy isn't easy if you're on a tight budget, but there's no doubt it's very much worth it.
anhowie
DK
Visited:
January 2006
Reviewed: May 3, 2012
35-50 years of age
Fantastic scenery and plenty of wildlife.
I have been to Q.E 15 times and just love this place. The views from the crater area is magnificent. A trip with the Jetty up Kazinga Channel is an absolutely must, the the bird life is second to none and watching the elephants coming for a swim at sunset is not bad either. I've all seen leopard there and of course plenty of hippos.
I've lived in Uganda 1998-2002 and have later been back to stay at Mweya lodge, witch I love!! The views are amazing and sitting by the flow over pool watching the the animals by the river with a sun downer after a day of safari....lost for words!
Anette from Denmark
My visit to QENP was brief but very enjoyable, fairly good game viewing in an exceptional setting.
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as inside the park itself, includng herds crossing in places. Heading back to Kampala next day we drove along the tar road and up to a couple of viewing areas overlooking the QENP - stunning views, and baboons on the road. Next time I hope to spend more time at QENP, perhaps in a different part of the park.
Gerhard Mauracher
AT
Visited:
August 2011
Reviewed: Apr 20, 2012
Email Gerhard Mauracher | 50-65 years of age
also wonderful birding on an boat trip on the channel , great game run in Ishasha
job2003
AU
Visited:
May 2008
Reviewed: Apr 18, 2012
50-65 years of age
Very exciting spotting lions and the leopard, the hippo in the Myweya resort was unforgettable, the trundling elephants were wonderful, the boat trip in the Kazinga Channel was worthwhile because it enabled us to get up close to the hippos and so many birds.
Really worth a visit. Here you can see lots of wildlife in a beautiful scenery.