Worth knowing
Tree-climbing lions are a behaviour, not a guarantee — Ishasha is remote and the lions are not always up or about. The Kazinga boat, by contrast, reliably delivers.
Getting there
Long drive from Kampala, or fly to Mweya/Kasese airstrips
Best for
Classic savanna game, the Kazinga boat, tree-climbing lions and birding
The land
Savanna, crater lakes and wetland between two Rift-valley lakes
Good to know
Uganda's signature savanna park — pairs naturally with the gorilla forests
What it is
Queen Elizabeth is Uganda's classic safari park — plains game, a great water channel, and lions in the trees.
Spread between Lakes Edward and George in the Rift Valley, Queen Elizabeth is Uganda's most popular savanna park and the counterpoint to its forests. The Kazinga Channel linking the two lakes draws extraordinary concentrations of hippo, elephant, buffalo and waterbirds to its banks — best seen by boat — while the remote Ishasha sector is famous for its tree-climbing lions, draped in the fig branches. With crater lakes, nearly 600 recorded bird species and big game throughout, it is the savanna half of a complete Uganda trip.
The reason to come
The Kazinga Channel
A boat along the Kazinga Channel — the natural waterway between Lakes Edward and George — is the park's signature, putting you among some of the densest concentrations of hippo, elephant, buffalo and waterbirds in Africa. The banks teem, and the photography is superb. It is the easiest, richest wildlife hour in the park.
The Kazinga boat
Hippo, elephant and buffalo crowd the banks, with kingfishers, storks and skimmers — a boat safari like few others.
Tree-climbing lions
In the Ishasha sector, lions famously rest in the fig trees — an unusual behaviour and a sought-after sighting.
The birds
Close to 600 species recorded — one of the richest bird parks in Africa, across savanna, water and forest.
The savanna half
Why Uganda needs both.
Uganda's fame is its forests, but a trip built only on gorillas and chimps misses the open-plains safari entirely. Queen Elizabeth is where you get the classic game-drive and boat experience — elephants, lions, hippos, the works — the perfect savanna counterweight to the forest treks.
When to come — honestly
Best when it's dry, lush when it's wet.
June – September
Best
The long dry season — game concentrates at water, the Kazinga banks are busy and tracks are good. Prime savanna months.
December – February
Best
The short dry season, again strong for game and the boat, warm and largely dry.
March – May & October – November
Good
The green seasons — lush, excellent for birding and quieter, with some heavier rain and softer tracks.
Queen Elizabeth's game viewing is strongest in the dry seasons, when animals gather at the channel and lakes. The green seasons bring superb birding and fewer vehicles, at the cost of muddier tracks. The Kazinga boat is good year-round.
Between the lakes
A park under pressure
Queen Elizabeth sits in a busy corner of Uganda, with fishing villages, roads and farmland woven through and around it — a park that shares its space with people more than most. The wildlife and the communities live in close, sometimes tense, proximity.
Human-wildlife conflict, especially around crop-raiding elephants and the lions, is a real and ongoing challenge here, and conservation work focuses heavily on that fragile coexistence at the park's many edges.
We pair Queen Elizabeth's savanna with the gorilla and chimp forests nearby, so your trip has both halves — the Kazinga boat, Ishasha and the plains alongside the treks.
Beyond the obvious
Three ways to read Queen Elizabeth.
The Kazinga boat
A cruise along the channel for hippo, elephant, buffalo and superb waterbirds.
Ishasha's lions
The remote southern sector for the tree-climbing lions in the fig branches.
Crater-lake drives
Game drives through the savanna and the explosion craters, strong on birds and plains game.
Why Wild Voyager
We plan Uganda around the permits.
Gorilla and chimp permits are issued in small daily numbers and sell out months ahead — the scarce thing that makes or breaks a Uganda trip. In Queen Elizabeth National Park that means combining the Kazinga boat, Ishasha and the plains, and slotting the savanna in alongside the gorilla and chimp forests nearby.
We hold your permits, not a middleman
We secure the gorilla, chimp and park permits directly and early — the scarce thing everything else hangs on — so your trek is locked in, not left to chance.
We base you in the right place
Queen Elizabeth is large, with the Kazinga area and the remote Ishasha sector far apart. We base you for what you want — the channel and crater lakes, or the southern lions — and route it with Bwindi and Kibale.
We guide for wildlife, not a checklist
Our guides and the park rangers work the forest and the plains for real encounters — they would rather earn you one great sighting than rush a list.
Journeys
Trips through Queen Elizabeth National Park
Where to stay
Where you’ll stay in Queen Elizabeth National Park
Signature Collection
Luxury Collection
Classic Collection
Add Uganda's classic savanna
to your forest trip.
Queen Elizabeth gives a Uganda trip its savanna half — the Kazinga boat, tree-climbing lions and big game. We route it with the gorilla and chimp forests.
Plan a Uganda trip