Be it the elusive giant forest hog or the handsome Uganda kob, Queen Elizabeth national park offers a superb safari where almost 100 mammal species and a remarkable 606 bird species makes this aone of the most interesting tourist destinations on the Mweya Peninsula.

The beauty does not stop at that. Tree-climbing lions, habituated chimps, graceful pink flamingos, a variety of forest monkeys and birds, and flocks of flamingo will add to the marvelous waterfront setting in the shadow of the Rwenzori Mountain.

Within is a spectacular variety of attractions - volcanic cones and deep craters, many with crater lakes such as Lake Katwe, from which salt is extracted, the Maramagambo Forest and borders Kigezi Game Reserve, Kyambura Game Reserve and Kibale National Park.

The park also enjoys a stunning location on the rift valley floor between Lakes Edward and George where a mosaic of habitats the remarkable number of mammal and bird species.

The 40km-long Kazinga channel that connects Lake George to Lake Edward provides the park’s prime wildlife spectacle, attracting large numbers of birds, mammals and reptiles year round.

These can be seen from two covered launches, Topi and Simba that cruise between Mweya Jetty and the channel’s entrance into Lake Edward.

In 1952, Douglas Willocks thought that the area had everything - the blue Rwenzori exploded from the plain, a composite, jagged mass of mountains, sixty miles long and forty wide and looking in certain lights as if you could reach out and touch them.

Across Lake Edward to the west, the Mitumbe hills stood sentinel on the Congo, blue too in the long sight but in the closer green, wooded, precipitous, unfriendly and epitomizing darkest Africa.

The eastern boundary of this possible park was marked by the calm green escarpment of the western Rift Valley.

And between all the hills, mountains and lakes was endless savannah, its constantly repeated motif the branched cactus arms of the candelabra euphorbia tree. No wonder his description helped the area to become a park.

The main camp at Mweya is attractively positioned with fine views of the Rwenzori Mountains amber of widespread bush species may be seen in the vicinity of the airstrip watch for African Mourning Dove, Grey-headed Kingfisher, Swamp Fly-catcher, Grey-capped Warbler, to name but a few.

Located in western Uganda, the park is 376 kilometres and six hours by road, from Kampala and about four hours from Kigali.

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