Queen Elizabeth National Park

Queen Elizabeth is Uganda’s most visited national park, and its variety explains why. Spanning savanna, crater lakes, wetlands, and forest within a single protected area, it supports one of the highest counts of mammal and bird species found in any African park, straddling the equator itself along the way. Game drives across the Kasenyi Plains bring travelers into contact with lion, elephant, buffalo, and large herds of Uganda kob, while the park’s network of volcanic crater lakes adds a scenic dimension rarely found alongside classic savanna wildlife.

The park’s signature attraction, however, is found in its southern Ishasha sector: tree-climbing lions, a rare behavior seen in only a couple of places in all of Africa. Travelers here often find lions draped across the branches of fig trees in the middle of the day, a genuinely unusual and memorable sight. Chimpanzee trekking is also possible within the park’s Kyambura Gorge, adding a primate encounter to an already wildlife-rich stay.

Paired with a Kazinga Channel boat cruise, a stay in Queen Elizabeth delivers about as complete a picture of Uganda’s ecological range as any single park can offer, and makes an excellent anchor for a broader western Uganda itinerary.