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Queen Elizabeth National park is located 526km north of Lake Bunyonyi in the albertine rift of western Uganda. After Lake Bunyonyi, a favorite of majority of travelers to the gorilla highlands, the next destination is normally to participate in a wildlife safari in one of the most popular wildlife areas, queen Elizabeth national park. The road takes circles and rounds over the scenic hills as you view the fascinating hillside farms, terraces and the homesteads. The road side markets full of happy venders selling fresh foods; fruits and vegetables, eggs all in a display that will give you that memory touching deep into your life, long after the trip. Travel with confidence on this memorable journey, will give you the opportunity to fully explore the wonders of this indigenous land and her tribes. without knowledge of the route, it can be quite challenging to travel this journey if you don’t have a private driver or an informed road map of the journey. Even when you have private means of transport, you may need to be well informed to be able to drive confidently or else you will find yourself making rounds returning to the highlands or spending allot of time in the last minutes restraining your eyes to the map trying to find the way, as you miss the lovely views this land offers.

The full journey from Lake Bunyonyi to queen Elizabeth national park takes an estimate of 5 hours from start to end, depending on the status of the road and mode of travel used. From the lake, you will take a bodaboda or private hire to drop you in Kabale town. This distance takes you maximum of 15 minutes driving. Some people do walk it. From Kabale town you will take a public bus (69 passengers). The public buses travels through Ntungamo to Mbarara on their way to Kampala. This route has quite a good number of buses. You can be able to get a bus every 30 minutes.  Some buses start in Kabale or they will be en-route from other further destinations like Kisoro, Kanungu or Kigali-Rwanda. It is better to take a bus that starts the journey from Kabale (to be able to take a better seat or a location on the window side to give you opportunities of viewing the country side) though you can also take any en-route bus if it still has space by then.

One bus (Kalita) commonly travels from Kabale through Queen Elizabeth national park on the way to Fort portal – Kagadi. This bus leaves Kabale at night on scheduled journeys. It reaches Queen Elizabeth national park in the early morning of the next day. You need to call them or contact your travel advisor before the travel day to find out the schedule and availability on your travel day. All other buses will be traveling from Kabale to Kampala. If you use them, you will be required to stop in Mbarara and take a taxi from Mbarara town (midway) to continue to Queen Elizabeth national park (Kasese).

Travel by private means is more flexible. You will take the same route from Lake Bunyonyi. From kabale take the same route; Kabale Ntunganmo road and either travel to Mbarara or branch off at Ntungamo on Rukungri road to drive through Ishaka via Kitagata hot springs. On reaching Ishaka, you will join Kasese-mbarara road and drive north towards Queen Elizabeth national park. This is a shorter route that also shows more of the country side than going through Mbarara town.

Depending on your booked accommodation location, you will have to stop, either in Kasese (Katunguru, Kikorongo, Kasese town) or Rubirizi (Katunguru, Kyambura, Katara etc) where most lodges are located. Call your hotel and make sure they give you the right stopping stage name and location. Please communicate your stopping point when you board the public means of transport or else, you may be disappointed when they drop you at a wrong point and you have to travel ahead or back to find the right destination.

We can provide any further information to help you travel right, if you contact us any time through this website or our phone numbers.

Enjoy Lake Bunyonyi and Queen Elizabeth national park, during your forthcoming trip!!

This is a list of items  you will need to do a wildlife safari in queen Elizabeth national park and get the best out of it.

• A private car: All places in the park will be accessed by car. There are no public shared cars unless you make an arrangement with the transport providers. Roads in the park are all dirt and open to hash weather conditions. A 4WD car will perform better, to avoid disappointments while on safari. Most preferably, choose an open roof/ popup roof car for better performance.
• Safari guide fee: The Park charges a small fee per car going on game drive covering all the people in the car. The paid to the park is receipted and covers the time of the game drive. If interested in a private none- ranger guide, then you will agree on the price with the specific guide.
• Camera and binoculars: Queen Elizabeth is an extended savannah. Sometimes wildlife can be at far ranges. Binoculars will be very useful to enhance your safari experience. Like for any safari a camera is handy as well.
• Sun hat, sun glasses and sun lotion: Queen Elizabeth is crossed by the equator and can be very hot all day. During such times, you will need protection from the sun in any way possible. Other than these, you may apply your personal options of protecting yourself from the sun.
• Insect repellent: During certain seasons, the area am have many mosquitoes and other insects, commonly on the lake shores and in the buses. Carry your best performing insect repellent as you may need it.
• Enough drinking water: A bottle of drinking water on your side will do you good during the safari in Queen Elizabeth national park, to avoid dehydration.
• Some pocket money: Unless it is covered by a tour operator, you will need to have lunch during the game drive in or around the national park. this requires some cash since you will not find an ATM machine inside or close to the park during the game drive (as of October 2018) the pocket money will also enable you to participate in any other activities you may find such as purchase of crafts or community activities.
• Individual park entrance fee: This charge is per person entering. The rate is determined by the different categories of children, students, east African residents, foreign residents and foreign none residents. All categories have to be verified by authentic identification documents.
• Car entrance fee: This is charges per automobile entering the park. The fee is predetermined in the tariff basing on the weight and nationality of automobile registration. They range from motorcycles to buses and categorized in Ugandan registration to foreign registration. Each unit of payment covers 24 hours from the time of entering.
• Boat cruise fee. This is paid per person joining the boat cruise. The fee covers 2 hours experience of the boat cruise and expires at the end of the trip paid.
• Any other items of specific or professional interest: Depending on your customs, interest and profession, you may have other personal requirement. Please consider these seriously as you will hardly have access to supply points during the game drive. Just make sure you’re well stocked on these and the above requirements to avoid disappointment.

Please contact Rainforest and community tours or any other tour operator of your choice to provide any further support, advice and services basing on your interest and time of visiting Queen Elizabeth national park. This way you will be informed of the rates and prices or any other changes at the time. We look forward to welcoming you to the elephant home lodge during your stay.

Rwenzori is a beauty above the odds. The name “Rwenzori” is inspired by the local Bakonzo dialect meaning a natural source of water. Setting your eyes and foot on Rwenzori, will rise your imagination of Uganda, the pearl of Africa. Rwenzori is a perfect mix of nature and culture as you explore the foothills or the high peaks to witness snow at the equator. A visit to Rwenzori mountains gives you an opportunity to experience a Uganda known to very few travelers.

Fortunately, Rwenzori mountains beauty and level of challenge still awaits discovery. This mountain is still unknown to 99.5% of the visitors who come to Uganda, making it the least known but most challenging mountain on earth!!  Despite its location, 40 km away from Queen Elizabeth national park (one of the most visited parks of Uganda), many people still miss the golden opportunity to visit this fountain of beauty.

In a special arrangement, we have created an opportunity to bring guest from queen Elizabeth national park to explore Rwenzori mountains using whatever time available to them, ranging from hours to days. From queen Elizabeth, Rwenzori mountains can be  visited in the time as short as two hours. The activities available include a traditional lunch or coffee experience and other cultural encounters, short walks in the foothills looking for small animals accustomed to this area like chameleons or trekking from 1 – 8 days in the mountains, for those more prepared to visit the high mountains.  This tour extension is an opportunity to learn how Rwenzori mountain influences the entire ecosystem of up to five  national parks (including queen Elizabeth) and a multitude of human communities in  Uganda and Congo. You will definitely be inspired by this Rwenzori experience!!

This unique experience covers two national park of Queen Elizabeth and Rwenzori mountains.

Day 1: On the arrival day to Queen Elizabeth, after checking in your hotel, you will get set for the trekking. The days activities include going to Kasese town, 15-20 minutes away, to buy supplies for the trek. Return to a nice lunch or early dinner. The rest of the evening, stay at the camp fire as you catch up with the locals about their life with the wildlife of queen Elizabeth national park.

Day 2: You will be participating in the wildlife safari in queen Elizabeth national park. This includes a game drive on the Kasenyi tracks looking for the big five, the cats and other wildlife, a boat cruise on Kazinga channel and a few other wildlife or community activities. Depending on your choice, other activities may include a visit to lake Katwe traditional salt mines, the community bodaboda safari, chimp tracking in Kyambura or Kalinzu forests, the crater lakes walk, cotton growing experience or visiting the equator. After witnessing one of the best wildlife experience, you will transfer to the Rwenzori base camp this evening, arriving to dinner and overnight.

Day 3: In the morning, after an early breakfast, you will go for the trek of your preferred duration. You can trek the Rwenzori in many packages from just one day up to eight days and above, where you access the high snow picks. Trekking can be done through one of the four different gates. These include; Kilembe southern gate, Nyakalengija central circuit gate, Kichwamba Bukurungu trail and or Kinyampanika trail. for thse who dont feel prepared, you will scale the lower slopes or the communities in the foothills where you can walk up to 2400m to look for the views of margarita peak, the portal peaks and other scenic view with background of Bakonzo traditional homesteads dotted over the hills and valleys.

On your return from the trek, you will spend one night at the base camp where you will have chances of participating in the cultural encounters with the local community. This is also the best time to connect to another destination of your itinerary including Kibale national park (117km). For those interested in the gorilla experience after Rwenzori, a return to the elephant home is ideal, to be able to connect to southwestern (Bwindi) the next morning. The elephant home is centrally located on the main tourist route and can be used as a base for exploring all the attractions in the region. You can contact the elephant home, or  Rainforest and comminty tours for any support and formation.