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This is your gate way to a peaceful stay with the community and wildlife, in the most convenient accommodation next to Queen Elizabeth National park.
The elephant home offers delightful Lodging for all tastes with the lowest prices and spacious rooms. It is located in the tourism zone of Queen Elizabeth national park, at Kikorongo on the elephant grazing grounds. We are located on the foot of the hills where the Rwenzori Mountains kiss the savannah of Queen Elizabeth national park. The front view of the lodge lays the park as an extensive wildlife field where all sorts of game wonder day and night. You will listen to the howls of the lioness, the laughter of the hyena and the trumpet of the elephants during your night sleep. The Bunyaruguru highlands show a scenic backdrop at the end of the national park in the east. You will enjoy this view from the restaurant or on our hilly self-guided walk, while the sun sets on the Rwenzori Mountains.
The nightly elephant visits can’t be unnoticed during your stay. During the cotton season, you will learn how the community interacts with the elephants to protect their crops. You will also get a rare opportunity of walking in the elephant tracks in on the property. The remarkable elephant ruins around the lodge give the true feeling of living with the wildlife in the jungle. No park fees are required to stay since we are located outside the park, but the closeness to wildlife is remarkable. Sometimes, you will watch tens of elephants retreat to the park in processions as you take your breakfast in our open restaurant. This is why staying at the elephant home is the best opportunity to meet the people and wildlife in and around Queen Elizabeth national park.
The hospitality, rooms and restaurant services are well suited to the needs of the ultimate guests looking to have a memorable safari experience. We offer free wife in the restaurant for guests to be able to share those memories.
Activities around the elephant home that you can participate in include;
– Game-drives and safaris in Queen Elizabeth National Park
– Community encounters in the communities in and around the park
– A boat excursion on Kazinga channel exposing you to many animals in their natural habitat
– 606 resident birds for birding
– A visits to the nearby national parks and attractions such as short treks on Rwenzori Mountains.
– A day trip to Kalinzu forest and Kyambura gorge chimp tracking
– Looking for the tree climbing lions in Ishasha
– The crater lakes trek in Bunyaruguru, above the rift valley escarpment.
– A visit to the historical Kilembe copper mines
– Visiting the local crafts markets at Katunguru trading center.
– Lake Katwe traditional salt mining and the flamingos on Lake Munyanyange.
– Visiting the fishing villages such as Katunguru, Hamukungu, Kasoga, Kasenyi, Katwe and others.
Let us arrange your accommodation or take you on one of these memorable experiences. A 3 days safari in and around Queen Elizabeth National Park, arranged from the elephant home would look like this;
Contact Rainforest and community tours at www.ugandatrip.org to arrange or give more information about longer safaris and accommodations of Uganda.
Located in the Elephant grazing grounds, outside Queen Elizabeth National Park, is The Elephant Home community lodge. Like the name suggests, this accommodation is a home for wildlife and for the travelers who want to explore queen Elizabeth beyond the park boundaries. It is like a home in the jungle with no crowds unless the elephants are around. when the elephants show up, as they Wallow the landscape through their timely grazing voyages.
The hospitable staff and a wonderful chef of the lodge offers one of the best budget accommodations in the area, making this lodge a must visit for every traveler who want to pay budget and get the highest Value for money. The lodge comes with well thought comfortable self-contained rooms that are furnished with beddings, mosquito nets, furniture and a private balcony for each room. The restaurant and rooms offer open views of the Savannah wilderness. Guest who want privacy find a perfect hideout within the community, at the elephant home.
Wildlife such as birds and other mammals including elephants find a peaceful haven on the lodge property. The accommodation offered gives you an opportunity to spend a night in the elephant habitat allowing you to witness the community-wildlife relations. On the lucky nights, you will sleep to the sounds of the lion, hyenas and the calls of the elephants echoing from the extensive Savannah of queen Elizabeth national park. During the nights, sometimes elephants visit the lodge giving our guest the pleasurable picture moment while watching elephants feeding on the luxuriant jungles in the morning. Waking up to the elephant tracks and ruins from their nightly visit around the lodge gives the feeling of the true African wild jungles. Though it is located within the wildlife territory, guests don’t require any entrance fee to stay here, meaning you can stay and enjoy the local wildlife endlessly.
This community lives with the wildlife all their life. When you stay at the elephant home, the staff are both knowledgeable of the local area and friendly to the guest, willing to show you everything during your stay. They will share with you their story of living next to the national park and why they have adapted to tourism as the most sustainable livelihood that has finally enabled them to be better friends with wildlife. A self-guided walk has been created on the property where guests are able to walk in the savanna forest for up to 30 minutes as they take views of lake George inside the national park, dotted with fishing boats and the edges lined with grazing animals at sunset.
The accommodation is located next to the national park. Whether using private or public means of transport, the elephant home lodge is the most accessible and easy to find of all lodges in the area. It is ten minutes’ drive to the Kasenyi tracks park gate, where the game drive starts. Accessibility to a good road makes the elephant home a perfect base to explore the entire queen Elizabeth national park region. For those who want to stay long, the lodge has a long list of activities to participate in. These include chimp tracking, boda-boda safaris, forest walks, boat cruises, cultural tours and other village experiences. Besides, the lodge is attached to experienced local guides who will be able to take guests to the wildlife safari inside the park at affordable prices.
Book your stay today to experience one of the best community accommodation experiences around this part of the country, during your visit to queen Elizabeth national park.
During your trip to queen Elizabeth national park, you ought to stay in a place that gives you the best value for money. At the elephant home, the community at Kikorongo is doing everything to give you this comfortable stay. The lodge is located in the most serene part of the community to offer the insight of privacy, nature and culture with the friendliest staff. Located next to the park, you will be welcomed to self-contained rooms, a restaurant and all information you needed to fully explore the varied ecosystems of queen Elizabeth national park. During the stay in our accommodation facilities, you will sometimes be visited by wildlife such as elephants, giving you personal closeness to nature.
This accommodation marge two mighty landscapes. The rugged Rwenzori mountains of the moon and queen Elizabeth national park Savannah. We are located at the base of the Rwenzori mountains yet touching queen Elizabeth national park. This gives our guests an opportunity to experience the two magical lands of Uganda through a long list of activities we have on offer. The scenery of the backdrop of the legendary Rwenzori mountains, to the rift valley escapement gives a true relaxing moment in this game territory that is also full of cultural wonders. From our self-guided walk your full-time site will be the Savannah spotted with rift valley lakes; Kikorongo and George besides the Kazinga channel that lay in the main wildlife grazing grounds of queen Elizabeth national park.
During your stay, you can choose to participate in the wildlife safari activities and cultural encounters in and outside the park. These including the game drives in Kasenyi, Ishasha or mweya peninsular, the boat cruise on kazinga channel and kyambura chimp experience. The cultural encounters include the katwe traditional salt mining, kalinzu forest chimps and forest walks, Kikorongo crafts workshop and traditional dances, the boda-boda safaris, the crater lakes walk in Bunyaruguru and fishing villages on lake George and Edward.
Come witness the wonders in the home of magnificent landscapes, well balance with the lakes, wetlands, extended savannah, and rolling hills lined bellow the rift valley escarpment along the kazinga channel. View how the channel forms a full-time green belt that dissect queen Elizabeth national park with a rich wildlife habitat that you will witness during the boat cruise of your choice.
During the stay, the host community at the elephant home introduces you to this wildlife paradise while closely providing the best meals, hospitality and comfortable stay in the natural and clean environment. Our neighborhood of cotton farms, woodlands and savannah is sweet to the birds, elephants and varied Savannah wildlife. You will definitely enjoy spending your holiday amidst this rich ecosystem. You will also find our lodge the most accessible yet the most private spot in the village, as every one of our visitors have found the lodge whatever they expect out of their accommodation.
Here is how to book your stay. Enjoy the services and support that we offer to arrange all safari and community activities in and around queen Elizabeth national park.
Are you looking for a place to stay near queen Elizabeth national park? The elephant home will definitely be your answer for this search. Besides accommodation at this community lodge, you will find information and support you need to arrange the most memorable wildlife safari activities in this medley of wonders, as part of our accommodation services. The elephant home has been specially established by the local community to provide hospitality with a feel of the local culture of the people living near the park. Likewise, queen Elizabeth national park and her neighborhoods offer a wide range of places to stay in different categories of accommodations. These include home-stays, campsites and lodges in budget, mid-range and luxury categories. This makes it easy to find a place to stay in case you miss out on the elephant home.
Queen Elizabeth national park is one of the most preferred wildlife destinations in Uganda. The park is and ideal destination for all categories of visitors including those interested in wildlife safaris, cultural experiences, birding, landscapes or trekking or water and aquatic wildlife. Queen Elizabeth national park is home to over 600 bird species, 10 Primates, 95 mammals and a large range of small creatures; making it one of the richest ecosystems in the region. The park offers a range of safari options. Dring your wildlife safari of choice which may be on kasenyi tracks, Mweya peninsular, Kazinag channel or in Ishasha extended savannah, you encounter large herds of wildlife such as elephants, antelopes, Uganda cobs, warthogs, buffalo, hippos, the cats and all the different sorts of Savannah and woodland birds. On the Kazinga channel you have a chance to view multitudes of hippos as the channel holds one of the largest populations of hippopotamus than any other habitats in east Africa. Other wildlife on the kazinga channel and other waters of this park include, crocodiles, otters, the shoebill stork, the birds which include the endemics and migratory birds species and without forgetting the famous mamba and tilapia fish that you may have a chance to taste in one of the local dishes,
As you look for a place to stay during your trip to this wildlife paradise, we welcome you to the elephant home. The elephant home is a community run lodge that offers impressive accommodation services to those guests seeking to enjoy the benefits of easy accessibility, affordable prices with value for money, high level of hospitality and friendly staff, delicious and well thought meals. a comfortable accommodation in the peaceful environment surrounded by nature. Located 10 minutes’ drive from the park get (where the Kasenyi game drive starts) Our rooms are fully furnished and self-contained to give the comfort you need before and after the wildlife safaris.
It is easy to book your stay with us at the elephant home. You can just book or contact us now, visit our Facebook page @thelephanthome, or contact any tour operator especially Rainforest and community tours or Uganda community tourism association. For those in Kampala, you can contact UCOTA offices on Kira road, 300 meters past kabira country club as you head to Ntinda. Our email address is info@theelephanthome.com Tel: +256706581477 Whatsapp: +256780278010
Have you been wondering what is the best and cheap way to arrange your wildlife safari in queen Elizabeth national park? In the past, people have spent allot of resources and endured long waiting to put together a safari in queen Elizabeth national park. There is no more reason for spending a penny trying to put together a safari in this park. The easiest and most accurate answer is simple; you can arrange your wildlife safari in queen Elizabeth by contacting the community at the elephant home. If you mention to us, your dates and the number of people on the group, your safari will be arranged within 2-6 hours. It is time to use the experience of the indigenous community who are the experts of this area, to put together a unique safari. This will cut the safari costs and save you the long chains of communication. A long list of activities, experience guided and attractions have been put together by the elephant home and will be simply tailored to your interest within the shortest time at no additional cost.
The elephant home is a community run lodge located at Kikorongo. The lodge is an innovation of the local community to provide easy access to the park wildlife using the community skills and hospitality. This doesn’t only give opportunities to the community but also makes the safari, allot cheaper and realistic for the safari seekers. For those planning to travel without a tour operator, but want to have the best safari, all safari solutions are found at the elephant home. Do not worry about the fees for arranging your safari, this comes as part of your benefits on the standard accommodation costs. The elephant home is trying to make it easy for more people to visit the park and the local communities affordably and realistically. It is an open opportunity. Every traveler to queen Elizabeth national park is our target for this offer, so grab it now!!
Your free safari arrangement is just one email away. Just book your stay today and tell us the number of people coming along. We will send you a quick quote with a breakdown of all activities you have chosen. Upon your approval of the offer, an invoice will be sent and that will be it. The only requirement is to book a stay and you will have paid for safari arrangement costs. Yes, you read right, it is a safari in queen Elizabeth national park, arranged in one day within your accommodation costs. no commissions and administration fees or taxes. Book or Contact us today to put together your safari.
Please note that, all accommodation reservations are subject to availability. our accommodation is quite scarce and competitive. However, if we have no space, we will suggest other similar lodges and still arrange your safari at no cost.
If you want to see the elephants in Uganda, then you should better be destined to the elephant home. The elephant home is a community lodge located next to queen Elizabeth national park, 390km from Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. The elephant home is not just a name to this accommodation facility. It is a name chosen based on facts of how the elephant love this location outside the national park. The facility location is related to these giant mammals in many ways. Taking the local guide and staff of the elephant home, you will learn that this is the main entry point of elephants to the community land.
Though elephants are restricted to being in national parks, in Uganda, they always find a way to come outside the park during the nights. Waking up to a vision of the gray rock like features (elephants) in the landscape standing still next to the lodge is like a rare dream. As the area around the elephant home is believed to be a historical point for the elephants of queen Elizabeth national park, they frequent the area to learn their own past. A theory from the community members, explains that over generations, the elephants conceive from this spot and keep bringing the young ones to visit the area where their life started.
Elephants in Uganda learn and memorize moments including learning human and environmental behavior. In the evenings, during certain seasons, herds of elephants start their journey to the community. They know how to determine when people have gone indoors so they will camp in the park bushes opposite the road. This way they cross from queen Elizabeth national park in the very right time and turn up to their ancestral land, the elephant home. By bed time they are already crossing the road and they start feeding then setting camp in the elephant home property, about 500 meters from the accommodation facility. In certain seasons, elephants will stay here up till 9:00am.
If you want to dedicate your day to viewing elephants around queen Elizabeth national park, spend your night at the elephant home. This park has the largest number of elephants in Uganda. Besides seeing the actual elephants, the camp property is full of wildlife spoors like elephant dung, elephant grazing grounds and trails.
As the day light gets brighter, they start their movement towards the park. You will be amazed to observe these herds retreat from the community to the park in the mornings. It is like a mini elephant migration as you view a mix of all ages from the large female matriarch to the sweet little calves that look to be a few days old. You will observe the large mothers Pushing the little ones forcing them to go forward as they shyly return under the large body of the mother and disappearing amongst the legs of the herd. The large males keep taking rounds to provide the security while the grandmothers find the way forward. Suddenly you see them take the long-waited momentum rising dust all over while they trumpet and push forward in a large heard with thrust. There you know it is now time to cross into the park. On reaching the edge of the road, in their own private language, the matriarch will use the sounds and signs and they will all suddenly hold on to ensure there is no traffic or any human danger in the open road. After they have inspected the road, they take the slow but continuous steps into the road. With a big heard all packed in the open road, they make the little ones cross as they provide the required security. Finally, the large ones will go and the heard disappear in the bushes of the park.
When they are on their way back to the park, you will have an opportunity to study their hierarchy, behavior and how they communicate in their parades. The gentle grumbling sounds, picking and splashing dirt with their trunk, scrubbing the ground with one leg, trumpet sounds. The different signals, communications and sounds will be passed between the elephants in the community land and those inside the park on the opposite side of the road. You may not understand their meaning but you will at least observe their communication being used during their movements until they finally cross the road disappearing into the park jungles.
If you stay at the elephant home on a lucky day when the elephants have come around, this whole experience is a free addition to your stay. It is a highlight of many guests who want to do view elephants in Uganda. You will not have to pay for this unique experiences and explanation from our guides. If they will not be around then, we take you to our self-guided walk where you will be able to find the various elephant spoors in their natural habitat neighboring queen Elizabeth national park. Contact us today to book your stay. We look forward to receiving your booking and welcoming you to our community.
Travelers seeking to do Kazinga channel boat cruise during their safari of queen Elizabeth national park, now have a long list of optional boats and tours to choose from. The local community has opened boat opportunities for the guests who want to explore different from the usual trail. This community boat cruise can be accessed from a public road at any time of the day. With a team of experienced guides, the cruise starts at Katunguru bridge on Kasese-Mbarara road. This makes it easy to be able to do a boat cruise on transit without spending a night in Queen Elizabeth.
Kazinga channel is the best place to view wildlife in queen Elizabeth national park. The 40km channel flow from lake George to Edward bisecting the park with a green belt of wonders that is also a permanent home to wildlife. The channel is one added reason why this national park is a destination of choice for most travelers to Uganda. No other park in Uganda has got such a peaceful home for wildlife through the year. The varied attractions of this park include wetlands, over 600 bird’s species 95 mammals and ten species of primates, explosion craters, extensive Savannah and wetlands along with the green rolling hills. the park gives one of the most rewarding landscape as it lays just bellow the Rwenzori Mountains on the west with the rift-valley escarpment on the east. During this cruise, you have all the chances to be so close to large herds of wildlife like never before. The common site on this boat cruise are the elephants, antelopes of varied type, warthogs, hippopotamus, buffalo and multitudes of birds.
Kazinga channel makes a nice strip of green that extends 40km joining lake George to lake Edward. This channel makes a nice home for wildlife across the year. All sorts of wildlife have created trails that lead to the channel from the different direction. This two-hour journey is a showcase of a cross section of wildlife both on waters and land. During certain seasons, the boat cruise is also an opportunity to sample some of the migrant bird species on their journey to and from Europe. The bird species of queen Elizabeth national park are more than you can find in any national parks of Uganda.
The community boat cruise is flexible and you can do it any time as long as you have two hours before 7:00pm. It is open twelve ours from 7:00am to 7:00pm. All booked in guests are required to arrive at least 30 minutes before the starting time agreed at booking.
With the experienced guides who are both locals and retired rangers, you can be sure to get the right information both about the people and wildlife they live with in the park. The guide will have the background of almost every thing you see. So inspiring to learn about wildlife in their natural habitat. the guide will point to both the largest and the most tine wildlife around the channel and tell you everything about it.
Everything about this boat has been set in the traveler’s favor. At a lower price per person, the minimum number of people required to do the trip is two persons. This meaning, even when you’re alone, you pay for the extra person and you’re good to go to explore this wildlife paradise. Additionally, his gives an affordable opportunity of taking a private boat for as long as you may want in the jungle. importnt to note that the return journey goes for two hours, though you cxan arrage to have a loner journey and may pmre for it, in advance. Since the timing of the boat is flexible, it is important to book in advance to avoid any inconveniences as changes may not be possible at spot. If you’re interested in this boat cruise, just contact us.
We look forward to welcoming you and showing you around queen Elizabeth national park.
Elephants are super genius animals, indigenous to Africa and Asia. They are believed to be as smart as primates or even more. They have a brain that weighs around 5 kg, being the animal with the largest brain on earth. Elephants are endangered species that may be getting closer to extinction every other passing day. This is mainly due to habitat loss and wildlife trade sweeping Asian and African landscapes. An adult elephant body size ranges between 2700kg and 6000kg depending on the species. There are two major species of elephants; the African elephant and the Asian elephant. Averagely, the African elephant is larger than the Asian elephant. Given the massive size of their body, elephants need a large and healthy land range that can sustainably provide for its diet requirement. A single elephant eats up to 169 Kilograms of vegetation and 190 liters of water every day. They further supplement these two, with special mineral that they dig from the ground. Without a big habitat to graze from, elephants cannot be able to fulfill these major requirements of their diet. This is why in every elephant habitat, there is evidence of human wildlife conflicts as they compete for the natural resources. Being blessed by both the muscle and the brain, Elephants are known to have very few or no natural predators other than the people.
In Uganda, all elephants live inside protected areas called national parks or wildlife reserves. Due to certain reasons however, at certain times elephants do cross to community land looking for food, water and other minerals to supplement their diet available within a given national park. During these journeys they occasionally cause massive destruction on the household gardens destroying the only community source of food and income, resulting into community wildlife conflict. Agriculture is the key source of income in Uganda. Every rural family grows their own food and sale some for the much-needed income, including the families living next to the national parks. No wonder it is evident that, poverty is highest in areas near the national parks where indigenous communities continue to rely on subsistence agriculture, the least competitive livelihood in these areas. Until now, most communities perceive elephants and the national parks as a problem to community livelihoods. In many such communities, people have been heard asking that the park should be disbanded and the land availed to people for settlement and cultivation.
Did you know that these communities living near the national parks, with elephants, are just neighboring a gold mine? Most communities living near the national parks, conservationists and policy makers in Uganda, have never imagined how elephants can be used to boost the community livelihoods beyond the levels of agriculture. Agriculture is less competitive in areas near wildlife. In these specific areas near the national parks, tourism can be the leading source of income.
Elephants are a great tourism resource to the people of Uganda in many ways. The parks and elephants have a potential to attract many tourists and other visitors for leisure, research and other purposes. These visitors need services to facilitate their stay such as markets to buy goods, places to sleep, people to tell them the background of the area, transport and others. Communities living near the parks should therefore learn to provide the demanded items than battling with the elephants and the park. This has been learnt and is now being practiced in Asian countries where the communities are involved in elephant related ecotourism. Many communities around the world have demonstrated setting livelihoods that are complemented by the existence of elephants. For the case of Uganda, the following tourism activities can be arranged to enhance communities’ benefit from the existence of elephants and parks in their neighborhoods.
Community lodges and homestays: Travelers who visit the national park need places to sleep at or mix with the local people to share the story of the wildlife and culture. The communities living adjacent to the park have a high competitive advantage on providing this accommodation since they own the land, have the best experience of living in these areas and are the only cultural custodians of these lands.
Crafts sales: The communities can develop elephant related and other general crafts to sale to the tourist. Guests need souvenirs to give them a memory of the time they have spent visiting the elephants. These such crafts can include; elephant paintings, carvings, textiles, jewelry and other general crafts. The crafts locally produced using local natural or recycled materials that are sustainably provided stand a higher chance in this market.
Community tours: If the people living near the parks are given the traditional and scientific education about the elephants and their habitat, the communities can pass this information to the guests by organized tours. Guests will need to pay some money for this service and the people can supplement their livelihoods sustainably.
Making elephant dung paper: Elephant dung left on community land is a goldmine. This dung can be used to make paper that is used to make paper gifts that can be sold to the tourists. A community that impresses this, will always look forward to the next elephant visit in their garden reversing the trend of chasing them from their gardens whenever they visit.
Ecosystem services and social attachment: Besides the income and leisure benefits here is the biggest contribution of elephant existence and yet least known benefit to the people. Communities can continue to benefit from the ecosystem benefits of the elephant habitat. Existence of elephants in the habitat supports the growth and survival of other smaller animals, plants and ecosystem processes that probably have closer connection to the people. Elephants are a key note species, engineer of the jungle, whose absence from the habitat would result into many negative or abnormal consequences that will negatively affect the community livelihoods surrounding their habitat. The elephant dung is a form of seed dispersal over miles. This helps specie diversification over the landscape. Elephants dig water ponds that bring the water closer to the surface to feed other vulnerable plants and animals. Small organisms such as ants and birds feed on the nutritive contents of the elephant dung in the landscape. These birds, bugs and flies play a big part in the food chain and are great tourist attractions too.
The elephant has a cultural attachment to the people of Uganda in the different ethnic groups, such as Baganda. Baganda are the largest tribe of the 56 tribe in Uganda, representing about 16.5% of ugandas’ entire population. In Buganda kingdom, the Njovu (elephant) clan is one of the 52 clans. Every tribe has a role it plays in the king’s palace. The elephant clan is the one in charge of looking after the kabakas(kings) cows. Extinction of the elephants therefore, will deprive this clan of the natural belonging and pride.
Due to the increasing human population and effects of climate change, the size and value of land in Uganda is decreasing rapidly. This trend affects both agriculture output and habitat diversification for wildlife, highly affecting elephants.
Tourism is the fastest growing industry and is less affected by drought in this time of climate change, making it more potential to bring in sustainable income and other benefit to these vulnerable communities than agriculture. Community tourism has been identified as a key tool of reducing the amount of poverty while protecting wildlife in Uganda. It is evident that, these tourism activities related to elephants would more than triple the residents’ level of income. It is a high time the rural communities who provide the entry point to the tourists visiting Uganda’s national parks should benchmark from the few people already practicing elephant related tourism, to be able to replace agriculture livelihoods with tourism. The national parks should also put down the gun and entice the local people using sustainable elephant tourism in attempt to empower the communities and secure the elephant habitat.
Uganda is home to over 5000 elephants by this year, 2019. It is still the safest home to elephants in east Africa during this wave of elephant poaching that is moving over the entire African continent. The two subspecies of elephants found in this country are, the savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) and the forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis). The savanna elephants are slightly bigger and roam in the low land plains of east, central and south Africa. The forest elephants are smaller, shyer and more aggressive. They are found in the forest parks such as Rwenzori, Bwindi and Mgahinga. Elephants are being considered by people, as one of the most destructive neighbors in the wild.
Elephants are known to have extended migration corridors in their habitat that can be hundreds of kilometers long. During the migration they can move about 80 or more km per day, taking them months of movement back and forth depending on the availability of pastures and water they need for survival. This movement is also a strategy of looking for safe homes as well as sufficient food. This has attributed to the increased number of elephants in Uganda since they move from as far as the Virunga national park in Congo up to queen Elizabeth national park. Unfortunately, the in-country migration corridors within Uganda that used to connect several ecosystems (different national parks) no longer exist since they have been occupied by humans, so the elephants in Uganda are forced to be divided between the different national parks of Uganda. Of the ten national parks in Uganda, only lake Mburo national park doesn’t have elephants.
Under natural conditions, elephants feed on wild plant materials; fruits, leaves, flowers, shoots, grasses and shrubs. Unlike people who feed on both plants and meat, elephants are exclusively herbivores. Only vegetation has got to provide the required nutrients for this giant bodied mammal that weighs between 1800kg and 6000kg. Their main diet is cellulose, a very complex carbohydrate found in plants. A given diet of an elephant depends on the season (body functions), body size and food availability in their habitat. Elephant food and water intake at a given time, compared to body size across all elephant species, are influenced by the ability to efficiently digest and the body functions being supported; which may include maintenance, growth and lactation. With their large body mass influencing a high demand for food, the elephants spend 80% of their time feeding to collect up to 170kg of food consumed each day.
Because of their intensive feeding behavior, if elephants feed in one area for a long time, they destruct the environment beyond recognition. They have therefore adapted an innovative way of conserving their habitat by moving long distances so that the vegetation they feed on can recover as they move over the long journeys, before they return, to allow regeneration. Elephants also conserve their habitat by determining the size of their groups basing on the season. During food scarcity seasons, elephants tend to move in smaller and isolated families so that they can be less crowded at one time. If there is plenty of food especially during the rainy season or visiting the plentiful community gardens, families can marge together to form a large herd. Merging up as a large group is also a strategy to enhance the security of their hard during their movement. Savannah elephants’ in Uganda tend to move longer distances in their migration because the pasture and water is scarcer in the lowlands than in the highland forest. Forest elephants have abundance of pasture in their habitat. This accounts for why forest elephants move shorter distances on their grazing journey since they find plenty of food within reach at a short distance. Forest elephants are known to feed on up to 5000 types of plants, being the biggest variety any mammal on earth can be adapted to feed on within a habitat. This is partly why the forest elephant are less destructive to people’s gardens neighboring the protected areas.
Ugandan rural communities mainly depend on farming as the key source of livelihood. The people live near the wildlife protected areas; which include national parks, wildlife reserves, forest reserves. Uganda’s protected areas don’t have a gazetted buffer zone, hence the parks and reserves border with community gardens. The gardens are located in the areas that used to be the migration corridors of elephants connecting to other ecosystems. Around Uganda’s national parks, communities mainly farm cotton, coffee and other food crops such as Mize, Simsim, G. nuts, beans, bananas, cassava and other vegetables.
All elephants in Uganda live inside protected areas. During the dry season, the quality of pasture inside the protected areas, especially in the low land savannah, is very low. At these times, the elephants prefer palatable vegetation. This partly accounts for why the elephants in Uganda have adapted to feeding on the people’s crops. Elephants supplement the wild plant food materials with the crop plants on community land. A case in point; in Kikorongo community neighboring queen Elizabeth national park, during such seasons, elephants like to feed on the fresh cotton plants, particularly the fresh bolls as they start to open up. Unlike people, Elephants destroy all parts of the crop when they visit the gardens. Besides feeding, their large parades, surface of feet and body weight trembles the remnant crops, including those they won’t feed on.
The elephant’s digestion system is not very efficient so it has got to look for the most accessible and palatable greases, hence feeding on the crops on the community land that is easier to find and quicker to digest. Generally, plants have their highest protein concentration at their first flush of growth. As in all herbivores, the elephant digestion system is in two main levels; mechanical digestion during chewing and fermentation by the microorganisms found in the digestion system that convert the cellulose into simpler products resulting into glucose. Elephants have a rapid gut transit time and are consistent with a digestive system designed to deal most effectively with young and tender plant parts. It is easier to find the community crops or other plants on the community land reaching the same general growth stage at the same time than the wild plants. This is why in specific seasons and times, elephants choose to feed on the crops which have high pasture concentration per acreage compared to the plants in the wild.
Elephants raiding people’s gardens for food is increasingly becoming common across Uganda as these crops continue to cover a bigger part of the landscape in the wildlife migration corridors and dispersal areas. The replacement of wild plants with human crops in the habitat is mainly due to human population increase and scarcity of land for household agriculture and settlement. The key crops that are eaten to provide the required nutrients by both elephants and people include; Bananas, Millet, Sorghum, Maize. Beans, cassava etc. On the other hand, the people also do cross into the national parks to harvest their traditional foods such as leaves, roots and vines that are equally eaten by elephants. As a result, both the elephants and the people tend to cross to each other’s territory in search for certain foods at the different moments leading them to share the same diet.
Elephants have mastered the farming activities and seasons of people neighboring the respected areas where they live. They seem to calculate the crop seasons through the year or monitor the days and nights to scan the best time to cross to the community gardens. The elephants cross when the crops and other community plants of their choice are most palatable. In most cases, elephant cross at night when the humans/ farmers are not active in the gardens. They cross in their groups called parades, well managed by a matriarch (the old female guide). A matriarch is hereditary selected to lead the group from their grading level of experience and talent. During the process of crossing and raiding the community gardens, Elephants, are able to camouflage and communicate to secure each other and self in case they sense danger from the restrictive humans (garden owners). Beyond their ability to make a successful intrude to the community gardens, the park rangers normally come in to aid them a friendly eviction from the community gardens back to the park whenever they find resistance beyond their ability to transit back freely.
People living near the national parks in Uganda find a challenge from the elephants feeding on the same food as them. This vice roots the largest part of community wildlife conflict. It leads to unending food shortage and poverty in the in these households dependent on agriculture. To ensure co-existence with elephants, it is advisable for the communities living and practicing agriculture next the national park to engage in farming crops that are not liked by elephants. This will ensure that the community can still harvest and generate income despite the existence of elephants on the same landscape. It is known that crops like onions, simsim, tea, coffee, red Chilli and others are never destroyed by elephants. However, mixing them with small plots of edible crops will still attract elephants since they are good at exploring and remembering. Adaptation to farming crops like these would reverse the elephant community conflict. To reverse the vice further, the community can adopt other livelihoods such as bee keeping on the edges of the park since elephants are scared of bees. In return, the community will be able to harvest honey and other bi-products for income and food. Though it may be costly, digging an elephant trench and use of electricity are yet among the many other strategies that are known to reverse elephant destruction on community crops.
Kalinzu forest is an open opportunity for every traveler looking to trek nature trails in the thick tropical jungles of Uganda. If you have ever admired the images of the forest jungles in a nature magazine or on the national geographic channel, Kalinzu forest is only a little thicker and richer. Kalinzu forest located next to queen Elizabeth national park, has four established nature trails that travelers choose from. These include; the palm trail, water falls trail, river trail and valley trail. to every traveler, Kalinzu turns up to be an unforgettable adventure. On arrival to the forest trail starting point, it can sometimes be challenging to choose the activity or trail you should do because they are all amazing. Before you start trekking, the experienced guides will give you a good orientation, making it easy to select the suitable trail.
Given its location on the route from Kampala or Bwindi gorilla national park to queen Elizabeth. This Forest is suited for those travelling to or from Queen Elizabeth national park. Kalinzu forest is located 20 to 30 minutes drive from queen Elizabeth national park. You will find this an easy to reach or to arrange adventure in the smallest time available. We arrange this activity freely at no additional cost for all guests who stay with us at the elephant home. It is also possible to do any activity of choice on the last day and connect to the next destination such as Bwindi, Rwenzori, Kibale or lake bunyonyi, if this was your last day of stay in queen Elizabeth national park.
It is a rich habitat of primates (including chimps and other five species), birds, butter flies, insects, a diverse plant life, rivers and water falls, grasslands and various mammals. The forest offers opportunities for one to get immersed in the natural forest for up to a full day while exploring a collection of Ugandan wildlife in their natural habitat. Located next to Queen Elizabeth national park, some other game such as wild pigs, antelopes, elephants, baboons and others cross from the park to the forest making it even more interesting.
The River Trail: It is a wonderful show case of kalinzu forest, Suited for those who want to track of about 1 hour on a short trek. The trek is about 2.5km you will be taken through the forest to find the river famous for offering the bathing pools for the Elephants that move from queen Elizabeth national park. The river trail activity has been set to follow the famous elephants as Kajojo is derived from “Enjojo”, the local name for elephant. As visitors seek this famous Kajojo River, you may also find some of the six primate species found in the forest. during the trail, you will observe unique tree and plant species, some of which are remarkably huge and unique. The experienced guide will interpret every plant you find on the trail linking them to the natural background of the forest or local community livelihoods.
The Palm Trail: tree lovers will definitely be amazed by this trail. Kalinzu forest is fond of large palm trees that any other forest in the area. the activity takes you through a blend of green and flowery vegetation. Trekkers taken through a trail under a canopy with open opportunities of taking the unique scenery of queen Elizabeth landscape. The various types of trees that will be explored during this trek include Raphia palms whose leaves are used to make the beautiful Ugandan baskets and other crafts, the various flame trees standing out in the forest with their red shades in the deep green canopy. Every plant you find here is connected to the local community life in various ways such as medicinal, economic or social as the guide will educate you during the trek. This nature trail is relatively longer and takes up to 2 hours, on a flat walking track.
The Valley Trail: Famous for the scenery and open views, travelers can choose to take the valley trail. The trail takes you for up to 2 hours giving opportunities of taking views over the steep valleys of Kalinzu forest landscape. It is a 3.5km trail that gives a cross section of all the natural features of Kalinzu forest. It involve hiking over the ridges and valleys while looking for the plant and animal life famous in the forest. On a lucky day, you will spot the primates, or other mammals resident in the forest or those that visit from queen Elizabeth national park. The nature trail showcases many trees including the Viagra trees and many others as you or the guide will point out to every interesting features during the trek and listen to the interesting facts from the perfect education from guide.
The Waterfall Trail: This is the longest nature trail in kalinzu forest. It is a loop that takes travelers through the forested hills and scenic ridges. If you plan to or have visited queen Elizabeth national park Savannah, you will realize that this is the opposite. During the trek, you will traverse the wetlands, forests and grasslands exploring the representative ecosystem of each habitat. The forest sounds, colorful bird, primates and other mammals, the unique elusive insects, until you reach the outstanding Kirayntama waterfalls surrounded by a bountiful well watered medicinal trees and plants. This nature trail is suited for those who have enough time and are more prepared to explore. It is about 11km long and takes an average of five hours to complete the trail.
Besides the four established nature trails, kalinzu forest is popular for chimp tracking experience. The chimp tracking experience of kalinzu stands out of all options in queen Elizabeth national park. It is the cheapest, as visitors pay one fee that covers both entrance and tracking fees, most flexible since you don’t need to buy tickets in advance but just have to be there in time on the day of tracking, can be joined by children of up to 12 years, and has a big number of habituated (used to people) chimps of up to 70 where you can be able to find and play with up to 30 chimps during the trek for up to an hour. The tracking is done twice a day; at 8:00am and 3:00pm.
For only 65$, we can offer you one night accommodation plus chimp tracking in this nature paradise tht will eneble you to scale Kalinzu forest during your next visit to queen Elizabeth national park. Please note that this offer is available for a limited time. If you want to take this offer, please quote ” one night–Kalinzu package” in your communication to; info@theelephanthome.com whatsapp: +256780278020