Queen Elizabeth National Park
Why Queen Elizabeth National Park?
Queen Elizabeth National Park thrives in unique wildlife. This extraordinary national park is situated in Western Uganda, separating Uganda from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), provides a variety of different terrains, along with stunning wildlife. The park spans through the districts of Kasene, Kamwenge, Rubirizi and Rukungiri holding approximately 400 kilometres of road. Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of Uganda’s most popular parks holding great wildlife sightings for wildlife photographers. Each sector of the park hosts a distinctly different terrain, making this park one of a kind. From mountainous craters, flatland plains, and forests, this area brings an array of opportunity to your lens.
The open savannah, located in both, the North-eastern and Southern sectors of the park, bring you the Forest and Savanna Elephants along with the high numbers of Cape Buffalo, Ugandan Cob, Topi, Defassa Waterbuck, Warthog, and many other photogenic species that our guests find spectacular to photograph on our Ugandan Photo Tour.
What makes Queen Elizabeth National Park exceptionally unique is the Ishasha Sector located in Southwest of the park. This location is home to the famous tree-dwelling lion prides. The lions of the region spend their time in Candelabra Trees in this sector to keep cool throughout the day. Researchers have also found that these prides have adapted to laying in the trees to get a vantage point when scoping out their prey; in this case, the Ugandan Cob and Topi are the prey of choice. This rare phenomenon makes for incredible photographic opportunities when on tour with us. Each of our clients return home with a strong portfolio of these tree-dwelling lions, making this tour one of the best photo tours in Africa.
Another interesting stop in the Ishasha Sector, is of course, the Ishasha River which works as a natural border separating Uganda and DRC. On tour, we visit two small camps on this river. The only thing separating us from the river are Hippopotamus pods that call this place their home. Infront of the camps, lie exciting Hippopotamus photo shoots that our guests are always excited to witness.
At around 1:30 pm at both camps, large Hippo families make their way onto land to rest, providing ample photo opportunities as they squabble and fight. This is quite unique, as hippos typically spend the majority of the day in the water, avoiding the sun. At around 6pm they retreat into the water again making great photographs.
Bird photography in this national park is voted as one of the best. There are over 600 bird species where some of the rarest birds are encountered frequently. Birds can be photographed while on game drives or while on boat rides through the Kazinga channel from lake to lake. Two remarkable photogenic birds in particular can be photographed here such as the famous shoebill and the Crested Crane. These two birds make for remarkable photographs when on tour with Untamed Photography Tours.
Forests in Queen Elizabeth National Park are home to a variety of wildlife. Wild Chimpanzees, Olive baboon, Forest Elephant, Giant Forest Hog, and so much more can be found in these forests, however, the density of the forest does cause a problem for photographers. Although there are Chimps in this national park, they are extremely difficult to come across and even more so to photograph. On our 12-day Ugandan photo tour, guests will venture into Kibale Forest where our Chimp photography takes place on foot.
Overall, Queen Elizabeth National Park is an incredible destination to photograph African wildlife, and that is why we have highlighted this location in our photo tours in Uganda. Untamed Photography Tours takes pride in offering unique photographic experiences for our quests and Uganda provides some of the greatest opportunities for us.
Join our Uganda Photo Safari
So, what would a 12-day Ugandan Wildlife Photography Tour with Untamed Photography Tours look like for you?
· A day trip to Mabamba Swap to photograph the endangered Shoebill and other bird species of the area.
· A full day of trekking through Kibale Forest. This forest has the highest density of primate species in the
world and is also home to Chimpanzees. Once we spot the Chimps, you will have four hours to photograph the troop.
· Four days of Queen Elizabeth National Park to photograph everything that this beautiful park has to offer us, including the tree-dwelling Lions, Leopards, Cape Buffalo, Ugandan Cob, Topi, Defassa Waterbuck, Warthog, Spotted Hyena, Savannah Elephants, Forest Elephants, hundreds of bird species, and so much more.
· We will venture south, into Bwindi National Park where photographers will go by foot to track Mountain Gorillas that inhabit the area. With rangers by our sides, photographers will have the opportunity to sit with the Mountain Gorillas for one hour to capture them in their natural habitat.
· The last stop of the tour will be Lake Mboro National Park. Here guests will find the more commonly seen African wildlife including Zebra, Giraffe, Impala, Buffalo, Warthog, etc. This park is also home to over 350 species of bird and is known to be one of the best national parks to spot Leopard in Uganda.
For more information on our tour, or to join us in Uganda, click here:
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