In the far south of Uganda's most visited park there is a sector called Ishasha where the lions do something lions are not supposed to do: they climb. Through the heat of the day whole prides drape themselves along the branches of old fig trees, legs hanging, and the explanations on offer, escaping biting flies, catching the breeze, watching the plains for prey, remain arguments rather than answers. It is one of only a handful of places in Africa where the behaviour is routine, and it sets the tone for a park that collects oddities. The equator crosses it. Volcanic explosion craters pock its northern plains, some holding lakes. A gorge full of chimpanzees cuts through its savannah. Very few parks anywhere offer this much strangeness in one boundary.
For all that, the single unmissable thing here is a boat. The Kazinga Channel is a wide natural waterway connecting two lakes through the middle of the park, and it holds a hippo population reckoned among the densest anywhere, along with crocodiles, elephant and buffalo lining the banks to drink, and birdlife that turns even non-birders quiet, pelicans in rafts, fish eagles calling from the trees, kingfishers working the shallows. The cruise runs from the Mweya side and the late afternoon departures catch the banks at their busiest. It pays to compare flights and hotels for Queen Elizabeth National Park and to book the boat before you plan anything else, because the rest of the trip arranges itself around it easily.
Where you stay depends on which of the park's characters you want closest. On the Mweya peninsula, overlooking the channel itself, there is an established lodge along with simple bandas and a hostel run by the park authority, which puts every budget a few minutes from the boat. On the Kichwamba escarpment above Kyambura Gorge there are small eco lodges along the rim, with the chimpanzee trekking on the doorstep and long views over the Rift. Down in the Ishasha sector there are tented camps by the river among the fig tree country, the base for the climbing lions. Around Katunguru and the other villages at the park edge there are guesthouses and campsites near the main bridge, the practical budget option on the through road.
Access is a road trip by default and a short flight if you prefer. The drive from Entebbe or Kampala takes most of a day on tarmac, via Fort Portal in one direction or Mbarara in the other, which conveniently makes a loop of it, and nearly all visitors travel with a driver guide as part of a wider circuit. Domestic carriers fly from Entebbe to the Mweya airstrip in about an hour, and a separate airstrip at Kihihi serves the Ishasha end. Getting into the country is its own piece of admin: almost every foreign visitor now applies online for a visa before travel rather than buying one on arrival, prints the approval letter for the border, and must show a yellow fever vaccination certificate, which health staff check before immigration even opens the passport, while a regional tourist visa covering Uganda with Kenya and Rwanda suits anyone crossing between them. Boat seats are booked through the park authority or your lodge, and chimpanzee permits for Kyambura Gorge are limited each day, so both are worth arranging ahead. It costs nothing to check car hire and lodge prices for western Uganda, and remember the Ishasha tracks turn heavy after rain, when a proper four wheel drive stops being optional.
Being on the equator, the park is warm all year and the seasons are about rain rather than temperature. The two drier windows, roughly December to February and June into August, give firmer roads, easier wildlife viewing and the most reliable access to Ishasha, while the rains bring green, birds and low season rates along with mud in the south. Personally, I would sleep a night in Ishasha rather than day-trip it from Mweya, then carry on south the next morning, because the sector sits on the road to Bwindi and the gorillas, and that pairing is the best two-park itinerary in East Africa that almost nobody outside Uganda seems to know about.
Q: Will you definitely see the tree-climbing lions?
A: No, and any itinerary that promises them is overselling. The Ishasha prides climb often, particularly in the heat of the day, but they are wild animals with the whole sector to roam. A full day or an overnight in Ishasha improves the odds considerably over a quick drive through.
Q: Is the Kazinga Channel boat cruise worth it?
A: It is the best value activity in the park and arguably in Uganda. Hippos in extraordinary numbers, elephant and buffalo at the waterline, crocodiles on the banks and constant birdlife, all watched from close range in comfort. The late afternoon departures are the busiest for wildlife.
Q: How does Queen Elizabeth National Park combine with gorilla trekking in Bwindi?
A: Very naturally. The Ishasha sector sits on the road running south towards the Buhoma side of Bwindi, so an overnight among the fig trees breaks the journey and adds the climbing lions to a gorilla trip. It is the classic western Uganda circuit for good reason.
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