Queen Elizabeth State Park

January 12 and 13, 2026, from the itinerary: This morning you'll depart Kibale Forest National Park and drive southwest toward Queen Elizabeth National Park (approx. 2 – 3 hours / 157 km). On arrival, check in at Elephant Plains Lodge for a 2-night stay, and enjoy lunch overlooking the park’s open plains.

Later in the afternoon, head out on a game drive through the Kasenyi Plains, one of the park’s most wildlife-rich areas. Keep your eyes peeled for lions, elephants, African buffalo, hippos, and warthogs, along with herds of antelope grazing across the savannah.

Return to the lodge in the late afternoon for dinner and overnight.

Queen Elizabeth National Park covers nearly 2 000 square kilometres in western Uganda and sits within the Albertine Rift Valley, with the Rwenzori Mountains to the north and the Kigezi Highlands to the south.

Established in 1952 as Kazinga National Park and renamed in 1954 after Queen Elizabeth II’s visit, The Kazinga Channel is one of its central features. This natural waterway links Lake George and Lake Edward and attracts large numbers of hippos, Nile crocodiles and wading birds.

Elephant Plains Lodge offers six spacious double / twin en-suite cottages, each with large private verandas, You’ll be staying in a Luxury Cottage for the duration of your stay.

January 12, 2026 -

We had a reasonable wake up time and breakfast, packed out and said good bye to Kisele and the baboons

as we left for the the uneventful 2.5 hour trip to Queen Elizabeth Park.  A stop along the way to see another crater lake....

and more chicken transport

We crossed the equator again

and arrived at the Elephant Plains Lodge in time for lunch at about noon.  Just after the turn off to the Lodge, it seems there was a police blockade checking for smugglers.

Our rooms are lovely big cottages.  We decided this lodge is owned by the same people as the Primate Lodge because everything is the same, including the menus.  

(Elephant Plains Hotel photos here)

All rooms are the same and have the same view of the sunrise, so no one is allowed room-envy.  The normal WiFi connection was broken, but at least they had a backup connection here.

We hung out in the heat of the afternoon, ~85 degrees, until 4:30 when we went on a game drive. We did see some big butterflies hanging out around some lantana.

This game drive was a bust.  We spent quite a lot of time trying to see a leopard in a tree. I'm still not convinced I saw it as only the tail was visible. 

We did see some Kobs and wart hogs... The majority of trees were candelabra trees and it was very difficult to see anything inside of them.

Then we drove over to see the crater salt lake where they still do salt panning.  On the other side was a water hole where we finally saw some action. There were some active hippos doing summersaults in the water and a water buffalo that was having a good wallow to relieve itself from the heat.

We saw several other animals along the way back to the lodge for a late dinner.

Now off to bed for a very early rise tomorrow - 4am. I found this guy in my mosquito net who also wanted to go to bed....

January 13, 2026 - from the itinerary: Begin the morning with a game drive through the open plains and crater-dotted savannah. You'll return to the lodge for lunch before setting out for a shared boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel. You'll then head back to the lodge in the evening for dinner and relaxation.

It was a very early morning wake-up this morning and a rocky start to a long day.  

We got to the game park before the sun was up and eventually made it to the place of yesterday’s leopard - nothing to see.  In fact we saw no one and no thing until after the sun rose.  

The guides heard of a possible leopard kill and we made it over there just in time to see the south end of the leopard going north into a bush. The closest I have to a photo is this vulture sitting on top of the tree.

The true highlight of the day, and of the trip to date, was the boat ride along the Kazinga Channel. We had a dedicated boat that offered snacks and drinks/wine.

The wild life was amazing. Herds of elephants were near the water's edge. One of them was trying to dislodge all of the water buffalo that were pretty much dug in.

Lots of skimmers and some hippos. Nestled amongst all this were crocodiles.

We reached the fishing village before hitting the mouth of the channel and turning around.

This made up for the un-interesting game drives of yesterday and today.

Dinner was bunny chow...