Queen Elizabeth National Park
Encyclopedia
Location
The national park is located in western Uganda, spanning the districts of KaseseKasese District
Kasese District is a district in Western Uganda. Like most other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town', Kasese, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:Kasese District is located along the Equator...
, Kamwenge
Kamwenge District
Kamwenge District is a district in Western Uganda. Like most other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town', Kamwenge, where the district headquarters are located. Kamwenge District is part of the Kingdom of Toro, one of the ancient traditional monarchies in Uganda...
, Bushenyi
Bushenyi District
Bushenyi District is a district in Western Uganda. Like many other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town', Bushenyi, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...
and Rukungiri
Rukungiri District
Rukungiri District is a district in Western Uganda. It is named after its 'chief town' of Rukungiri where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...
. Its location is approximately 376 kilometres (233.6 mi), by road, southwest of Kampala
Kampala
Kampala is the largest city and capital of Uganda. The city is divided into five boroughs that oversee local planning: Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division and Lubaga Division. The city is coterminous with Kampala District.-History: of Buganda, had chosen...
, Uganda's capital and largest city. The town of Kasese
Kasese
Kasese is a town in Western Uganda, lying north of Lake George. It originally grew around the copper mine at Kilembe, while attention later turned to cobalt mining. It is the 'chief town' of Kasese District and the district headquarters are located there...
lies just outside the northeastern edge of the park, while the town of Bushenyi
Bushenyi
Bushenyi is a town in Western Uganda. It is the 'chief town' of Bushenyi District and the district headquarters are located there. The district is named after the town, in keeping with the practice in most of the districts in the country.-Location:...
, is situated just outside the park's southeastern boundaries. The coordinates of the park are:00 12S, 30 00E (Latitude:0.2000; Longitude:30.0000).
Overview
Kasese District
Kasese District is a district in Western Uganda. Like most other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town', Kasese, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:Kasese District is located along the Equator...
, 50% in Bushenyi District
Bushenyi District
Bushenyi District is a district in Western Uganda. Like many other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town', Bushenyi, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...
and an estimated 33% lies in Rukungiri District
Rukungiri District
Rukungiri District is a district in Western Uganda. It is named after its 'chief town' of Rukungiri where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...
. The area of the park extends from Lake George
Lake George (Uganda)
Lake George or Lake Dweru is a lake in Uganda. It covers a total surface area of 250 km² and is a part of Africa's Great Lakes system but is not itself considered one of the Great Lakes. Like the other lakes in the region it was named after a member of the British royal family, in this case...
in the northeast to Lake Edward
Lake Edward
Lake Edward or Edward Nyanza is the smallest of the African Great Lakes. It is located in the western Great Rift Valley, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, with its northern shore a few kilometres south of the Equator...
in the southwest, and includes the Kazinga Channel
Kazinga Channel
The Kazinga Channel in Uganda is a wide, 32 km long natural channel that links Lake Edward and Lake George, and a dominant feature of Queen Elizabeth National Park...
that connects the two lakes.
The park is named after Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
and was established in 1954. QENP is known for its wildlife, although many animals were killed in the Uganda-Tanzania War
Uganda-Tanzania War
The Uganda–Tanzania War was fought between Uganda and Tanzania in 1978–1979, and led to the overthrow of Idi Amin's regime...
. Many species have recovered, including hippopotamus
Hippopotamus
The hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...
es, elephant
Elephant
Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s, leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
s, lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s and chimpanzee
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
s; it is now home to 95 species of mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
and over 500 species of birds. The area around Ishasha in Rukungiri District is famous for its tree-climbing lions, whose males sport black manes, a feature unique to the lions in this area.
The park is also famous for its volcanic features, comprising volcanic cones and deep craters, many with crater lakes such as Lake Katwe, from which salt is extracted.
The national park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
includes the Maramagambo Forest and borders Kigezi Game Reserve, Kyambura Game Reserve
Kyambura Game Reserve
Kyambura Game Reserve, also known as Kyambura Gorge, is part of the Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. It is home to a variety of wildlife, including the only primates in the Queen Elizabeth National Park...
and Kibale National Park
Kibale National Park
Kibale National Park is a national park in South Uganda protecting moist evergreen rain forest. It is 766 km^2 in size and is located between 1100 and 1600 meters in elevation. Despite encompassing primarily moist evergreen forest, it contains a diverse array of landscapes . Kibale is one of the...
in Uganda, and the Virunga National Park
Virunga National Park
The Virunga National Park , formerly named Albert National Park, is a 7800 square km National Park that stretches from the Virunga Mountains in the South, to the Rwenzori Mountains in the North, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda and Rwenzori...
in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Queen Elizabeth National Park and The Queen Elizabeth Country Park
Queen Elizabeth Country Park
Queen Elizabeth Country Park is a large country park situated on the South Downs in southern England. It is located on the A3 road three miles south of Petersfield, Hampshire....
in England are twinned in a project of "cultural exchange, mutual support and has its main emphasis on supporting Conservation through working closely with and empowering local communities".
Services in the park include a telecenter run by Conservation Through Public Heath http://ctph.org/ and the Uganda Wildlife Authority
Uganda Wildlife Authority
The Ugandan Wildlife Authority is one of the governing bodies that regulates wildlife conservation in Uganda.It was established in August 1996 by the Uganda Wildlife Statute, which merged the Uganda National Parks and the Game Department...
, neighboring The Queen's Pavilion, park lodges, game drives and scenic drives, and boat launches.
See also
- Lake EdwardLake EdwardLake Edward or Edward Nyanza is the smallest of the African Great Lakes. It is located in the western Great Rift Valley, on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, with its northern shore a few kilometres south of the Equator...
- Lake George (Uganda)Lake George (Uganda)Lake George or Lake Dweru is a lake in Uganda. It covers a total surface area of 250 km² and is a part of Africa's Great Lakes system but is not itself considered one of the Great Lakes. Like the other lakes in the region it was named after a member of the British royal family, in this case...
- KaseseKaseseKasese is a town in Western Uganda, lying north of Lake George. It originally grew around the copper mine at Kilembe, while attention later turned to cobalt mining. It is the 'chief town' of Kasese District and the district headquarters are located there...
- Kasese DistrictKasese DistrictKasese District is a district in Western Uganda. Like most other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town', Kasese, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:Kasese District is located along the Equator...
- BushenyiBushenyiBushenyi is a town in Western Uganda. It is the 'chief town' of Bushenyi District and the district headquarters are located there. The district is named after the town, in keeping with the practice in most of the districts in the country.-Location:...
- Bushenyi DistrictBushenyi DistrictBushenyi District is a district in Western Uganda. Like many other Ugandan districts, it is named after its 'chief town', Bushenyi, where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...
- RukungiriRukungiriRukungiri is a town in Western Uganda. It is the 'chief town' of Rukungiri District and the district headquarters are located there. The district was named after the town in 1980.-Location:...
- Rukungiri DistrictRukungiri DistrictRukungiri District is a district in Western Uganda. It is named after its 'chief town' of Rukungiri where the district headquarters are located.-Location:...