Kazinga Channel

The Kazinga Channel is a 36-kilometer-long river that cuts Queen Elizabeth National Park in half. It is 915 meters wide. The channel has the most hippos of any place in the world. The Kazinga channel is on the floor of the rift valley, which links lakes Edward and George. Kazinga is liked by many species, big and small, feathered and furry.

It’s a popular place for tourists to go on boat tours in Uganda. Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda is a wildlife haven that is known all over the world. Kazinga Channel is 25 miles long and connects two huge lakes. It cuts the park in half and feeds the grasslands and forests that are in the park. This makes it an oasis in the Great Rift Valley, which is about 1978 square kilometers (763 square miles) in size.

Safaris by boat in Uganda

The best thing you can do in Queen Elizabeth National Park is go on a boat trip in Kazinga Channel. The Channel is full of African birds, elephants, cows, lions, crocodiles basking in the sun on the Nile, and the hippopotamus, which lives there and is its most famous resident animal. Over 2,000 hippos live in over 600 bloats in the Kazinga Channel, making it one of the densest places in Africa for hippos.

With seven-inch teeth and a mouth that opens 150 degrees, hippos in Kazinga are both cute and scary. They’re big, round, and look like they float, but they like to stand in the water. One of the best ways to see these huge fish is on one of the Channel’s regular launch trips, which put you close to the channel’s game.

Over 100 kinds of water birds gather on the banks of the Channel, making it a great place for birdwatchers.

The Kazinga Channel splits Queen Elizabeth National Park into two uneven areas where you can watch wildlife. To the south of the Channel are the Ishasha sector, which is full of wildlife and famous for its tree-climbing lions, and Kyambura Gorge, which is a valley of apes where you can see chimps in the wild. North of the Channel is a lot smaller, but it has some of the best game drives in the country for seeing wildlife. In the north, you can find Kasenyi, Katunguru, Katwe, Mweya, Kikorongo, and the Kichwamba Escarpment.

At Katunguru Bridge, a 50-kilometer stretch of paved Kasese-Ishaka Road crosses the Kazinga Channel, connecting the two sides of the Channel. In the northern part of the park, almost all of the safari camps and cabins are along the Mbarara-Kasese road. Other camps are up to 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) away from the highway, inside the park. Any camp in the area is an hour’s drive from Kazinga Channel, where tourists can join the daily planned launch trips.

Most people who go on safari in Queen Elizabeth National Park take the daily 2-hour launch tours or the private boat cruise trips on Kazinga Channel. The boat trips start at the dock under Mweya Safari Lodge, which is northeast of Lake Edward. They go along the 35-kilometer Channel to Lake Gorge.

Watching birds on the Kazinga channel

The Kazinga Channel boat tour adventure is great for people who like to watch birds. Water birds like the yellow-billed stork, plovers, pink-backed pelicans, white bullied cormorants, and pink-backed pelicans like to hang out on the sandbanks of the Channel. Over 100 kinds of water birds gather on the banks of the Channel, making it a great place for birdwatchers.

During a boat tour, you might see the African skimmer, the African shoebill, the Yellow-billed stork, the Malachite kingfisher, the Pink-backed pelican, the Long-tailed cormorant, the Fish eagle, the African spoonbills, the Papyrus gonolek, the Pied kingfisher, the Martial eagle, and the Black bee-eater.

Take a boat ride on Kazinga Channel

Taking the boat trip is a great way to go on safari because you can see animals up close while resting on the boat. Tourists can get very close to hippo bloats and be amazed by big, soft elephants, buffalo, Uganda kobs, and waterbucks. You might surprise yourself by seeing a big forest hog or a predatory animal like a leopard or lion sleeping in the middle of the afternoon. In the afternoon heat, a family watcher can see huge monitor lizards and dangerous crocodiles in the plants along the river.

The Kazinga Channel boat tour adventure is great for people who like to watch birds. Water birds like the yellow-billed stork, plovers, pink-backed pelicans, white bullied cormorants, and pink-backed pelicans like to hang out on the sandbanks of the Channel. Kenya Wildlife Authority and Mweya Safari Lodge run the daily two-hour launch tours on Kazinga Channel.

The trip to see the UWA launch costs $30 per person and leaves at 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. The launch trip at Mweya Safari Lodge is nicer and better prepared than UWA’s, but it costs less. At 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 4:15 p.m., Mweya’s boat leaves. Between 7:00 and 9:00 a.m., the lodge offers trips for people who make special requests. You could use the Kazinga community boat trips, which leave from the Katunguru trading center. The launches give you more options and big discounts.

When You Should Go to Kazinga Channel

A boat tour on the Kazinga channel is best from June to August (when it’s dry) or December to February (when it’s dry). On hot, dry days, the animals are pulled to the Kazinga Channel’s water by the dry pools and the heat. It’s easier to see elephants and other animals that eat them during the dry seasons. Plan a family trip in Uganda that includes a boat tour on the Kazinga Channel. This will give the kids a chance to see amazing wildlife up close.

Ways to Get to Kazinga Channel

You can get to Kazinga Channel by car or plane. The most usual way is to take the 309 km (192 mi) road from Kampala. Masaka, Mbarara, and Bushenyi are on the 6- to 8-hour drive. You can also take Route A109, which is a 400-kilometer (248-mile) road that goes from Fort Portal to Kasese and takes 6–8 hours. This trail goes well with chimp hiking in Kibale National Park.

It will take you about 1.5 hours to get from Entebbe International Airport to Kasese or Mweya Airstrip on a regional planned flight. You will need to drive for 30 minutes to get to Kazinga Channel from Kasese. Mweya Airstrip is only a few minutes away.

The best way to get to the Kazinga channel will depend on your Uganda trip plans and the safari camp you choose. For example, if you’re coming from seeing mountain gorillas in the southwestern highlands, you’ll drive through the Ishasha Sector of the park and meet with the Mbarara-Kasese Road at Katunguru. There is also the smooth Kabale-Ntugamo-Ishaka road, which leads to the Mbarara-Kasese road in Ishaka town.

Where to Stay

You can get to Kazinga Channel quickly if you stay near one of the good camps or hotels in Queen Elizabeth National Park. This is the safari camp we think is best near the Kazinga Channel.

The Kasenyi Safari Lodge 

This lodge is perfectly placed on Lake Bunyampaka in the northern part of the park, with a view of the creator salt. Because of its location, the camp has beautiful views of the flamingo-colored lake shore and the northern fields of Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The Kyambura Gorge Lodge

There are stunning views of the vast savannah lands from the lodge, which is on the edge of Queen Elizabeth National Park. At Kyambura Gorge Lodge, you can follow chimp troops that have gotten lost in the forest reserve in the gorge and go on a boat safari along the Kazinga Channel, which has the Rwenzori Mountains in the background.

The Elephant Plains

It is northwest of Queen Elizabeth National Park and makes it easy to get to the Mweya Peninsula, the Kazinga Channel, and the Kasenyi trails. The lodge has a huge window with a view of the savannah lands that go all the way to Lake George.

The Kataara Lodge

The Katara Lodge is set on clifftop grassland with a view of the northeastern part of Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda. A cute, small, and basic safari lodge with eight cottages that look out over the park’s vast savannah lands.

Bush Lodge

The Bush Lodge safari camp is right in the middle of the park, making it easy to see animals, go on Kazinga Channel launch tours, and go Kyambura Gorge Chimpanzee Tracking.

The Marafiki Safari Lodge

The Marafiki Safari Lodge is on the northern edge of Queen Elizabeth National Park. It has private, high-end safari tents with views of Lake George. The safari tents are set up on raised wooden floors and have tapered canvas walls that can be rolled back to reveal views of the park’s wide savannah lands, which are framed by the beautiful Rwenzori Mountains.

The Lodge at Enjojo

The lodge is in the Ishasha part of the park, which is towards the southern edge of the park. A forest of acacia trees, lush plants, palm trees, grasslands, and a small lake circle it.

Camp Ishasha in the Wilderness

If you want a standard safari experience in Queen Elizabeth National Park, drive south to the Ishasha sector and stay at the Ishasha Wilderness for a few nights. Hipos snort lazily in the river at Ishasha Wilderness Camp, which is a real eco-camping experience in a beautiful setting. Elephants bathe in the shallow water of the channel.

Want to go on a Kazinga Channel Safari?

If you want to go on a tour in Uganda and watch animals in Queen Elizabeth National Park, you have to stop at Kazinga Channel. The park is often part of Uganda gorilla safaris that start in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

This way, tourists can see wildlife and go gorilla climbing all in one trip. This is where most safari trips start or continue after monkey trekking in Kibale Forest National Park. A few tours might fly even further north to see more animals in Murchison Falls National Park.

People who want to go on a journey usually stay in the park for one or two nights, visit the Channel, and then head west a few miles to Mountain Rwenzori National Park for a mountain hiking trip. We make custom trips to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Most of them include a wildlife drive on the Kasenyi plains and a boat safari on the Kazinga Channel.