EXPERIENTIAL ADVENTURES THAT YOU MUST TRY OUT IN QUEEN ELIZABETH NATIONAL PARK

Is Queen Elizabeth National Park your dream destination in Uganda? Have you ever heard about experiential tourism in Uganda? Besides the thrilling Gorilla Habituation Experience in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and Chimpanzee Habituation Experience in Kibale Forest National Park, Experiential tourism in Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area is one of a kind experience anyone on Uganda safaris shouldn’t miss out! The park features several outstanding experiential tourism activities for visitors on safari to Uganda to actively engage in monitoring some of the exceptional mammal species that have exceptionally positioned this conservation area as the best safari destination in the country and the untamed bird species using some of the complex scientific locator devices. Adventure visitors on tour to Uganda are given opportunity to explore the park’s hidden treasures with field researchers based on habituation calls, group dynamics, composition, behaviors and monitoring weather which will be included to the researcher’s and the conservation database. Your active engagement in this life time experience is of significant value to generally understand the biodiversity of wildlife ecology which supports conservation of Queen Elizabeth Nation Park.

Below are some of experiential tourism activities for you to participate in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The Banded Mongoose tracking

This is conducted in and around the Mweya Peninsula, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Western Uganda. The Mweya peninsular features about 400 banded mongooses living in 12 social groups. The Banded Mongoose Research Project is run by the Universities of Cambridge, Exeter and Zurich. They feature among the tinny mammal species with huge appetites and complex social and communication systems that interest wildlife researchers. These exceptional mammal species also featured on the BBC documentary series Banded Brothers. Working in troops of about 4 people, participants will have a chance to accompany the researchers via areas of the park usually off limits to visitors and record the behavior of these exceptionally social species. This thrilling adventure also involves identifying individuals, register their weight, record weather, surroundings and location as well as monitor the mongooses’ behavior. Besides enjoying this experiential activity, tourists also make contribution for a longstanding research project as the data which will be collected is used by researchers at the Research Project which also supports the ongoing field study and conservation at Mweya. This experiential activity goes for as long as one to three hours and tracking these fascinating creatures is possible at 7:00am or 5:00pm but the morning tracking tends to be more active. This exceptional experience goes at $30 for foreign non residents and foreign residents while the East African residents pay shs.30000.

BANDED MONGOOSES

Lion tracking

This is another most exceptionally remarkable adventure for trekkers on safari to Uganda. Queen Elizabeth National Park is credited for big game and lions feature among them. Visitors can therefore par take Lion Tracking Research Adventure that starts in the morning or late in the afternoon while on safari to Queen Elizabeth National Park. The trek can go for about one to three hours and mainly conducted two times per day. Normally, the prides that is to be trekked have a lion with a radio collar attached and via a complex designated radio antennae, visitors are a hundred percent sure of sighting at least one of these carnivores. This thrilling adventure is always conducted with researchers to explore these fascinating creature’s habits in the park.  These big cats move in groups of three to 25 members in a pride.  On the course of the trek to identify these wild animals, be aware that their population can increase without necessarily warning when an individual or multiple of these carnivore species join the first group. Therefore, it is vital for visitors on trekking safaris to take note of the population of lions being trekked. While enjoying this life time adventure, you are encouraged to take note of nocturnal vocalizations and their intensity, including hyena calls and any interruption calls from prey. Usually, researchers tell visitors tricks used while trekking adventures in the wilderness of Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area. An example can be to let you aware that they roam and camouflage through tall grass; they create a very slight trail of bent grass.

AFRICAN LIONS

Further more, while on your trekking safaris, note that the lions will scent mark their territory by scraping the ground with their hind feet, forming a shallow parallel scrapes of bare soil measuring about twelve centimeters width and 20 centimeters in length. Drying, sticky urine sprayed on a prime bush is also a usual sign by lions. They will also rub their heads in bushes, leaving inconspicuous blonde hairs behind. The number of trekkers for this adventure is restricted, meaning you have to book in advance. Queen Elizabeth National Park features as the only destination in Uganda where lion tracking wildlife research is conducted. For visitors who are interested in these amazing adventures they also combine with most of activities within the park to make their safaris in Uganda memorable. To get up close with these fascinating wildlife species, visitors pay $150 for foreign non residents and foreign residents while the East African residents pay shs.150000

Hippo census

With help of researchers, you will head towards the Kazinga channel in Queen Elizabeth National Park to look for hippopotamus, monitor their movement and behavior. Hippo census is conducted once after two years and helps in monitoring their population in the conservation area. This adventure also offers a chance for several visitors who are interested in managing animal programs and this will boost visitor engagement in sustainable tourism development. The hippopotamus census is a process of counting hippos within their habitats on a boat cruise along the water bodies, rivers, Ishasha and in Kyambura gorge. This therefore enhances on wildlife protection techniques by the park management that in turn increases the population of visitors who flock for safaris in Uganda. For this adventure tours in Uganda, visitors pay $100 and applies for both foreign non residents and foreign residents, shs.100000 for East African residents.

HIPPOS

In conclusion, the number of trackers is restricted on any of the above thrilling experiences so as to limit the stress on the wildlife and to escalate the quality of the experience for trackers. Visitors traveling for these adventures in Queen Elizabeth National Park spend about one to four hours based on several factors. All the experiences are booked through the Visitor Information Center in Mweya at least 24 hours earlier. Experiential tourism in Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area is one way of giving back to the community. The other adventure activity that is conducted is bird counting which allows visitors opportunity to look out for some of the 619 distinct birds in the park.