What is the Most Visited National Park in Uganda & Why – Uganda Safaris
What is the Most Visited National Park in Uganda & Why : It is well known that Uganda is among the top visited national parks on African safaris , because of its beautiful nature ,diversity of wildlife species the most sought great mountain gorillas and others ,climates among many .More so ,Uganda rewards millions of tourist to come visit the country because it offers them with birding opportunities , Famous Gorilla trekking ,Wild Chimpanzee tracking , beautiful scenery ,Wildlife Viewing, Uganda local foods ,the vibrant culture of Uganda and hospitable people are part of the many reasons why you should visit Uganda.
Please note, Uganda has ten national parks all filled with wildlife and numerous notable bird species.
Although all these national parks get flocked with number of visitors yearly and some have over the years become more popular than the others. Below are the Uganda’s most visited national parks and why they are the most visited destination on Uganda Safaris.
Kidepo Valley National Park
Kidepo Valley National park may seem to be far away from Uganda’s Kampala capital city taking long driving distance to access and being the most isolated of Uganda’s national park. In spite of the long distance drive to access it is remains among the most visited by tourists throughout the year. The park is located in the semi-arid valleys in the Karamoja region in northeast Uganda ,covering an area of about 1,442 square kilometers and was gazetted in I962 as a national park ,to protect biodiversity of wildlife with over 86 mammals species which can adventured here including spotted hyenas ,lions ,cheetah ,leopard ,wild dog ,elephants ,giraffe ,Zebra ,buffaloes ,African buffaloes ,bat eared foxes ,Rothschild giraffes among others and over 500 bird species to spotted here ,unique culture all these ranks Kidepo to be among the best visited national parks in Africa. Kidepo Valley national park famously known as the untouched safari destination, managed by the Uganda Wildlife Authority a body authorized to all Uganda’s national parks and conservation reserves. Activities to engage in on visit here, include; Game drive viewing, Cultural tour, birding, Hiking and Nature walk, Visit the ik people in Mount Morungule among others.
Famous Mountain Gorilla – Gorilla Trekking by Tourists in Bwindi
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park
Located in Southwestern Uganda region, Bwindi a popular visited destination because of being home of the world’s half still existing mountain gorillas on earth, over 600 individuals out of the total remaining species of 1064 mountain gorillas and has a great location for birding paradise with about 350 bird species. Therefore, it rewards for birding in additional to gorilla trekking.
Gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is the main key and popular Uganda tourist’s activities that leads millions of visitors to visit Uganda every year specifically to take part in gorilla trekking in the way to get close to these unique species. With no worry the park has good quality accommodation units, found in gorilla sector-region where gorilla trekking takes place and these accommodation caters for tourists from around the world.
Kibale Forest National park
Kibale Forest National Park popularly known as capital of primates in the entire East Africa with over 13 primates species of which chimpanzees are the main spotted species that attracts tourists to visit the park ,other primate species include black and white colobus monkey ,Vervet monkeys ,Red tailed monkey ,L’Hoest monkey Uganda mangabey many more ,though is the most popular to encounter primates but also a home of about 70 mammal species like African buffaloes ,bushbucks ,sitatunga ,bush pigs ,giant forest hog ,mongooses ,common warthogs ,golden cats ,servals ,leopards ,common warthogs ,African buffaloes ,blue duikers ,giant forest. However, Kibale National park is famously known for being one of the best places in Africa where Chimpanzees can be encountered in their natural habitat. Above all, Kibale is one of the most visited Uganda national park because tourists get attracted to these unique chimpanzees our closest cousins with 99% human genes.
Most of Uganda safari include Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale Forest National Park ,the major key tourists activity in the park because it hosts over 1,500 individuals of the Uganda’s total 5,000 chimpanzees and a great place for bird watching hosting over 370 bird species such as Blue-breasted kingfisher ,Yellow spotted nicator black-eared ground thrush ,Red-faced woodland warbler ,Yellow rumpled tinker bird ,Black-capped apalis ,Dusky crimson wing ,Little greenbul ,Black capped apalis ,Collared apalis among others.
The park is located in the western region, covering an area of over 766 square kilometers in size and ranges between 1,100 meters and 1,600 meters in elevation, it was gazetted in 1932 and established as a national park in 1993 in order to protect a large area of forest which is managed as a logged forest reserve.
Queen Elizabeth National Park
Queen Elizabeth National park is positioned in the western region of Uganda about 400 kilometers from Kampala and estimates over 1,978 square kilometers. More so, Queen Elizabeth national park was founded in 1952 as Kazinga National park and later was renamed two years to commemorate a visit by Queen Elizabeth 11.
The park is the most visited destination because it has got abundant wildlife species of about 95 mammal species including buffaloes, hippos, elephants, Kobs, waterbucks, Chimpanzees among others. The most adventured species here are the rare tree climbing lions which attracts millions of people and can be adventured in Ishasha sector of the park.
Queen Elizabeth national park has got about 600 bird species including Common sand martin, Crab plover, Great blue turaco, Palm-nut vulture, Papyrus gonolek, Pel’s fishing –owl, Broad-billed roller, Black bee-eater, Ayer’s hawk eagle, Grey –winged robin chat, Great white pelican, Collared pratincole, Shoe bill Swamp flycatcher among others.
Murchison Falls National Park
Murchison Falls national park is Uganda’s oldest and largest with an area of about 3,893 square kilometers, located in northwest Uganda region and was gazetted in 1926 as a game reserve. It is a home of over 76 mammal species like lions, buffaloes, elephants, crocodiles, leopards among others and about 450 bird species such as Goliath heron, white thighed hornbill, great blue turaco, shoe billed stork, dwarf kingfisher, shoe billed stork among others.
With no, doubt Uganda is one of the top visited tourist destination in Africa and most visited by tourists during their Uganda safaris.
