Kazinga Channel is a section of Queen Elizabeth Nation Park. It offers memorable experiences for anyone looking forward to making the most of their Ugandan experience. Kazinga Channel connects Lake Edward and Lake George. This 40km water stream lies beneath the Mweya Peninsular.
Kazinga Channel Boat Cruise
A Kazinga Channel boat cruise offers the ultimate African experience. In fact, a visit to Queen Elizabeth National Park is not complete without taking a boat cruise along the Kazinga Channel. This is the highlight of a Uganda Safari experience. Therefore, when choosing an itinerary, it should not miss a visit to Queen Elizabeth National Park and the Kazinga Channel boat cruise.
What To Expect The Kazinga Channel Boat Cruise
Conducted by a team of professional and friendly tour guides, the Kazinga Channel boat cruise lasts for about 2 to 3 hours. The guides will give you all you would like to know about the environment and wildlife along the shores.
During the boat cruise, you can ask the guides anything you would like to know. These might include animals, birds, water, and surrounding vegetation. The guides will even furnish you with information regarding the communities around the Kazinga Channel. With all this knowledge handy, you will definitely have a blast on the Kazinga Channel boat cruise.
When to go on a Kazinga Channel boat cruise
The boat cruise takes place twice a day including in the morning and evening hours. You can take a morning cruise at 11:00 am ending at 1:00 pm. The evening cruise departs at 3:00 pm until 5:00 pm. However, the cruise rounds might be increased to 3 times according to visitor traffic.
This is because the Kazinga Channel boat cruise is the highlight of the trip to Queen Elizabeth National Park. The experience offers a chance to explore the wildlife including animals, birds, and reptiles.
Wildlife To Look Out For During The Boat Cruise
Hippos
While in a 20-seater vessel sailing along the Kazinga Channel, you will get a chance to watch and learn about the behavior of the hippos in the channel. These stay in the channel water and move far distances at night to graze.
Afterward, they trek back into the water by morning before sunrise. The hippos don’t move in direct sunlight to avoid the heat from going directly into their skin. These animals have too much fat beneath their skin to compensate for the lack of fur on their bodies.
Nile crocodiles
Other animals to look out for during the Kazinga Channel boat cruise are crocodiles. These used to inhabit the Kazinga Channel many years ago. However, the crocodiles were forced to migrate because of volcanic activity before they came back along the River Semliki.
On a lucky day, you might catch rare glimpses of other wildlife including:
Lions
The eastern section of Kasenyi Plains and Kasese Road are wonderful spots to catch amazing glimpses of Kazinga Channel lions. These usually prey on the multitudes of Uganda kobs in the vicinity. You can catch rare glimpses of the lions during the morning and afternoon Kazinga Channel boat cruise.
Bird species
Recognized for being an important birding area by Birding International, Kazinga Channel is blessed with about 612 bird species. This location naturally attracts various bird species to watch out for during the Kazinga Channel boat cruise.
Some of the bird species to watch out for include:
Where to stay
To enjoy the most of your Queen Elizabeth National Park experience, it is important to book convenient accommodation. The ideal spot is the Elephant Home located next to the park. You can grab a hot cup of coffee before boarding the luxurious vessel to enjoy the Kazinga Channel boat cruise.
Bottom line
When planning to have a safari of your lifetime, a visit to Queen Elizabeth National park is the go-to destination. Here, you can’t miss taking the Kazinga Channel boat cruise to catch rare glimpses of amazing wildlife along this channel.
Ideal for adults and children, this boat cruise is a relaxing experience to rejuvenate your life. This experience is filled with various Instagram moments in the midst of this wonderful natural environment.
This trip is the unobstructed access to the local people and wildlife in their daily setting that depicts the local nature and culture, in queen Elizabeth national park. From the time you board the boat, you will be in a different world, celebrating life in paradise. The views display different natural setting like you would see in the dream of a thick jungle. The rim of the channel is lined by the thicket, bushes and sometimes patches of wetland that is home to the colorful birds and the crawling gentle monitor lizards. Sometimes, the eye will shoot to one of the rare creatures such as the crocodile, the fish eagle or otter diving for a fish catch.
The freshwater of the Kazinga channel is such a precious natural gift to the wildlife of Queen Elizabeth national park, every day. The large trails that touch the edge of the channel open up the extended miles of the savannah plains on both sides of the channel. They are the daily trails for wildlife as they move from near and far seeking to cool off.
You won’t miss the shooting puffs like fountains, or floating snouts of the hippopotamus swimming in the waters of the channel. Kazinga channel is home to hundreds of schools of Hippopotamus. It has the hippo population estimated to be over 1000 in the 20 miles channel alone.
Every hour of the day, the different land animals such as elephants, buffalos, antelopes, waterbucks, and multitudes of birds take turns to deep for a fresh drink or a swim. The edges of the channel will commonly be spotted with wildlife. You will not miss the fun of seeing elephants charge to chase the small game from their water space.
The local communities have their space too. Despite the existence of hippos, crocodiles and other wildlife that could be dangerous, the local people are never deterred from swimming, fishing or collecting water for domestic use, off the shores of the channel. You will not miss the sceneries of the local wooden fishing boats, sometimes with energetic fishermen peddling their way to the fishing fields. This qualifies Kazinga channel as a life-giver for both people and wildlife, leave alone the green vegetation that is able to survive the scorching climate of queen Elizabeth national park and can still demonstrate the green belt along the edges of the channel.
From the time the boat cruise started on the Kazinga channel, decades of years ago, none of the travelers has ever regretted the decision to take the boat cruise. Making a decision to go on Kazinga channel boat cruise is your opportunity to explore wildlife closely in the most relaxed way, as you cruise east and west of the channel. Take a step today, contact us to arrange your turn of taking this experience during your next trip to queen Elizabeth national park.
The experience of viewing wildlife in queen Elizabeth national park is like no other in Uganda. wildlife animals are very close and so easy to find. From time to time you see the guides on the boat tour pointing out at all sorts of wildlife along the edge of the channel, Even without lenses and binoculars. These guides don’t skip even the tiniest bird of this jungle. To them, the edge of Kazinga channel is a long line of animals cooling off in the greenery vegetation. This boat cruise is an opportunity for you to see queen Elizabeth wildlife through the eyes of the local expert guides
Wildlife: Kazinga channel is a wildlife hub. It is one of the key places where multitudes of wildlife meet for the same livelihood purpose; water. Throughout the day, all sorts of wildlife line up on the banks to celebrate nature on this fresh water channel. During this boat excursion, you will likely find the elephants, antelopes, crocodiles, monitor lizards, hippos, buffalo and many others. The bird population on the channel is very high. The bird list includes both the endemics and the migratory species during certain seasons. You wil have high chances of finding the Buttonquail, Papyrus Canary, martial eagle, African Skimmer, Black Bee-eater, White-winged Warbler, White-tailed Lark, Papyrus Gonolek, Corncrake, Pinkbacked Pelican and many others among the 600 species of this park
Landscape: The landscape is breathtaking. During the sunrise, the sunset or just taking the extended views of the channel with the backdrop of Rwenzori mountains or the rift valley escapement. You will definitely be witnessing a green paradise dotted with wildlife of all sorts on the channel!
Traditional fishing communities: It is a fishing hub; the channel supports a high fish population. This is partly due to the richness of the ecosystem with birds and other wildlife in and around the waters, that supports a large variety of aquatic life favorable for fish survival. The evergreen environment creates a good breeding ground for certain unique species of fish that is only found in this channel. A good number of communities live in the neighborhood of the channel and fishing is one of their key livelihoods. During the boat tour, you will meet the community members at work both on their canoes on the waters or on the shores getting their nets ready
The local guides are wonderful. They understand everything that crosses the eye, close and far. Being local experts, they will tell you how most of the features relate to the local life, demonstrating the relevance of wildlife and the native community.
Don’t miss an opportunity from exploring wildlife very closely. Let the locals show you their wildlife during the Kazinga channel boat excursion. You can contact us now to arrange your boat cruise for your next visit to queen Elizabeth national park.
Our phones are on, seven days a week.
