Activities

Nearby Attractions and Things to Do While Staying at Elephant Plains Lodge Kasese, Uganda

•  River Nyamwamba Tour
• Mubuku hydroelectric power station located on Mubuku River
• Tour to the community fishing Village on Lake George (Kahendero)
•  Kiwa Heritage Hot spring
•  Kilembe Mines Tours
•  Nyakalengijo Tour; at the foothills of Rwenzori Mountains
•  Cultural tour at Kikorongo; Learn about basket making, art and join community in traditional dance
• Tour Rwezori Founders Art Gallery
•  Agro Tourism; Mubuku Irrigation Scheme, Vanilla Farm, Coffee Farm Tour, Cotton and Cocoa
• Tour the border of Uganda and DRC (Mpondwe / Kasindi ) market popular for African fabric
• Tour Seasonal Markets ; Mawa / Kasindi / Shawriyako/ popular with green groceries and vegetables
• Neighbouring the Kilembe mines Golf club
•  Access to the Kazinga channel and Queen Elizabeth National Park
•  Excellent base for those trekking or mountaineering in the Rwenzori Mountains National Park
•  Centralized with easy access to Kasese town and convenient public transportation
•  Crater Lakes Exploration (Lake Nyamunuka) Lake Munyanyange the host to Flamingos
•  Katwe Salt Lake tour offers visitors a unique insight into the fascinating yet tough process of salt mining, as well as providing an alternative income for the community in Katwe area.
•  Transport to Queen Elizabeth National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park arranged.
•  Hike through Maramagambo Forest; join a birding trail here, all in the shadows of the Mountain Rwenzori in the north and the Mitumbe Mountains of the Congo in the East.

Activities at Elephant Plains Lodge Elephant Plains Lodge is the perfect base for exploring the outstanding wildlife viewing opportunities in Kasenyi Plains, the crown jewel of Queen Elizabeth National Park and arguably in Uganda.

The park also contains Kazinga Channel, Lake Albert, and the antelope breeding grounds, making it an excellent choice for spotting the park’s big cats and a wildlife photographer’s paradise. To fully experience the African bush wilderness, guests are encouraged to spend at least two nights at Elephant Plains Lodge.

Boat trips on the Kazinga Channel Boat trips on the Kazinga Channel, just a short distance from the lodge, are available on either a scheduled boat launch or a private boat safari.

These trips offer a chance to witness the waterhole drama in a leisurely fashion. The channel’s strategic shore locations offer an excellent selection of exclusive safari lodges and camps.

Chimp trekking in Kyambura Gorge For those seeking a more relaxed experience, chimp trekking is available in the low-key Kyambura Gorge forest reserve. While chimpanzee sightings may not be highly probable, the gorge reserve offers a tranquil nature walk, where you can spot other animals such as red-tailed monkeys, black-and-white colobus, baboons, and vervet monkeys.

The park is also renowned for its variety of avian species, including various falcons, the blue-headed bee-eater, the African finfoot, and over 597 bird species recorded. However, Chimpanzee Tracking is the most popular attraction in the gorge.

The main highway on the edge of the park separates the communities of people who live along the boundaries and connects the park to the capital city in the east, Kibale National Park in the north, and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest for Gorilla Trekking.

Adding Elephant Plains Lodge to your Uganda Safaris itinerary is an excellent choice for a luxury wildlife experience in Uganda, providing great access to game viewing while also offering comfortable and spacious accommodation.

Game Drive & Bird Watching (Queen Elizabeth National Park)

Queen Elizabeth National Park is one of Uganda’s oldest and most popular game parks for Uganda safaris.

It is found in South Western Uganda bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Park is home to variety of wildlife and boasts a range of attractions and interesting activities that make it truly gifted by nature.

Queen Elizabeth National Park boasts of high biodiversity rating and with landscapes including sprawling savanna, shady, humid forests, sparkling lakes and fertile wetlands, make it the ideal habitat for classic big game, ten primate species including chimpanzees and over 600 species of birds.

The park covers 1978 SQ KM, scenic and its one of the most popular parks in Africa. The park is inhabited by 96 species of mammals, including healthy numbers of hippos, elephants, lions and leopards as well as chimps and hyenas.

The remote Ishasha section of the park, in the far south of the park, is famous for its tree-climbing lions; these females, who enjoy spending the long, hot afternoons snoozing photogenically in fig trees, are the most memorable sight in the entire park, but don’t miss the superb birdlife or the wonderful boat trip on the gorgeous Kazinga Channel.

Set against the backdrop of the jagged Rwenzori Mountains, the park’s magnificent panorama include dozens of enormous crater lakes carved spectacularly into rolling green hills, panoramic views of the Kazinga Channel with its banks lined with hippos, buffalo and elephants, and the endless Ishasha plains, whose fig trees hide lions ready to pounce on herds of unsuspecting Uganda kob.

Gorilla Tracking (Bwindi Impenetrable Forest)

Uganda is home to the largest and most closely monitored community of mountain gorillas, split across two national parks: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park.

Bwindi alone is home to over half of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas. Finding these beasts in the dense forest is no easy task, and gorilla treks here can last 7 hours or more.

However, those who persevere are rewarded with an exceptional experience. Getting up close to these animals in the wild is arguable the most impressive wildlife encounter in the world.

Environmentalists estimate that in the 1980s there were only 254 mountain gorillas left in the world, but thanks to massive conservation efforts financed by gorilla trekking, their numbers have steadily increased.

Two tours run daily from the base camp, usually starting at 09:00 or 14:15 and are limited to groups of eight.

The limit on group size is to keep to gorillas safe from any airborne pathogens, but also to increase the chances of sightings, as larger groups often scare off these (surprisingly) timid animals.

From the onset, the imposing southwestern sloped hills and terraced volcanoes prove a formidable adversary. This is gorilla territory, and access requires hiking through the thick, triffid-like tangles of vegetation, up muddy hills and down into craggy valleys.

The high altitude and testing terrain make the journey tiresome, but the rewards all the more magical.

Chimpanzee Tracking (Kyambura Gorge and Kalinzu Forest)

The stunning Kyambura (or Chambura) Gorge also called the “Valley of Apes” is located in the far eastern corner of the well- known Queen Elizabeth National Park in south western Uganda.

Approximately 1 km across at its broadest point and about 100 meters deep, this gorge is actually drained by River Kayambura.

Kazinga channel The boat cruise on the Kazinga channel usually lasts for 2 hours and it gives visitors the opportunity to watch a variety of yawning hippos in water, water birds, buffaloes, elephants, Uganda-kobs, topis, water bucks, bush bucks, reed bucks, duiker, mongoose, swamp antelopes, spotted hyena, warthog, forest hog and many more.

The park operates a 20 seater motorised vessel which runs two rides a day; one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. However from time to time there are three cruises on a single day basing on the numbers of visitors interested in taking this fascinating tour.

Registration for interested visitors is done at the offices found in Mweya, and after that you will be requesting to join in on the team that is also taking the cruise. trips set off from the landing stage beneath the lodge. You can choose to drive or to walk to the landing stage by leaving through the barricade at the headquarters of Mweya’s entrance.

Katwe Crater Lakes in Queen Elizabeth Park These are situated just north of the impressive Mweya Peninsula and actually are the highest elevation in this national park. Enjoy the spectacular Crater Drive that runs on 27 KM which present distant sights of the eye-catching crater lakes while on your way. There is plenty of wildlife to see along the drive, although commonest are sights of Buffaloes plus Elephants.

Watch out for Lake Kitagata a lake fed by salty hot-springs with no wildlife around but just more than gorgeous can explain. Along this drive you will be satisfied with sights of the great Western Rift Valley plus its escarpments, Lake George, the Rwenzori Mountains of the Moon, the Kazinga Channel plus Lake Edward. You will also have the chance to visit the gorgeous Lake Katwe plus its long ago salt works.

Kasenyi plains Kasenyi is located in Kasese District, within Rwenzururu sub-region in the Western part of Uganda. It is within Queen Elizabeth National Park; the most visited national parks in Uganda.

The location of Kasenyi plains is about 48 kilometers or 30 miles by road, just south-east of Kasese, (from the district head office) as well as the major town in this sub-region. Kasenyi plains are on the western shores of the adjacent spectacular Lake George, just near to the area where the Kazinga Channel joins together with the lake.

Kasenyi is an open savannah, and it is swarmed with various wild animals with the Uganda Kob being the dominant animals. Actually this place is the major breeding area for the Uganda Kobs within this park. For that reason, Lions are commonly seen here during the various game drives as they are drawn by the large Kob’s population which is their main prey. Kasenyi plains supports a captivating diversity of grassland birds, among which are the yellow-throated long crow, red-throat spurfowls as well as the grey-crown cranes.

The Kasese Hot springs/Kiwa Heritage The hot springs are located in base camp zone, Kibenge – Kyanjoki Ward in Central Division of Kasese Municipality is one of the unique natural and cultural resources that Kasese district and Uganda as a whole is gifted with. This hot spring locally known as Ekitagata is said to be having its sources from the invisible banks of Nile waters sources that flows through Semuliki in the mountains of the Rwenzori.

The hot springs are commonly known as ‘Esipatara Hot Spring’ as they are believed by local people to have healing powers. “Esipatara” locally in Uganda literaly means hospital. On a daily basis, so many people with different ailments flock the springs to bathe in the warm water.

The water in the springs can warm up to 80 °C (176 °F). It is estimated that about 1000 people visit Kasese Hotsprings per week.

Mountain Rwenzori National Park The park is located within the “Mountains of the Moon”, as Mount Rwenzori is called. Mountain Rwenzori is situated in Western Uganda in the East African Rift Valley and straddles also to the Democratic Republic of Congo and its conservation area known as Virunga National Park.

The mountain is the third highest in Africa rising up more than 16,700 feet above sea level and its highest peaks rise above the clouds and are permanently snow capped.

The Rwenzori Mountain ranges are higher compared to the Alps and they have glaciers which are one of the sources of the longest river on earth, the River Nile. Margherita Peak is the highest peak on the ranges making it the 3rd highest peak in Africa together with its twin peak, Mount Stanley, which is within the park.

Tours / Safaris Explore the hidden gems in Fort Portal Tourism City the neighboring areas, The mighty Amabeere ga Nya Mwiru caves and the waterfalls.

Treking and hiking Kyeganywa Hill, Lake Kigere and other crater lakes, Nature walks, A trip to Sempaya Hot Springs, Queen Elizabeth for a game drive, Kibaale National Park for Chimp tracking, a boat cruise on Kazinga Channel plus many more amazing experiences & Destinations such as Historical sites, City tours, local market tours and a visit to Karuziika (Tooro Kingdom Palace).

Cycling In & around the hotel

Elephant Plains Lodge Kasese offers you the possibility to hire one or more of the well maintained bicycles so you can take a spin by your own self wherever and whenever you wish, at your own pace. Hire the awesome bicycles & Enjoy the ride.

Sports Tooro Club Golf Course Golf is good exercise. Not only do you spend a lot of time on your feet, but you also do a lot of walking. We are only 4km away from Tooro Club golf course.

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