Queen Elizabeth National Park: Kazinga, Lions and a Name

Queen Elizabeth National Park in western Uganda was created in 1952 as Kazinga National Park and renamed in 1954 to mark a visit by the young Queen Elizabeth II. It covers nearly 2,000 square kilometres of savannah, swamp, crater lakes and forest between Lake George and Lake Edward, with the Kazinga Channel running between the two lakes at its heart.

That short naming history is the reason the expedition is interested in it. The park is one of Uganda's best known protected areas, famous for hippos, buffalo, elephants, hundreds of bird species and the tree-climbing lions of Ishasha. But the name on the map tells you about a royal tour, not about the people who lived, fished and grazed cattle here long before 1952. This article explains how the park got its name, what makes the Kazinga landscape so productive, and why the walk treats names with care.

How Queen Elizabeth National Park got its name

In the early 1950s Uganda was a British protectorate. The colonial administration gazetted the area around the channel as Kazinga National Park in 1952, taking the name from the channel and the shoreline settlement of the same name. Two years later Queen Elizabeth II, recently crowned, toured Uganda as part of a long Commonwealth journey, and the park was renamed in her honour.

The new name stuck, with one interruption. During Idi Amin's rule in the 1970s the park was known for a time as Rwenzori National Park, after the mountains to the north, and the Queen Elizabeth name returned after his government fell. Lake Edward, on the park's western edge, carries a similar layering: it was named by the explorer Henry Morton Stanley after the then Prince of Wales, and was itself briefly renamed during the Amin years.

None of this means that "Kazinga" is the single original name for the whole park. The area is home to, or bordered by, several communities, including Basongora pastoralists, Bakonzo people from the Rwenzori foothills and Banyabindi farmers, and each may use different names for particular hills, shores, crater lakes and grazing grounds. A national park is a modern boundary drawn over many older places. The honest position is that the official name is colonial in origin, that Kazinga was the park's first official name, and that the local names underneath both are best learned from local people themselves.

The Kazinga Channel: hippos, buffalo and birds

The Kazinga Channel is a natural waterway about 32 km long that carries water from the shallow, nutrient-rich Lake George westward into the larger Lake Edward, which Uganda shares with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Because the channel offers permanent water in a landscape of grass and thicket, animals gather along its banks in remarkable numbers.

The channel is known for one of the highest concentrations of hippos in Africa. Buffalo wallow at the water's edge, elephants come down to drink and bathe, and Nile crocodiles bask on the banks. Birdlife is exceptional: the park as a whole records more than 600 species, among the highest totals of any protected area in Africa, helped by the mix of open water, papyrus swamp, savannah and forest. Pelicans, kingfishers, cormorants, African fish eagles and many waders are common sights from the water.

The wider park adds variety. Volcanic explosion craters dot the park, especially around Katwe in the north, and some hold lakes. Kyambura Gorge, a sunken strip of forest cut into the savannah, shelters chimpanzees. To the south lies the quieter Ishasha sector, and the equator crosses the park in the north. The protected area also forms part of a much larger cross-border landscape that continues into Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The tree-climbing lions of Ishasha

Lions do sometimes climb trees in many places, but in the Ishasha sector they do it habitually, lounging along the broad branches of fig and acacia trees. Only a few lion populations in Africa are known for this; another is at Lake Manyara in Tanzania.

Nobody knows for certain why. The usual explanations are that the branches catch cooler breezes in the heat of the day, keep the lions above biting flies, and give them a clear view over the grassland where Uganda kob, their main prey here, graze. It is probably learned behaviour passed on within prides rather than anything unique in these lions' bodies.

The lions are also a reminder that wildlife here is not secure. Lion numbers in the park have come under pressure, including from poisoning linked to conflict between predators and livestock keepers who live beside the park. Conservation in this landscape is never only about animals; it is about whose cattle are lost, who is compensated and who benefits from tourism.

People inside and around the park

Queen Elizabeth National Park is unusual because people still live within it. Several fishing villages sit in enclaves on the lake and channel shores, and fishing on Lake Edward and Lake George remains an important livelihood, regulated alongside the park's protection. At Lake Katwe, a salt crater lake beside the park, people have harvested salt for centuries, working the shallow pans by hand.

Around the park's edges are farmers and pastoralists whose crops and herds are exposed to elephants, buffalo and predators. Some Basongora herders lost access to grazing land when protected areas were created and expanded, and that history still shapes how some people view the park. Uganda Wildlife Authority, which manages the park, shares part of its revenue with neighbouring communities, and many local people now work as guides, boat crew, rangers and lodge staff. For a fuller picture of how protected areas shape the lives of their neighbours, see the expedition's article on Bwindi gorilla trekking and the rangers who make it possible.

On the road through western Uganda

The walk's route crosses Uganda from the Rwandan border to Kenya, and Queen Elizabeth National Park lies to the west of that line rather than on it. The current plan is to visit the Kazinga landscape as a side trip from the road, hoping to join a guided boat journey on the channel and spend time with the people who guide visitors through the park. Walking would then resume from exactly the point where it paused, and the public record will separate walked distance from excursions. You can read more about the whole crossing in walking across Uganda.

The expedition has a simple naming principle: use local names first where their origin can be verified, and keep the internationally dominant name second so readers can find the place on a map. Queen Elizabeth National Park is the clearest example on the Uganda leg of why that matters. Leon hopes to ask people who live in and around the park what they call the places within it, and what the official name means to them, rather than assuming an answer in advance.

In every place he passes, the walk plans to pay for an act of kindness and record it publicly in the kindness ledger. If you would like to help make that possible, you can support the walk or read who Leon is and why he is walking.

Frequently asked questions

Why is it called Queen Elizabeth National Park?

It was established as Kazinga National Park in 1952 and renamed in 1954 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Uganda, then a British protectorate.

What is the Kazinga Channel?

A natural channel about 32 km long linking Lake George to Lake Edward. Its banks hold large numbers of hippos, buffalo, elephants, crocodiles and water birds.

Where are the tree-climbing lions in Uganda?

In the Ishasha sector in the south of Queen Elizabeth National Park, where lions regularly rest in fig and acacia trees.

Do people live inside Queen Elizabeth National Park?

Yes. Several fishing villages lie in enclaves within the park, and farming and herding communities live around its boundaries.