Kazinga Channel

Kazinga Channel

Kazinga Channel is found in the northeast part of Queen Elizabeth National Park, which is a site for the Commonwealth Games. It is 35 kilometers long, running from Lake Edward in the north to Lake George in the south. Lake Edward is a freshwater lake that is 9 kilometers wide. Lake George is narrower, measuring only 4 kilometers across from Ijumu Point in the west to Ntungamo Peninsula. The waterway connects the two lakes and has an elevation of 910 meters at Lake Edward. It decreases slightly to 910 meters at Lake George and then goes down to zero at the outlet of Lake George. The channel is firmly located between the steep sides of the Rift Valley. To the west, it is near Nyakasura Hill, and to the east, it is close to Dejebe and Ngogomweme hills.

Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) is the second biggest national park in Uganda, covering an area of 1978 km2. It is found in western Uganda and is shared by the districts of Kasese, Bushenyi, Rukungiri, and Kamwenge. The park was created in 1952 to protect the open grassland area of the Kazinga Channel. The park is named after Queen Elizabeth II and is home to various animals like Uganda kob, hippos, African cows, African bush elephants, lions, and leopards. The park covers an area of 40 square kilometers along the Congo border, reaching Lake Edward.

The park is one of the busiest parks in Uganda. In 1960, the Kazinga Channel was designated as a Ramsar wetland and runs through part of the park. This area mainly has environments like mongoose habitats, hippos, wetland plants, forest plants, salt flats, and areas with many bromeliads. This spot is popular for birdwatching and fishing. The park is easiest to reach from Kampala by taking the all-season road through Mbarara, which can also be accessed from Water. Key features of QENP include the chimpanzee refuge in Kyambura Gorge and the Maramagambo Forest. The park has several other attractions, including Kasenyi plain, Kyambura river, Lake Edward, Lake George, Ishasha river, Ishasha fields, and the equator crossing.

The Kazinga Channel has various significances including being one of the most visited and trusted tourism sites in Uganda. It’s important to manage the distribution of wildlife in the Park according to their feeding habits. This allows visitors to see big groups of hippos, crocodiles, and many types of birds, especially water birds. It also provides popular boat tours where you can see many hippos, crocodiles, elephants, buffalo, different types of antelopes, monitor lizards, and various birds from both the water and the forest.

The Kazinga Channel is a smaller threat for Uganda, especially for Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP), which has faced water issues for many years. This natural wonder in Uganda is located in the southwest and has an overflow. The Kazinga Channel makes the scenery more varied in an area where land use is mostly similar in Queen Elizabeth National Park. The Kazinga Channel is also a significant sink for the MVNP elephants and offers potential for five megafauna corridors between the two national parks: at Maramagambo forest (eastern side of the channel), at Lake Edward (western side of the channel), the Kazinga Channel (connecting the western and eastern side of the park), King George (in the central region) and the Kafue River basin (southern side of the park).