Kasenyi Plains

The Kasenyi plains are the open grassland sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park, and the reason you set an alarm for 5.30am. The park's lions hunt Uganda kob here, and a dawn drive across the plains is the most reliable big-cat hour in the country.

  • Uganda's most reliable lion sightings, at first light
  • Uganda kob leks, where the males hold territory and display
  • The crater lakes on the park's northern edge
  • Lion tracking with the research team, by arrangement
  • Open country, so the sightings are not lost in scrub
  • Best time to comeJune to September and January to February. Always at dawn: by nine the cats are in the shade and the kob have stopped moving.
  • Good forLion, photographers, early risers
  • Where it isUganda
Kasenyi Plains, Uganda

What you do in Kasenyi Plains

Every one of these is something we run here, not a stock list.

Going to Kasenyi Plains

We do not have a scheduled itinerary for Kasenyi Plains on the site right now, which does not mean we cannot take you. We build private trips to order across Uganda — tell us your dates and we will put a route and a price together.

Plan a trip to Kasenyi Plains

More about Kasenyi Plains

The Kasenyi Plains are a remarkable part of Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, known for their vast savannah landscapes and abundant wildlife.

Also in Uganda

Most safaris here combine two or three of these.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

Bwindi holds roughly half the mountain gorillas left on earth. You walk into thick, steep, ancient forest with a ranger and a tracker, sometimes for an hour and sometimes for six, and then spend one hour with a habituated family at a few metres' distance. People who have done every safari there is still describe it as the best hour of their lives.

Murchison Falls National Park

Murchison Falls National Park

The Nile squeezes through a gap seven metres wide and drops forty-three metres, and the noise of it is the reason people come. Around the falls is Uganda's largest park: a boat trip to the base of them past hippo and crocodile, then game drives on the northern bank for lion, elephant and Rothschild's giraffe.

Kibale National Park

Kibale National Park

The best chimpanzee tracking in East Africa, in a forest holding thirteen primate species. Around 1,500 chimps live here and the habituated communities are relaxed enough that you watch them feed, groom and argue overhead rather than catching a glimpse and losing them.

Queen Elizabeth National Park

Queen Elizabeth National Park

Uganda's most visited park, and the one with the most variety: a boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel past hundreds of hippo, the Kasenyi plains for lion, and the Ishasha sector in the south where the lions lie in the fig trees. The Rwenzori mountains stand behind it on a clear day.

Thinking about Kasenyi Plains?

Tell us roughly when you can travel and how long you have. We will tell you honestly whether Kasenyi Plains is the right call for those dates — and what it costs.