Queen Elizabeth National Park has rich biodiversity and vegetation made up of plants and animals that give it the true feeling of African wilderness. The vegetation is spread all over the park.
Most of the grass species grow in dry areas, not in swamps or wetlands. Common grasses and plants include Cymbopogon, Afronardus, Acacia gerradii, Euphorbia candelabrum, and Capparis tomentosa thickets.
Some common trees you may see include:
- Acacia sieberiana
- Acacia gerradii
- Ficus ficus
- Ficus gnaphalocarpa
Maramagambo Forest is the largest forest in the park. It is home to many types of primates such as chimpanzees, red-tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, and vervet monkeys. These animals, along with many bird species, army ants, and bat caves, attract many visitors from all over the world. Tree species in this forest include:
- Uganda ironwood
- Cynometra alexandri
- Pterygota
- Pseudospondias
- Treculia
The park’s soil supports a wide range of plant life. Most soils in the southern parts and around Mweya are either sedimentary, alluvial, or volcanic. There are two main soil types in the park.
The northern area near Katwe has Kyamatoma catena soils, which are shallow black clay loams. The Ishasha area has sandy loams and sandy clay soils.
Animals found in the park include wild dogs, African bush pigs, giant forest hogs, buffaloes, elephants, lions, leopards, hippos, antelopes, fish, birds, and crocodiles.
The park also has many reptiles and amphibians. These include:
- Soft-shelled turtle
- Western hinged tortoise
- Monitor lizard
- Blue-bodied agama
- Red and black skink
- Side-striped skink
- Speckled-lipped skink
- Uganda house gecko
- Black-throated dwarf gecko
- Common house lizard
- Snake lizard
- Bright green chameleon
- Lesser chameleon
- Pygmy chameleon
- File snake
- Slender green snake
- Night adder
- Velvety green night adder
- Western carter snake
- White-lipped snake
- African toad
- Bullfrog
- Crawled frog
- Sharp-nosed frog
- Tree frog
There are also many mammals such as:
- Spotted hyena
- Hedgehogs
- East African hedgehog
- Shrews
- Peter’s shrew
- Fruit bats
- Epaulette fruit bat
- Insect-eating bats
- White-bellied tomb bat
