Kigezi Wildlife Reserve
Established in 1952, Kigezi Wildlife Reserve is located in Southwestern Uganda. This reserve is strategically situated in Rukungiri District, covering a land area of 265 sq. km. Kigezi’s landscape boasts extensive savannas, plains, and forests. The diverse habitats in the Kigezi Game Reserve hold diverse wildlife and birdlife. The unique vegetation zones comprise woodland, savannahs, and open grasslands.
Kigezi Wildlife Reserve serves as a barrier along the Ishasha sector in the Southern end of Queen Elizabeth National Park, and Maramagambo Forest. Queen Elizabeth also plays a significant role as a buffer zone to the Rwenzori Mountains National Park.
Kigezi’s Wildlife
Diversity of wildlife present in Kigezi includes bushbucks, buffaloes, Uganda Kobs, topis, warthogs, leopards, lions, waterbucks, giant forest hogs, and hippos, plus birds. A huge profusion of elephants also exists and often roam from the Rwindi plains in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Ishasha sector.
The primates that have been spotted in Kigezi include red colobus monkeys, Eastern black and white colobus monkeys, and chimpanzees.
Bird species
About 300 species of birds are present in Kigezi Game Reserve, and they reside in the various habitats. The birds to identify on a birding expedition in Kigezi include saddle-billed stork, red-faced barbets, verreaux’s eagle owl, grey-crowned cranes, marabou storks, Saddle-billed storks, peregrine falcons, African fish eagle, hammerkop, Rwenzori turacos, Grauer’s swamp-warblers, and more.
Safari Tourism Activities to Experience
Game viewing
Game drives in Kigezi allow you to explore diverse wildlife in the vast savanna plains. The guided game drives come with encounters such as elephants, buffalo, antelopes, leopards, lions, and more.
Birding
Visitors can also embark on birding excursions and identify a range of birds. The birds to identify include saddle-billed storks, red-faced barbet, peregrine falcons, and Rwenzori turacos, African fish eagle, black-rumped buttonquail, martial eagle, papyrus canary, black and white casqued hornbill, and many others. Carry for yourself a pair of binoculars, a camera, a safari hat, bottled water, a daypack, and walking shoes, etc.
Nature walks
Guided nature walks in Kigezi take you through the various habitats. Expect to come across diverse birds and other wildlife. Visitors embark on a nature walk with a professional guide from Kigezi Reserve.
When to visit Kigezi Reserve –Uganda
Kigezi Game Reserve is open to guests all year round. However, the ideal time to explore the reserve is during the dry season, which occurs from June to September, the longest dry months of the year, while the short dry season begins from December to February. The wet or rainy months offer a great time to witness the varied wildlife migrating from the Rwindi plains to the Southern end of Queen Elizabeth National Park. This is from October to November or visit any time from March to April.
Accommodation Options
Kigezi Reserve itself doesn’t have lodges. But there are available options in the surrounding areas, especially in Rukungiri District. They include Rukungiri Inn, Savanna Resort Hotel, Rondavels Hotel, and Ishasha River Lodge.
How to access Kigezi Game Reserve
Kigezi Wildlife Reserve is accessible from Kampala through the Rukungiri route, about 318 km. You can take an 8-9-hour drive along the Masaka-Mbarara-Ntungamo and Rukungiri route.
By air, you can fly up to Kisoro Airstrip, where you can connect to the Kigezi Reserve to begin your vacation. Kisoro Airstrip to Kigezi takes only 1-2 hours of driving, depending on the route and speed of the driver.
With the option of flights, visitors can have a combined tour to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park or Mgahinga. This means you can have gorilla trekking combined with wildlife tours in Kigezi Game Reserve.
If you incorporate gorilla treks, the permits can be secured by silverback gorilla tour and each costs USD 800 per tourist.
Other activities can also be enjoyed including golden monkey tracking, gorilla habituation, visit the Batwa pygmies or go interact with the Bakiga.
In case you are love climbing/hiking, then exploring the Mgahinga’s volcanoes should be a must. The present volcanoes in Mgahinga include Sabyinyo, Gahinga, and Muhabura –all these can be hiked.
Conclusively, Kigezi Wildlife Reserve is a scenic nature reserve with abundant attractions ranging from big to small mammals. The reserve offers amazing savanna game viewing excursions and is also a potential primate safari destination.
