One of very few camps built inside the boundaries of Queen Elizabeth National Park, Ishasha Wilderness Camp occupies a wooded stretch of riverbank in the park’s remote southern sector, close to the Democratic Republic of Congo border. Ten canvas tents stand discreetly among the trees, with wildlife free to move through the unfenced site.
The camp is owner-managed by Paul and Jane Goldring, both born and raised in Africa, who built the operation around small guest numbers and a minimal footprint. The tents were built from local materials after environmental impact studies, and much of the kitchen’s produce is grown locally to support the surrounding farming community.
Elephants bathe in the Ntungwe River, buffalo graze the open ground, and troops of black-and-white colobus and vervet monkeys pass overhead. A resident hippo has become a fixture of camp life.
Being one of only a handful of camps in the Ishasha sector gives guests something rare: control over their own time. Game drives can begin before the park gates would normally open and run until the last of the light, often with no other vehicles in sight along the tracks.
Here the lions rest in the branches of the great fig trees, a habit seen reliably in only two places in Africa.
The sector is best known for its tree-climbing lions, whose males carry notably dark manes. Ishasha shares this behaviour with only Lake Manyara in Tanzania, and is regarded as the more dependable of the two. Beyond the lions, the wider park holds elephant, buffalo, Uganda kob, topi and one of Africa’s largest hippo populations across its 1,978 square kilometres.
Ishasha Wilderness Camp lies on the Ntungwe River beneath a riverine forest canopy, in open savannah dotted with large sycamore fig trees. The Ishasha sector forms the southern reach of Queen Elizabeth National Park, a protected area of 1,978 square kilometres in the western arm of the Great East African Rift Valley.
Game drives explore the area’s circuits in search of the tree-climbing lions and the herds that draw them, with fly-in guests using the camp’s dedicated open safari vehicle. Bush breakfasts and sundowners are set out along the ridge above the river, while guided walks for close hippo viewing are escorted by Uganda Wildlife Authority staff, as park rules require.
Two hours south lies Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, putting mountain gorillas within a day’s reach.
The position makes the camp a natural stopover between gorilla trekking in Bwindi and the rest of the park. Further afield, the Kazinga Channel boat cruise and chimpanzee trekking in Kyambura Gorge sit within greater Queen Elizabeth National Park, both accompanied by park rangers.
Conservation work is central. A nightly levy funds the Future Generations Trust, supporting community and wildlife projects, while a hands-on Large Carnivore Monitoring Project counts and protects the major predators of the Ishasha sector. The Ishasha Community Uplift Group helps park-edge farmers through crafts marketing, savings schemes and training, and was voted Best Community Tourism Initiative in 2015.
Community visits include village and school walks, meetings with traditional herbalists, and an elephant trench built with the Uganda Conservation Foundation to reduce crop-raiding. Back at camp, meals are served al fresco beside the river, prepared largely from local ingredients, with early tea or coffee delivered to the tent at dawn.
accommodation
Ishasha Wilderness Camp has ten framed canvas tents in the Meru style, set discreetly along the wooded riverbank, each with a private verandah over the Ntungwe River. Inside are a large mosquito-netted bed, a dressing area and an en-suite bathroom with a hot bush shower and an eco-friendly flushing toilet, lit by solar power.
activities
Game drives run on flexible timings unrestricted by park gate hours, often with few other vehicles around. Guided river walks for hippo viewing are escorted by park staff, and bush breakfasts and sundowners are set out beside the Ntungwe. Bwindi's gorillas and the Kazinga Channel both lie within reach of camp.
conservation
A nightly guest levy funds the Future Generations Trust for community and wildlife work. The Large Carnivore Monitoring Project tracks and protects Ishasha's predators, while the Ishasha Community Uplift Group supports park-edge farmers and the elephant trench built with the Uganda Conservation Foundation.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation. An initial consultation helps us understand what you’re looking for, whether that’s specific experiences, luxury touches, or marking a special occasion, and from there we’ll guide you through what’s possible so you can decide if we’re the right fit.
The nearest airstrip is Kihihi, reached by light aircraft from Entebbe in around an hour and a half, followed by a road transfer of roughly one to one and a half hours into the Ishasha sector and the camp. We build the flight and the transfer into your trip. If you prefer, we can make it a private charter, typically a Cessna Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, timed to fit the rest of your day.
Ishasha sits in the remote southern sector, which makes it a natural link between Queen Elizabeth and the gorillas of Bwindi, and many itineraries drive on from here to Bwindi in a few hours.
Yes. Queen Elizabeth is a year-round malaria area, as is the whole of Uganda, so it is not somewhere we would ever call malaria-free. The lakes, the Kazinga Channel and the low, warm savanna keep mosquitoes active through the year, so antimalarial cover is the sensible course. The camp sits among trees on the Ntungwe River, so the usual care against bites by the water is worth keeping up.
Malaria guidance shifts from year to year, so we always suggest confirming the current advice with a travel clinic or your doctor before you travel, and taking the usual care against bites after dark: repellent, long sleeves in the evening and the mosquito net over the bed.
It can suit families with older children who are happy in a small, unfenced tented camp where wildlife moves through the site. There are ten canvas tents rather than family suites, so it works best for parties that can take a tent or two side by side.
The draw here is the tree-climbing lions and game drives on flexible timings, which carry no age limit, so children can join them. Tell us the ages of everyone travelling and we will advise whether the camp fits and arrange the tents to suit.
The country around Ishasha is warm, open savanna, so light and breathable clothing in neutral colours is the foundation, with a sun hat, high-factor sunscreen and sunglasses for the middle of the day. Bring a warm layer for the early game drive, when the open vehicle is cool before sunrise, and insect repellent for dusk.
Binoculars repay their space here, and a scarf or buff helps against the dust on the tracks. We are happy to send a full packing list tailored to your dates once your trip is set.
Uganda's mobile networks, MTN and Airtel, cover the towns and the main roads, but the signal thins out across the remote Ishasha sector and can fade to nothing at the lodge and once you leave the main roads. Ishasha Wilderness Camp offers wifi in the main areas, best treated as enough for messages and email rather than video calls or streaming.
If staying reachable matters on your trip, tell us and we will confirm the current setup before you travel, and plan around the quieter stretches. Many guests find the drop in signal one of the better parts of being out here.
The dry months make for the easiest game viewing, January and February and again June and July. Thinning grass and shrinking water draw elephant, buffalo and kob to the Kazinga Channel and firm up the tracks south to the tree-climbing lions of Ishasha, with July the driest and most reliable of all.
The long rains of April and May can cut off parts of the Ishasha sector, but the greener months, roughly November to April, bring the migrant birds and quieter days. Because the camp sits in the Ishasha sector itself, the dry months are the safer bet, since the long rains can make parts of this southern corner harder to reach.
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