Elephant Plains Lodge
Lodge · Kikorongo, escarpment above Lake Kikorongo · Great Lakes Safaris, trading as The Great Lakes Collection
A drawing, because nobody has sent us a photograph of Elephant Plains Lodge yet. Send five and this page changes the same week.
High-end
Boundary unconfirmed
Safari company
Elephant Plains looks down on Lake Kikorongo from the rift escarpment at the northern corner of the park, close to the Kasenyi plains and the equator crossing. Its own wording puts it both inside the park and a short drive from the gate, so the boundary is unsettled and entry should be budgeted separately in any case. Full board with house drinks and laundry included softens the headline figure, and Ishasha is still three hours to the south.
Pros and cons
Pros
- House drinks and laundry included in the full-board rate
- Two family cottages with two bedrooms and two bathrooms each
- 80 private acres on the rift escarpment above Lake Kikorongo
- A $5 per person community contribution is built into the rate
- Extra bed for under-18s costs $200 to $300, well below adult rate
Cons
- The lodge's own wording on the boundary contradicts itself
- Transfers, park entry and activities are billed separately
- A transfer from Kasese costs $190 each way
- Old .com domain is parked; book through the Great Lakes Collection
What's here
- Restaurant
- Bar
- Family rooms
Read from Elephant Plains Lodge's own website in July 2026. Anything not listed we could not confirm, which is not the same as it being absent.
What the park charges on top
The rate above buys you a bed. Queen Elizabeth National Park charges its own entry fee for every day you are inside. Here is what that adds up to.
- Park entryCharged per 24 hours rather than per night.
- $40per person, per day
- VehicleA Ugandan-registered 4x4, the usual hire car, at UGX 30,000; a foreign-registered 4x4 pays $150.
- $8per vehicle, per day
Three nights means three days inside, so two adults sharing one vehicle pay $264 in park fees before anyone pays for a bed.
Entry is sold in 24-hour blocks that begin when you pass the gate, so a trip that starts at midday and ends at 16:00 two days later is charged as three days, not two.
The full fee schedule for Queen Elizabeth National ParkRates at Elephant Plains Lodge
From $350 per person, full board. Rack rates from the owner's own card, valid 1 June 2026 to December 2027, in US dollars per person per night on full board. Sharing: $600 high season, $470 mid season and $350 low season. Single: $900, $750 and $525. An extra bed for anyone under 18 costs $300, $255 and $200. VAT, house drinks, laundry and a $5 community contribution are included. Transfers, park entry and activity fees are excluded, with a game drive at $160 for a half day and $275 for a full day, and a transfer from Kasese at $190. High season is July, August, September and December. Note that elephantplainslodge.com is a parked domain and not the lodge's site.
What the rate covers is not confirmed. We do not know yet whether meals, drinks and activities are included, so read this as the bed only.
Every figure on this page is in US dollars.
Indicative 2026 rates, read in September 2026 from each property's own website, rate card or factsheet. Twenty-three of the forty-two publish a rack rate of their own. The other nineteen say on request, and no agent or tour operator figure has been used to fill a gap. Watch the basis, because it decides whether two numbers can be compared at all: some quote per person per night sharing, others per room, per tent or per cottage, and meals sit inside some rates and outside others. Park entry is extra almost everywhere at $40 per foreign non-resident adult per 24 hours, plus the vehicle, and the Kazinga Channel cruise is $30 on top.
Questions about Elephant Plains Lodge
What does the rate at Elephant Plains Lodge include?
The published rate is per person on full board, and it already includes VAT, house drinks, laundry and a $5 per person community contribution. Transfers, park entrance fees and activities are billed separately, with a game drive priced at $160 for a half day or $275 for a full day, and a transfer from Kasese at $190 each way.
Is Elephant Plains Lodge inside Queen Elizabeth National Park?
That is unsettled by the lodge's own wording. Its site says in one place that it stands on the western escarpment of the Albertine Rift inside the park, then says in the same paragraph that it is a short drive from the park gate, and its factsheet gives an address on the Bwera road. Ask directly whether your stay includes a daily park entry fee.
Is Elephant Plains Lodge good for families?
Yes. Of its eight cottages on 80 acres, two are family cottages with two bedrooms and two bathrooms each, spaced apart for privacy. An extra bed for anyone under 18 costs $200 to $300 depending on season, well below the adult rate. The Great Lakes Collection's rack-rate sheet puts its child policy at ages 3 to 12, with 8 to 12 year olds paying half the adult rate when sharing with adults, so ask directly about children under 3.
How much does Elephant Plains Lodge cost?
Rack rates for 2026 to 2027 run per person on full board: sharing costs $600 in high season, $470 in mid season and $350 in low season, with single occupancy roughly fifty percent more. High season is July, August, September and December. Note that elephantplainslodge.com is a parked domain and not the lodge's own site; book through The Great Lakes Collection instead.