Month by month
Queen Elizabeth in March
March contains the sharpest turn in this park's calendar. Rainfall goes from 36 mm in February to 213 mm, and the flight schedule halves in the same week.
If you only want the answer
March averages 213 mm over twelve rain days, nearly six times February's total, and it is the first of the four months in which Aerolink drops to one flight each way per day. Lodge rates have not fully fallen yet, which makes March the weakest value month in the year for most travellers.
Queen Elizabeth weather in March: the biggest single jump in the calendar
February closes at 36 mm over three rain days. March opens at 213 mm over twelve. That is an increase of 177 mm, the largest month-on-month change anywhere in the year, larger even than the 126 mm step from March into April. Nights are also the warmest of the year at 19.9 degrees, which is what humid air does at the start of a wet season.
UWA's own seasonal calendar agrees on this one. Its management plan names March, April, May and August to November as the wet months, so March is where the official wet season starts as well as where the climate normals put the break. There is no ambiguity about this month.
The flights thin out at the same moment
Aerolink's 2026 timetable runs flights A8 117/118, A8 121/122 and A8 131/132 all year except in March, April, May and November. From March that leaves A8 111/112 only, departing Entebbe at 07:00 and returning from Kasese at 08:35. One way in, one way out, per day.
That matters more than it sounds. Kasese is a grass airstrip with no fuel and no fire service, and Mweya is another 1.5 to 2 hours by road beyond it, so a missed connection is not easily patched. The alternative is the drive, which UWA puts at 410 km and at least seven to eight hours from Kampala on tarmac the whole way. In March the tarmac is the reliable option and the airstrip is the fragile one.
Wet weather, dry-season prices
The lodges that publish a low season mostly start it in April. Pumba Safari Cottages and Topi Lodge both define theirs as April, May and November. The River Station and Honey Bear Bush Camp call April, May, October and November their green season. Elephant Plains runs high season in July, August, September and December, with a mid season that covers the rest.
So March gets the rainfall of the green season without most of the discount and without the full flight schedule. If the month is fixed for you it is entirely workable, since nothing closes and the $40 entry fee and the $30 Kazinga launch do not move with the season. If the month is flexible, April buys you more rain and a real saving, and June buys you far less rain for a modest premium.