Mweya Safari Lodge

The main building is functional rather than fabulous, with a large restaurant serving reliable buffet meals and an à la carte menu that's surprisingly good. The swimming pool area offers welcome respite from the heat, though the plastic sun loungers and concrete surrounds won't win any design awards. The bar terrace overlooking the channel is the lodge's saving grace – grab a cold beer at sunset and watch elephants wade across while fish eagles call overhead. Service can be hit-and-miss, but the staff are generally friendly.

Accommodation ranges from standard rooms in the main building to cottages and suites scattered across the grounds. Décor is firmly stuck in the 1990s with heavy wooden furniture and older soft furnishings, though everything is clean and functional. Air conditioning works well (essential in this climate), beds are comfortable enough, and hot water is usually reliable. The deluxe rooms and suites offer more space and better views, making them worth the upgrade. Don't expect luxury amenities – think practical rather than pampering.

Take a guided game drive through Queen Elizabeth Park to see some of its 95 species of mammal and hundreds of birds. Watch for warthog, the rare, aquatic sitatunga, giant forest hog, Uganda kob, topi and leopard. See the sights from the channel – yawning hippo, waterbirds, lumbering elephants and crocs sunbathing. Visit Kyambura Gorge's chimps, monkeys and buffalo. See Ishasha's tree-climbing lions and take a crater drive to Katwe, a concentration of extinct volcanoes that exploded violently aeons ago.