If you ever wondered where you would wish to trek chimpanzees in the world, there is no other place on the planet that can beat it, Kibale National Park.
Second to none, Kibale National Park, boasts of having the largest chimpanzee community, with over 1500 chimpanzees, and a habituated community having over 200 individuals. The Ngogo chimpanzee community, is known as the largest, chimpanzee community ever recorded.
Kibale Forest National Park lies just outside the colonial town of Fort Portal and is made up of dense tropical rainforest. This park is considered one of the big highlights of Uganda and is known as the primate capital of the world, boasting of having over 13 primate species. A big number of primates residing can be found here and particularly a visit to one of the habituated chimpanzee groups is a very memorable experience. The rare red colobus as well as the black and white colobus, red tailed monkey, olive baboon, the blue Monkey and l’hoest’s monkeys are also regularly seen here. Where would you find a better spot to experience encounters with nature; smelling the forest and listening to the many sounds.
Chimpanzee trekking experience at Kibale National Park, you will not only see the chimpanzee, but have a great opportunity to sight other primates, as the park boasts of having more than 13 primates species. You will as well as enjoy an incredible nature walk, and great opportunity to spot the winged ones, the park being a birder’s paradise, where one can see the great blue turaco and green-breasted pitta.
There are some forest elephants and buffalos around the forest when it comes to big mammals. However, rangers will try to avoid them at all costs (these are very dangerous animals to encounter). Rangers also mention that lions and leopards are still living inside the Kibale National Park – although the chances of spotting one of these species are basically zero.
There are two sessions for the chimpanzee trekking experience at Kibale National Park, namely, morning trekking, which starts at 8 am, and the afternoon trek, which starts at 2 pm. Trekkers are supposed to report 30 minutes early before the trekking time at Kanyanchu visitor center.
The chimpanzee permit costs 200 dollars, for those trekking at Kanyawaala trekking site and 400 dollars per person at Ngongo trekking site.
Kibale National Park has two trekking sites, namely Ngongo and Kanyawaala.
Those who wish to do the Chimpanzee habituation experience at Kibale National Park, they will pay 250 dollars per person, and the permits are limited to only 4 people per day.
Whether you go tracking or for a habituation tour, tracing chimpanzees at the Kibale National Park in Uganda is an adventure to never forget.
While the trek length is quite unpredictable beforehand, the time spent with the chimpanzees is quite strict and practically un-negotiable. Travelers on a tracking tour spend exactly one hour with the chimpanzees once the ranger finds them. During this time, you can observe the chimpanzees’ behavior, learn about their family compositions and take as many photos as possible. Because most of the chimpanzee families in Kibale National Park are used to human presence (a process called habituation), they will not run out. Not only that, if they feel comfortable with your company, they might even get closer to you and play around you.
But one hour is not enough to get a complete picture of a chimpanzee’s morning behavior. Chimps are pretty distanced initially, and for the first 15 to 20 minutes, they behave more curious than usual. Fortunately, for those wanting to see more, there are habituation tours. For this experience, visitors spend up to 12 hours with the chimps and get a closer encounter with these animals and observe them in a more personal way.
Other places you can be able to see the chimpanzees in Uganda in the wilderness include Kalinzu forest reserve and Kyambura Gorge in Queen Elizabeth National Park, and Budongo forest reserve at Murchison Falls National Park. In Rwanda, you can spot chimpanzees at Nyungwe forest National Park.
You can however, combine your chimpanzee trekking, together with gorilla trekking safari, for an incredible Uganda safari.
Travelers can visit Kibale National Park entirely independently, on a private Uganda Safaris. Permits can get pre-arranged by One More Adventure Safaris, who specialize on curating tailor made safaris to Uganda, and other regions in East Africa. Get in touch with their travel expert, for more information regarding tailoring chimpanzee trekking tours.
Once you start a trip planned by One More Adventure Safaris, you fall into the One More Adventure rhythm. No request is too small, neither complicated, we curate the entire trip with you, from start until when you meet your interest and budget at hand. Our rapport with the local guides and continuous assessment of your interests and needs demonstrated the diamond standard of all safari specialists. We are also available outside working hours when a couple of things needs to get done.