Chimpanzee Trekking in Kibale National Park.
When visiting Uganda, one of the most popular tourist activities is chimpanzee trekking in Kibale National Park. In the Kabarole area of western Uganda, close to Fort Portal Town, is Kibale National Park, a verdant forest cover. It has lowland and montane forest cover and is 776 square kilometers in size. Kibale National Park, which was designated a national park in 1993, is home to a variety of plants and animals that draw tourists from all over the world.
The park is a birder’s paradise, home to over 325 bird species, including the dusky crimson wing. Numerous primates may be seen in the park, including chimpanzees, olive baboons, red-tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, and red colobus monkeys. The chimpanzees that live in Kibale Forest are the reason why so many people go to Kibale National Park, the world’s primate capital, to engage in chimpanzee trekking.
The large number of chimpanzees that live in Kibale National Park makes chimpanzee trekking feasible. With over 1500 chimpanzees, Kibale is perhaps the best place to monitor chimps out of the 21 African nations where they live.
Hiking through the forest cover to find chimpanzees in their natural environment is known as “chimpanzee trekking.” A process of habituation must occur in order to make the chimpanzees in the park comfortable enough to accept human presence and contact. When visiting Kibale, visitors have the opportunity to monitor the habituated chimpanzees.
There are four chimpanzee groups in Kibale that visitors may visit every day and spend an hour with. The groups of chimpanzees vary in size from 10 to 100 individuals. The Kanyawara group, which has 50–60 people, the Sebitoli community, the Kanyanchu group, which was the first to be seen by visitors in 1993, and the fourth group, which is located in the park’s idle area and has 200 or more individuals, are among the chimpanzee groups.
Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale National Park begins at 8 a.m. at the Kanyanchu visitor center, where park rangers greet visitors, explain the nature of their activity, divide them into groups, assign them to a chimpanzee troop to follow, and then go off to find the chimps in their natural environment. Depending on the terrain and the chimpanzee group’s location, the walk takes two to five hours.
Tourists are given an hour to spend with the chimpanzees, who are often seen making noise as they bounce from one limb to tree, eat leaves, fruits, shoots, roots, and insects, groom, and sometimes relax. Tourists travel back to the visitor center after spending an hour with them. The overall distance of the journey is around 12 kilometers.
Tourists must purchase chimp permits from the Uganda Wildlife Authority offices or through a reliable tour operator in order to engage in chimpanzee trekking in Kibale National Park. These permits will be available starting in July 2020 and cost $200 for foreign residents and non-residents and UGX150,000 for East African citizens. Chimpanzee permits are in great demand and sell out quickly, so it is best to get them well in advance.
You will have an amazing experience if you have the proper chimpanzee tracking equipment. Some suggested things are as follows:
High-quality hiking boots with enough traction
A raincoat in case of rain
Wear long-sleeved clothing to protect your arms from the potentially reactive, scratchy, and lengthy vegetation.
Sunglasses and sunscreen are essential in very hot conditions.
A bag to protect your belongings
Binoculars
Creams that repel insects
Energy-boosting foods and enough hydration
An excellent camera for taking photos
The following guidelines are established to protect chimpanzees and their natural environment while also ensuring the safety of tourists:
Visitors under the age of twelve are not permitted to follow the chimps.
People who are ill with contagious illnesses, such as the flu, shouldn’t participate in chimpanzee tracking.
Keep your distance from the chimpanzees at 8 meters.
Avoid eating in front of chimpanzees since they may attack you and take your food.
Avoid using flash cameras while shooting images or movies.
Avoid making noise because chimpanzees may misinterpret your noises and attack.
Stay with your group at all times.
Leave the park as you found it; don’t trash it. Put trash in the designated trash cans or bring it back to the park headquarters so you can get rid of it.
Avoid using superfluous body language or indicators.
In Kibale National Park, chimpanzee trekking is possible throughout the year.
The best time to go is during the dry season, which is also the busiest time of year, since the roads and walkways are easier to reach and less slick. The dry season lasts from December to February and from June to September.
The remaining months are referred to as the low and rainy seasons. Visitors may save a lot of money on their chimpanzee safari packages at this time of year since lodge prices are cheap, the park is less popular, and the chimpanzees are easy to find because they don’t have to go far to get food because there is enough of it.
All travelers may select from excellent lodging options in Kibale National Park. Travelers may be guaranteed of excellent service, delectable organic cuisine, and really comfortable resting places in both luxury and basic/budget housing alternatives. It is best to make hotel reservations as soon as possible, especially if you want to travel during a busy time of year.
It takes four hours to travel from Kampala to Kibale National Park via the Mubende and Fort portals in the north. The Kampala-Mbarara-Kamwenge route may be taken to access the southern portion of the park. Charter flights are available from Entebbe or Kampala to Kasese airfield, from whence visitors may be transported to the park.
Travelers may engage in the exhilarating pastime of chimpanzee tracking at Kibale National Park. Other park activities can be added to their chimpanzee tracking safari, such as chimpanzee habituation, which allows visitors to spend an entire day with wild gorillas that are being tamed to interact with humans, bird watching, and nature walks that take you on a thorough exploration of the park on foot, where you can see a variety of primates, animals, including elephants, and locals.
Travelers may observe both chimpanzees and gorillas in Uganda by taking a Primate Safari to Kibale and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. For assistance organizing the ideal chimpanzee safari in Kibale National Park, get in contact with a reputable tour operator.
