Kibale Forest National Park is one of the best destinations in Africa for chimpanzee trekking safaris and has got the highest number and diversity of primates in East Africa. The park has got 13 number of primates including chimpanzees living with in its 795km of land cover with the most beautiful and most diversified tracts of tropical forest in the whole of Uganda. The forest covers predominate in the central and northern part of the park on Fort portal plateau. The park is one of the best safari destination in Africa for chimpanzee tracking

The national park is located in the western part of Uganda about 348km from Kampala and about 26km south east of the beautiful town of fort portal. This is one of Uganda’s most lovely places to explore. Its located close to the serene Ndali Kasenda crater area and it takes a half day’s drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park, Rwenzori Mountains & Semuliki National parks and the Toro Semliki Wildlife Reserve. Kibale borders Queen Elizabeth National Park and Collectively these areas protect a 180km long migration corridor for wildlife that extends from the remote southern sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park in Ishasha to Sebitoli in northern Kibale.

The park has got different varieties of wildlife habitat that range from the most evergreen forest along the Fort portal plateau, then through the dry tropical forest, and then to the woodland and savanna along the rift valley floor. In the central part of the park, around Kanyanchu, the high forest consists of a mixture of evergreen trees and deciduous with the evergreen species being so dominant. The vegetation here includes herbs, ferns, shrubs, broad leaved forest grasses as well as 351 tree species.

With 13 different species, the variety of primates in Kibale National Park is the highest in the whole of Africa. The most popular of these are the chimpanzees with over 1450 individuals that live here making it the best destination to enjoy a chimpanzee tracking tour. A safari will enable you to see all these primates. Kibale is home to the un common L’Hoest’s monkeys, red colombus monkeys, black and white colobus, blue monkeys, grey cheeked Mangabeys, bush babies, as well as the potto among others. There are many other animal species in the park and some of these consist buffaloes, leopards, bush pigs, elephants as well as duikers. There are also many other amphibians as well as Reptiles.

Even though Kibale National park is accessible throughout the year, the best time to visit the park is during the dry season when the trails are dry and passable. This runs from December m to February and then from June to September. The western area in Kibale is the northern area, receiving an average annual rainfall of approximately 1700mm, mainly during March to May and September to November. The climate is pleasant with an average annual temperature range of 14C to 27C. The southern part of the park experiences the maximum temperatures and lower amounts of rains where the terrain provides way to open grassland.

The park has got many activities and some of these include;

Kibale Forest Hikes/ Walking Trails

The forest walk trail is 12km long and the hike is done in the dry season from the month of June to September are mid-November to February, taking between 5 and 6 hours. Hiking safaris offer you an opportunity to discover the park’s assorted habitats like riverline forest, swamp, grassland and tropical rainforest.

Bird watching in Kibale

The park is home to 325 different bird species including 6 that are native to the Albertine Rift area like the dusky crimsonwing, blue headed sunbird, black capped apalis, red faced woodland warbler and the purple breasted sunbird. Other Kibale species are the green breated pitta, African pitta, black bee eater, Abyssiania ground thrush, yellow spotted nictor, black eared ground thrush, brown chested alethe. The Bigodi nature walk offers the best bird watching opportunities in the park as the swamp alone has 138 bird species. It’s a famous for wildlife such as chimpanzees, red colobus, black and white colobus, red tailed monkeys, mongoose and bushbuck.

Cultural Tours around Kibale

This is led by a local guide; you will get a chance to meet the native Batooro people as well as the Bakiga immigrants who stay around this park. During the Kibale cultural tours, you will visit a traditional village to see the traditional lifestyle of the Batoro, visit the local church, primary school, traditional healer and get a closer encounter with these natives. You will also enjoy traditional dances and songs by the Bakiga.

Crater Lakes tour

The Kasenda area found in Fort portal is home to more than 50 different crater lakes which are surrounded by steep sided volcanoes. A visit to this great area will give you an opportunity to appreciate the unique landscape of this area. This is a natural paraside off the beaten track as it takes you to the crater lakes. Its located near the two important National parks in Uganda. The crater lakes in Ndali Kasenda area were formed during the ancient volcanic activity that took place over 10000 years ago leaving behind calderas that later formed the scenic crater lakes in the Kibale Ndali Kasenda area.

The ndali Kasenda view point is an elevated area known as the top of the world which are between the Kibale Kamwenge and ndali roads providing great views of the crater area, the Rwenzori mountain, tea plantations, Kibale Forest National Park, Lake George and Kichwarnba escarpment in the rift valley. The Kibale Ndali Kasenda area has got many crater lakes including; Lake Nkuruba, Lake Lyantonde, Lake Nyabikere, Lake Nyinambuga, Lake Kifuruka and many more.

Cultural Trails

The nature walks begin from Kanyanchu or sebitoli and it takes about 2 to 6 days. The enroute will help you discover the forest and late rest in the community run campsites close to the villages of Kikoni, Nyakalongo  and Nyaibanda.

Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale National Park

In Uganda, chimpanzees can be tracked in Toro- Semliki wildlife reserve, Kyambura Gorge of Queen Elizabeth National Park, Budongo Forest reserve, Kibale National Park and Kalinzu Forest Reserve. Those who wish to see chimps in confined places can visit the Ngamba Island Sanctuary for rescued and the orphaned chimpanzees or the Wildlife Education Centre in Entebbe. With over 1500 chimps, Kibale National Park is the best place for tracking chimpanzees in the world. Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale starts at 8am with a briefing from the rangers at the visitor’s center in Kanyanchu. The briefing covers the vital aspects of the activity like what to expect, length of the activity and how to act around the primates.

The rangers will also give you a brief background of the forest and chimpanzees in general. After the briefing, it’s time to head out into the forest. This ranger moves with a gun to scare off large mammals like the elephants and chimps which are too wild. Kibale National Park is the only place where you have guarantee of seeing these chimpanzee species. Chimpanzees are very loud and you can hear them hooting miles away even before spotting them.   However, you still need to follow them, sometimes at a high speed in order to catch up with them. The chimps are very observant, so that by the time you spot them, they would have already seen you.

The chimps are not so gentle like the mountain gorillas, once you are in the midst, expect a lot of drama and activity. You will see them for food, breastfeed, groom each other and mate. You may even witness the fights between members of the group or larger males. Like we humans, each chimp has a unique personality and behavior. Some are quiet, others are shy while some like bullying others. Chimpanzee trekking can leave you with a strained neck because the primates love staying on top of the trees. You need to be aware of falling fruits, urine and even poop. The chimpanzee permits for chimpanzee trekking in Kibale National Park cost $ 200 per person.

The main accommodation facilities in Kibale include; Primate Lodge, Ndali Lodge, Kyaninga safari Lodge, chimpanzee forest guest House, Kibale Forest Camp and Kibale Forest Cottages.

How to access Kibale National Park

Kibale National Park is suited in the western part of Uganda and covers an area of about 26km south east of fort portal, Kanyanchu river camp is well known to be the heart of tourism activities and this is easily accessible from Kampala from the North through Mubenda as well as Fort portal. In the southern part, you can use Mbarara or Kamwenge road to get to the park. The northern route is shorter and faster and has a distance which is about 300km with a tarmac road going to Fort portal and a distance of 36km on murram to Kanyanchu. The Sebitoli forest camp is accessible and its second in the tourism sector. It’s a direct route from Kampala with about 16km prior to Fort port. In case you want to use a bus, it will be easy because it runs daily from Kampala to Fort portal via Sebitoli then Fort portal along with Kamwenge via Kanyanchu.