Kibale National Park Uganda

Kibale National Park a mainly forested park is the ultimate chimpanzee trekking destination in Africa and a must-visit for primate lovers during any primate tracking tour in Uganda.

The park is home to over 1400 chimpanzees and other 13 primate species. Kibale National Park is a tropical rainforest located in the districts of Kabarole and Kamwenge.

Chimpanzee Trekking in Kibale National Park

The park has one of the best vegetation covers with luxuriant yet dense vegetation that forms such a great forest to explore. Kibale Forest National Park is comprised of varied tracts of tropical forest cover interspersed with patches of grasslands and swamps dominated in the northern and central parts of the park. The park covers about 795 square kilometers.

To get to Kibale Forest National Park, tourists can reach by road from any part of the country. It is about 320 kilometers by road west of Kampala, Uganda’s capital, and majorly accessed by road.

The best time of the year to go chimpanzee trekking is during the months of April to May.

This is, however, the rainy season and not a good time for other Uganda safari activities but then referred to as the best time for chimpanzee trekking.  June to October is the best time of the year to visit Uganda and do any kinds of activity, you can also go chimpanzee trekking during this time.

Things to do in Kibale Forest National Park

With the abundant wildlife in the forest national park, tourists have a lot to set their eyes on and these create great safari memories for any trip. Here are the different activities that tourists can undertake in the park;

Chimpanzee trekking

Chimpanzees are man’s closest relatives and the main attraction in the forest with thousands of tourists visiting to have a trekking experience each year. Kibale has the most chimpanzees in Uganda and Africa as a whole. Chimpanzee trekking is such an exhilarating experience as you get to walk through the tropical forest.

Chimpanzee trekking starts from the park headquarters for a trek through the forest in search of the chimps. Walking through the jungle, the echoes from the chimpanzees will always keep you going and searching for the chimps. When you get to see the chimps they will enchant you for about 1 hour as you have a chance to watch, experience, and take recordings of these amazing apes. Bird watching

Though popular for chimpanzee trekking, Kibale forest is a large block of rainforest that offers excellent birding experiences with about 400 bird species. These include the Weaver bird, Pied Hornbill, Afep Pigeon, Narina Trogon, Hairy breasted Barbet, Yellow Spotted Barbet, Yellow-billed Barbet, Greenbul, Chestnut Starling, and the shy Green Breasted Pitta. The nearby community-run Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary offers birders an impressive bird list of 335 species. Birders can visit the wetland and have a great bird-watching experience, especially with the various bird sightings.

Chimpanzees are not all the park has however other species like the uncommon L’Hoest’s monkey, East Africa’s largest population of the threatened Red Colobus monkey, black and white colobus monkey, blue monkey, Grey-cheeked mangabey, Red-tailed monkey, Bushbaby, and Potto.