Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale : Kibale National park is located in Kabarole district in south western Uganda and harbors a number of wildlife that attract a number of tourists to Uganda. It covers an area of about 776km². Uganda has about 4950 chimpanzees and Kibale holds over 1500 of the chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii).
Kibale Forest national Park is one of the best safari destinations in Africa for chimpanzee trekking safaris and has the highest number and diversity of primates in East Africa. There are 13 species of primates including chimpanzees living within its 795km2 land cover with the most beautiful and most diversified tracts of tropical forest in the whole of Uganda. The Forest covering predominates in the central and northern part of the park on the raised Fort Portal plateau. At the park’s northern tip, Kibale is highest and stands 1590m above sea level
A large wildlife corridor links Kibale to Queen Elizabeth National Park, where herds of African elephants roam freely between both sanctuaries. While the park’s plethora of primates is undoubtedly its main draw, Kibale is also home to other (more elusive) animals such as leopard, buffalo, duiker, and bush pig. Bird lovers will be mesmerised by the park’s 325 recorded bird species and a hard day exploring is best topped off with a cup of coffee made from the park’s wild Robusta coffee tree.
Although 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 to February and then from June to September
Five chimpanzee communities have been fully or partly habituated to humans for research or tourism.
Chimpanzees are also visited by tourists which is called chimpanzee Trekking also known as chimpanzee habituation.
COMMON NAME: Chimpanzees
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Pan troglodytes
TYPE: Mammals
DIET: Omnivore
GROUP NAME: Community
AVERAGE LIFE SPAN IN THE WILD: 45 years
SIZE: Four to 5.5 feet
WEIGHT: 70 to 130 pounds
Chimpanzees are highly intelligent primates which share about 90% DNA with humans. they’re highly social animals that live in communities of several dozen chimpanzees led by an alpha male. Grooming is an important part of their lifestyle and they help each other remove ticks and dirt from their bodies. Chimpanzees usually walk on all fours (knuckle walking). They live mainly in the rainforests and have long arms and fingers for climbing and swinging on trees.
Chimpanzees eat a wide variety of food. Scientists have recorded about 80 different items chimps eat, including seeds, fruit, leaves, bark, honey, flowers, and insects. This makes up most of their diet.
Primate capital of the world – Kibale National Park holds extraordinary natural beauty, and is home to over 13 primate species. These monkeys are the best friends of Kibale Forest for they play a critical role in the maintenance and preservation of the forest through the dispersal of seeds.
Other animals found in Kibale National park include; read and blue duikers, bush bucks, warthogs, leopard, African golden cats, mongooses and others.
The park is also home to multiple bird species The park is a home to 325 different bird species, including 6 that are native to the Albertine Rift area like the dusky crimsonwing, black-capped apalis, blue-headed sunbird, collared apalis, red-faced woodland warbler and purple-breasted sunbird. Other Kibale specials are the green breasted pitta, African pitta, black bee-eater, Abyssinian ground thrush, yellow spotted nicator, little greenbul, black-eared ground thrush, brown chested alethe, yellow rumped tinker bird, blue-breasted kingfisher, along with the crowned eagle.
There are various lodges for accommodation for tourists and activities chimpanzee trekking happens in the entire year.
