Chimpanzee trekking tours in Uganda are very heartwarming and offer memorable experiences. With around 5,000 chimpanzees in Uganda, you have a great chance to encounter these amazing great apes in their natural homes on a chimp trek. The minimum age for chimp trekking in Uganda is 12 years. A chimpanzee trekking tour can take between 2 to 4 hours. This also depends on their location in the forest since they are lively and mostly arboreal animals.
Chimpanzee trekking normally starts with a briefing from the expert guides at the forest. You will then be led by an excellent tracker and armed ranger into the forest. They will guide you to track a habituated group of chimpanzees. You will encounter them, and allowed only an hour to see them. This opportunity is also exciting as you will see how these chimpanzees express different behaviors in their natural homes. Afterwards you will walk back to the starting point.
To ensure your safety and the chimps, do not go for the trek while ill to avoid spreading the disease to them. Remember they share about 98% of human DNA. Do not litter, drink, eat or smoke during your chimp trek. Once you encounter the habituated chimp group, try your best to maintain a distance of 10 m from them at all times. Try to always keep quite and do not use flash photography. When nature calls, ensure to bury the waste, at least 30 cm in the ground.
What are the chimpanzee destinations in Uganda?
In Uganda, you will have a range of chimpanzee trekking destinations to choose from. Each offers quite unique chimpanzee trekking experiences. The destinations include,
Kibale National Park
This is a 795 km2 forested ecosystem found in the western part of Uganda. Kibale National Park was established as a national park in 1993. Kibale National Park is estimated to house over 1,450 chimpanzees. This is the largest population of chimpanzees in Uganda. Kibale National Park ecosystem has moist semi-deciduous forests and wet tropical forests. The ecosystem is continuous with Queen Elizabeth National Park to form a wildlife corridor.
Kibale National Park is only 320 km west of Kampala and can be reached by both road or air transport. In addition to the chimpanzees, there are other 12 primate species living in Kibale. These are L’hoest’s monkeys, Ugandan mangabeys, Ugandan red colobus monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys, blue monkeys and olive baboons etc. Other activities you can enjoy in Kibale are birding, forest walk and chimpanzee habituation experience etc.
Kyambura Gorge
This is found in Queen Elizabeth National Park, southwestern Uganda. Kyambura Gorge forms the boundary between Queen Elizabeth National Park and Kyambura Game Reserve in the Albertine Graben. With an altitude of 1,150 m above sea level, it spans about 8 km2. The depth of Kyambura Gorge ranges from 50 m to 100 m and width of between 100 m to 1000 m. Queen Elizabeth National Park is 390 km from Kampala and can be reached by road and air transport.
The vegetation is mainly comprised of riverine forest due to the River Kyambura. With over 21 chimpanzees, trekking these primates is among the key activities you will enjoy in Kyambura Gorge. Other activities to enjoy here include forest walk, birding and primate views etc. Other primates to see on your chimpanzee trek here include vervet monkeys, blue monkeys, olive baboons, black and white colobus monkeys and red colobus monkeys etc.
Budongo Forest
Budongo forest is located in the northwest of Kampala, on your way to Murchison Falls National Park. This is Uganda’s largest forest, occupying 435 km2 of land cover in northwestern Uganda. Situated at the top of the Albertine Rift Valley, Budongo Forest comprises moist semi-deciduous tropical rainforest. Budongo was also renowned for its large population of East African mahogany trees. Budongo now has a population of around 120 chimps.
Budongo Forest is around 220 km from Kampala and you can pause at Kaniyo Pabidi eco-tourism site for your chimp trek. You will access it on road via Masindi. From Murchison Falls National Park, you will drive for about 5 km from the entrance. This is after either your tour in Murchison Falls or your flight to Pakuba/Chobe Airstrip. Other activities to experience in Budongo include wildlife viewing of other primates, birds, butterflies, moths and mammals.
Kalinzu Forest Reserve
Kalinzu Forest Reserve is near Queen Elizabeth National Park, southwestern Uganda. Spanning around 137 km2 in the Albertine Rift escarpment, Kalinzu Forest Reserve is on altitudes between 700 m to 1,840 m above sea level. Kalinzu Forest houses over 230 chimps in its medium altitude moist evergreen tropical rainforests. With over 40 habituated chimpanzees, chimp trekking is a key activity you will enjoy in Kalinzu Forest Reserve.
Other primates you can encounter in Kalinzu Forest Reserve are L’hoest’s monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys and olive baboons etc. More activities for you to enjoy in Kalinzu Forest are birding, forest walk, wildlife viewing etc. You can reach Kalinzu Forest Reserve from Kampala through Masaka, Mbarara and Bushenyi. This covers a road distance of over 350 km. You can also access the forest via Queen Elizabeth either after a tour or flight.
Cost of trekking chimpanzees
In Uganda, for anyone to trek chimpanzees in the wild, they need to have a chimpanzee permit. Each permit must be used by an individual per trek. For a chimpanzee trek in Kibale National Park, the permit costs USD 250 per person.
For a chimpanzee trek in Kyambura Gorge, the permit costs USD 100 per person.
For a chimpanzee trek in either Budongo or Kalinzu Forests, each permit costs USD 130 per person.
Best time to trek chimpanzees in Uganda
Though you can do a chimpanzee trek on any day of the year, we recommend the dry season for you. This season offers warm and dry atmospheric conditions, conducive enough for you to trek through the chimp trails. The rains are minimal or lack therefore to facilitate a continuous tour. The humidity is very low and daytime temperatures are relatively warmer, at around 27oC. The dry season occurs between June to August and December to February.