How many chimpanzee trekking permits are available daily in Kibale Forest National Park? Chimpanzee tracking is the most done activity in Kibale Forest National Park found in the southwestern part of Uganda. Kibale forest national park is one of the destinations for you to do your chimpanzee trekking safaris. In the whole of Africa, Kibale has got the highest concentration of chimpanzees. The Forested Park is located in Southwestern Uganda spanning into the districts of Kamwengye, Kabarole, Kyegegwa, and Kyenjojo. Kibale National park poses Kibale forest that is tropical making it a habitat for several species of wildlife including plant species, primates, insects, tree species, mammals, and other wildlife of nature. The park has got over 1500 species of individual chimpanzees and it can be accessed by road transport from Entebbe international airport or Kampala city for about 4 to 5 hours’ drive. Kibale Forest National Park is of great significance to primate tourism in Uganda and has contributed massively to cultural tourism development in the country. The safaris trip to trek and see chimpanzees ate the most common in Kibale forest National Park and both chimpanzee tracking and habituation experience takes place in this park. Like any other park of Uganda, Kibale National park is managed by Uganda Wildlife Authority.

Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale Forest National park starts at Kanyanyu visitor information center in the morning for briefing before going into the forest for chimpanzee trekking. Visitors must have a valid chimpanzee permit to be allowed to the park for this particular activity. The chimpanzee trekking permit allows to for a primate to walk into the forest and once the chimpanzees are found then you will spend only one hour with them. Visitors move into a group of 8 to trek one chimpanzee group. Visitors should acquire the chimpanzee trekking permits early enough to execute this wonderful activity. Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale Forest National Park is done both in the morning and in the afternoon hours.  There are 56 chimpanzee permits in the morning meaning the visitors can visit 7 habituated chimpanzee families and 36 chimpanzee permits afternoon.

Kibale forest National park started as a forest reserve in the year 1940s and was granted national park status after it was found that the park harbors a lot of wildlife species including 71 species of mammals, over 370 species of birds, and 350 tree species. Kibale forest national park is famous for its primates and sometimes is referred to as the primate capital of the world. There are 13 primate species including chimpanzees which dominate the whole forest. Other species include buffaloes, elephants, Forest hogs though rare to see these monkey species. Other primates within Kibale Forest National Park include red colobus and L’Hoest’s monkeys.

Chimpanzee tracking in Kibale Forest National Park

Chimpanzee trekking is one of the most exciting activities in Uganda done by visitors involving an individual taking a walk in Kibale National Park in search of primates. Chimpanzees share 98% DNA with human beings and this excites travelers and makes them very interested in tracking and learning their behaviors. In Uganda, chimpanzees are found in Kibale National Park, Kyambura gorge, Kalinzu forest and Budongo forest in Murchison falls National Park. Other interesting primates found in Kibale National Park include red-tailed guenon, L’hoest’s monkey, gray-cheeked mangabey, black and white colobus monkey, blue monkey, red colobus, white-nosed monkey, and nocturnal pottos, bush babies, olive baboons among others.

Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale National Park is done best in the Kanyanchu area where chimpanzees live most. Chimpanzee tracking is usually best done in the morning hours around 08:00 am where you get to see chimpanzees head out of their nests to look for food in the forest area and at 3:00 pm as you view chimpanzees swing across the trees at the same time evening hours is when chimpanzees are getting back to their nests after a full day of hunting for food. For visitors to engage in chimpanzee trekking activity they must have a chimpanzee trekking permit from the Uganda wildlife authority to access Kibale National Park and engage in the activity. The chimpanzee trekking permit goes for USD200 for foreign residents and foreign nonresidents this permit allows you to stay with chimpanzees for one hour. Visitors need to note the following when going for chimpanzee tracking in Kibale Forest National park; Children below the age of 15 years are not allowed to track chimpanzees, a visit that has come into contact with a chimpanzee must remain 8 meters away to avoid contamination with human diseases.

Chimpanzees in Kibale Forest National Park are associated with two activities that are gorilla trekking and chimpanzee habituation process.

Chimpanzee habituation safaris in Kibale Forest National Park

Chimpanzee habituation is a process of training chimpanzees to get used to having human beings around them and preparing them to be tracked and the chimpanzee habituation experience enables visitors to accompany researchers in the forest. Kibale National Park has over 1500 chimpanzees alone in Uganda. Chimpanzee habituation activity is available on a full or half-day basis. Visitors can go early at 6:00 – 6:00 am and watch chimpanzees leaving their nests before feeding, copulation, hunting, breastfeeding, resting, patrolling, and displaying up to when it’s their time to build other nests at 7 pm

For one to carry out chimpanzee habituation they need a permit from the Uganda wildlife authority these permits are more expensive than chimpanzee tracking permits and these permits are supposed to be booked 3 months before the actual date. These permits go for USD 220 for foreign nonresidents, USD 150 for foreign residents, and USD 70 for east African citizens that’s Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania.

On the day of habituation, you will take your breakfast and pack your lunch then head out to meet the guide that will lead you while in the forest. Only 4 people /tourists are allowed to go for the chimpanzee habituation process to go and see these chimpanzees. If you are lucky and you woke up early you will find these chimpanzees in their nests and see them copulate, breastfeed, patrol their territories and hunt or even see them build the nets where they are going to sleep at night.

How to book chimpanzee permits for Kibale forest National Park-Uganda?

Yes as we earlier said that you will need chimpanzee trekking permits to be able to see chimpanzees in Kibale Forest National park, it is fantastic that we take through the process of how best you can book a chimpanzee trekking permit to Kibale forest National Park in Uganda. It is very easy to book and secure your chimpanzee trekking permit with us at Africa adventure vacations by sending us your interests about chimpanzee trekking and for us, we shall check if there is the availability of the permits basing on your preferred dates of travel and after we have checked for the availability we shall send you the invoice for you to pay and after paying then,  we shall secure and book your chimpanzee trekking permit and send you the scanned copies of your gorilla trekking permit including all your particulars and then for you will just wait for your date of travel and come to Kibale forest national park and enjoy the experience. The same procedure is used for booking the chimpanzee habituation process in Kibale Forest National Park.

It is good that you book chimpanzee gorilla trekking permits to Kibale forest national park because for them they ate relatively cheaper when you compare them with gorilla trekking permits in Bwindi or Mgahinga National park. The cost of chimpanzee tracking gives you the chance to visit the second endangered promoted after gorillas. With the highest concentration of chimpanzees of about 1500 individual Chimpanzees in Kibale forest National Park then, you stand more than 99% to see chimpanzees in Kibale Forest National Park.

How to get to Kibale forest National Park?

Kibale Forest National Park can be reached by the use of road transport from Kampala or Entebbe. The road trip from Kampala to Kibale forest National Park will take only 4 to 5 hours as you enjoy beautiful sceneries of plantation farms and the hospital local people of Uganda. From Kampala with our driver guides you will start the trip early in the morning at around 8:00 am in order not to be inconvenienced with the traffic jam of the city center streets and by afternoon you will already be at your hotel for check-in. Travelers who find it tiresome can as well opt to use the chartered flights that are available from Entebbe international airport/Kajjansi airfield to Kasese airstrip found in Queen Elizabeth national park and then connect to Kibale forest National Park. With chartered flights, the visitors will reach Kibale forest National Park in just 2 hours.  Morning and evening scheduled flights are available at Entebbe/Kajjansi and are operated by Aerolink Uganda limited so it’s up to you to choose where to use air transport or road transport to connect to Kibale forest national park to see chimpanzees.

Accommodation in Kibale Forest National Park?

Attached to its importance, Kibale forest National Park provides a range of accommodation facilities where you can choose the best accommodation that suits you. The accommodation facilities range from budget up to luxury lodges all with stander services that match your expectation. Most of the accommodation lodges lie at the edge of the park with cottages overlooking the tropical Kibale forest. One of the best lodges includes the Ndali Lodge, Isunga lodge, chimpanzee forest guest house, primate lose, Papaya lodge, Kyaninga lodge, and Turaco tree tops among others. You can as well options stay in Fortportal since it is near and you can linkup got the park easily.

Other activities that you do in Kibale National park other than Chimpanzee trekking and habituation experience.

Crater Lake Tours in Kibale Forest National Park

Kibale Forest National Park is surrounded by several crater lakes which you can visit for the best photography and scenic views. Learn about the history of each lake visited and how it was formed.

Bird watching in Kibale forest National Park

Kibale forest national park is home to over 300 bird species and this acts as the best destination for birders. Bird-watching tours in Kibale Forest National park involve bird watching in Bigodi Wetland sanctuary where you can get a chance of seeing several bird species. Most of the bird species that you will see while on a birding tour in Kibale forest national park include  Red-capped and Blue-shouldered Robin-chat, Red-tailed Ant-thrush, Rufous Flycatcher-Thrush, Red-tailed and Little Greenbul, Yellow-spotted, Red-winged Francolin, White-naped and Afep Pigeon, Scally-breasted, Buff-spotted, Yellow-crested Woodpecker, Black-billed Turaco, Red-winged Francolin, Hairy-breasted and Yellow-billed Barbet, Yellow-whiskered among other bird species

Night Guided Walks in Kibale Forest National Park

Here, we expect you to do night walks over the forest in search of nocturnal animals. This is an interesting activity for visitors to enjoy. The animals that you can see here include Bushbabies, Pottos, and galagos. This is the real nightlife in Kibale Forest National Park. For more information, you can contact us at Africa Adventure Vacations.

Nature walks

Forest Nature walks in Kibale Forest National will unable you see different species such the ancient tree species, bird species, and mammals. During nature walks safaris, you will be able to focus on these as not the case during chimpanzee trekking. Visitors can as well go with their young ones for this activity since it can be done in a small area and on the outskirts of the park.