Things to do in Kibale National Park. Kibale forest national park is located in western Uganda in Kabarole district on an area of 776 sq. km. Kibale national park was gazzated in 1932 and officially established in 1993, it’s managed by Uganda wildlife authority. It’s one of the remaining parks containing lowland and montane forest. Kibale national park is a home of 13 primates with chimpanzees having the largest population, mammals such as red and blue duikers, bush bucks, sitatungas, bush pigs, leopards, mongooses and African buffalo among others.

The following are things to do in Kibale National Park

Chimpanzee habituation experience.

Chimpanzee habituation is a process of making chimpanzees get used to human beings around them which can take around two years according to wildlife conservation society. This is only done in Kibale National Park in Uganda and the price of chimpanzee habituation experience is slightly higher. Kibale national park has the most exciting chimpanzee habituation experience in Uganda this usually takes half a day or full day giving you ample time to stay with chimpanzees as you watch them breast feed, copulate, patrol, hunt and rest.

Chimpanzee habituation experience is done by 4 people accompanied by a well-trained guide and researchers and starts with 6:30am and to get involved in habituation you must have a chimpanzee habituation permit which can be got from Uganda wildlife authority. Fully day habituation goes for USD 200 foreign nonresidents and foreign residents then east African community residents UGX 150,000 while half day is USD 100 foreign nonresidents and foreign residents while UGX 75,000 for east African residents. Price is subject to change

Chimpanzee tracking.

Kibale national park has got the biggest number of chimpanzees in Uganda over 1450 chimpanzee individuals. Chimpanzee tracking activity takes you through thick forests using demarcated trails in the forest while searching for chimpanzees. Chimpanzee tracking is done in the morning at 6:00am giving you a chance see chimpanzees get out of their nest, breast feed, copulate, hunt, and patrol and wake up in the nests. But as you walk through the forest you can spot other primates like the central African monkey, black and white colobus monkey, L’hoest’s monkey, grey checked mangabey, red colobus monkey and blue monkey. But to get involved in chimpanzee tracking you must have a permit from Uganda wildlife authority which goes for USD 150 for foreign nonresidents, USD 100 for foreign residents and UGX 100,000 for East African residents

Bird watching

Kibale forest national park is a home of 375 bird species making it a good place for bird watching. While on nature walks and chimpanzee tracking you can see many beautiful birds i.e. yellow rumped tinker bird, brown crested athele, red chested owlet, black bee eater, little green bul, yellow spotted nicator, African pitta, purple- breasted sun bird, white naped pigeon and black bishop among others.

Cultural encounters.

Cultural tours in Kibale forest National Park takes you to local communities around the park., you get to visit the Batooro and Bakiga and witness their traditional art pieces, houses, traditional dances as you get entertained by local people in local dances and drama grouped in rural environment development association. You can also get to interact with elder people who get to share with you interesting stories.

Forest/nature walks

This activity takes about 6 hours and more walking a distance of 12 kilometers of walking and hiking on a trail through savannah, riverine forest, swamps and tropical forest of the park. During nature walks you can get to see animals like the bush bucks, chimpanzees, olive baboons and elephants among others. Hiking and nature walks is best done in dry season that’s months of December to January and June to September .