Bugoma Forest Reserve
Expert Reviews (1)
Uganda Parks
Charlotte lives in Uganda and is a writer, blogger, volunteer and promoter of birding, conservation and responsible tourism. She writes for Fodor’s, Horizon Guides and Bradt, and runs an award-winning blog.
Save Our Primates – Visit Bugoma!
If you’re a primate-lover, the 402km² Bugoma Forest Reserve has plenty to offer (minus the crowds you sometimes find at more established tracking sites across Uganda).
One of the reserve’s key attractions is the Uganda mangabey, an endemic species of monkey. Bugoma is one of the few places in Uganda where visitors can track them.
What’s more, by taking part in the chimpanzee habituation (and, in due course, tracking the chimps), visitors are helping to give this indigenous forest valuable visibility. Approximately 600 endangered chimpanzees live in the forest. Habitat loss is the single biggest threat to this great ape’s survival. Every little forest fragment must be protected. The habituation (getting them slowly used to human presence without impacting their everyday behaviour) of Bugoma’s chimpanzee population started in 2019. The controversial plan to cut several hundred acres of virgin forest to grow sugar cane has been met with outcry, but the forest’s future remains in the balance. Swathes of forest have already been felled.
According to local NGO NatureUganda, the forest is home to 38 species of mammals and 225 bird species including the rare Nahan’s francolin. Numerous barbets and tinkerbirds, as well as white-thighed hornbill and black-billed turaco are some of this Important Bird Area’s memorable species.