Kibale National Park

Our Encounter with Chimpanzees in Kibale Forest National Park

My husband and I enjoyed our unforgettable day experiencing wild chimpanzees in Kibale Forest National Park, Uganda. We visited the park in September 2013, having hired a safari guide to drive us from Kampala to visit Uganda’s national parks. We were especially eager to behold the wild primates in this extraordinary part of the world, and after our day in the Kibale Forest, we visited the mountain gorillas in Bwindi National Park and the golden monkeys in Mgahinga National Park.

At Kibale (as with the gorillas in Bwindi), a team of rangers had been tracking the chimpanzees and communicated their whereabouts via walkie talkies to the ranger guides, who led groups of visitors through the forest to find them. There were about a dozen visitors per group, and there were several groups. The duration of the hike depended on where the chimps were, and our hike through the forest that day was about an hour long, following a trail and slightly difficult, given the heat and humidity. An older man, carrying cameras and gear, seemed struggle with the hike, but the rest of the group, comprised of adults of various ages, managed it well.

Once we reached the chimpanzees, we left the trail and cut through the forest to stand beneath them, as they were high in the trees. We used binoculars and watched the chimpanzees, up in the trees, eating, resting and mating. There were females with babies, and males. The chimpanzees seemed rather nonchalant about the human visitors, below, having grown accustomed to being observed by rangers and the daily crowd of tourists. Occasionally, they urinated from the trees and the group of humans would dodge the downpour.

We learned that the female chimpanzees freely roamed the forest, passing through the territories of the males as they wished. The dominant males spent much time and energy maintaining their territories and determining status with one another. A female in estrus approached a young male, who granted her request for mating, and one realized that chimpanzee reality did not match the prevailing patriarchal interpretation of males being “in charge,” like human autocrats.

The groups of visitors were spread out in the forest with our assigned guides and had one hour to be in the midst of the chimpanzees. During our experience, the older man, who had been struggling on the trail, had a diabetic seizure and collapsed. The other tourists assisted him as our guide called for help. He gradually recovered and was escorted back to where the vehicles were parked.

After that incident, some of the male chimpanzees descended from the trees and briefly paused near us before traveling together across the forest floor. One stopped near me, giving me the wonderful opportunity to be in his presence for a few minutes. The tourists rushed after the chimps, moving quietly yet quickly through the brush, snapping photos. The male chimps sat together for a moment in a group, surrounded by photographers, before dispersing into the forest. We felt fortunate to have been so close to them, as encountering them on the ground felt very different and more intimate than watching them from a distance in trees, silhouetted against the midday sky.

After our hour with the chimps, we hiked back to where our hired safari guide was waiting of us. Despite the eager tourists with their cameras, the human behavior -on the part of the visitors, rangers and guides at Kibale – felt relatively respectful, and we were satisfied with what appeared to be a good conservation effort on the part of the national park staff to sustain the forest and this wild population of chimpanzees. It was, overall, an exhilarating and beautiful experience. My husband and I will always treasure the memory of that moment of connection, in the wilderness, with our closest primate relatives.

We went there to see the chimps which we heard calling long before we saw them up in t he trees

Excellent, because of the chimpansee's!

An incredible experience

A great experience spending one hour amongst the chimp, standing very close to them and being able to observe them in their natural environment. The vegetation is not too dense which allows for good photography The guides were great and very knowledgeable. One of the top destination in Uganda

Chimps were fascinating and the natural surrounds were really lovely. A nice stopover between Kampala and the seeing the gorillas.

Chimpanzee trekking

My wife and I did an all-day Chimp trek. So fascinating. You spend a day with them, as they travel through the forest, you share their daily routine. You see them making choices, resting, eating, drumming on trees (!), interacting. The trek itself is flat, you cover a good area, but not too hard (MUCH easier than Gorilla trekking, which I also recommend). Chimpanzees are our closest relative.. see them in the wild, in their natural habitat, up close.

The main attraction is the Chimp trekking, which is a very nice and interesting thing to do, but also a bit touristy and comparably expensive.

Wonderful place

When I headed to Kibale Forest NP my main interest was the chimpanzee tracking: the forest is said to be the best place in East Africa to spot them so a visit there was due. But I wasn't prepared to everything else Kibale has to offer: a beautiful rainforest, stunning scenery, lots of other monkeys (red tails, black and white colobous) and THOUSANDS of butterflies. Whenever walking in Kibale, be it from the lodge to the tree house or during the chimp tracking, I was followed by a multitude of colorful butterflies of different sizes: it felt like a dream!
Even without a guide it was rather easy for me to spot quite few red tails and a couple of colobous; in the afternoon, on the other side of the pond in front of my tree house, I could hear crushing sounds and could see the trees shaking: apparently there were a couple of forest elephants lingering in the area. Given the thick vegetation I couldn't really see much of them but it was a cool experience. At night, I could hear a group of monkeys coming onto mthe roof and deciding that it was a good place to rest! Fantastic, and it was only my first day!
The chimp tracking was demanding since it was in the afternoon and not in the morning: it took almost three hours to track the group but when we managed to find them, it was unbelievable. The females and the babies were in the higher tree branches, while the alpha male was keeping an eye on us. At a certain point while the group started to move, the male came down the tree and started to walk on the ground in the opposite direction, almost trying to attract us away from the females and babies. No wonder they are considered the most intelligent animal in nature. I managed to take a lot of pictures, but best of all were the countless memories I have.
All in all I'd return to Kibale in a heartbeat, even among Uganda highlights I think it's underrated: I'd put over Kibale only the Rwenzori mountains and Bwindi NP.

A surprise around every corner

We only had one full day in Kibale which was a shame as there was so much to see and enjoy there. It seemed that everywhere you turned there was a new species that you hadn't yet seen, it was full of diversity from Primates to butterflies, birds to flowers it just seemed packed to the rim with wildlife.
We did the chimp walk in the morning and within a few minutes came across three walking straight towards us, they go so fast but we managed to keep up with them and fortunately they chose to stop and groom each other on a fallen log, further along we encountered a few more of the group including Males, Females and babies.
We stayed at the Primate lodge in one of the tented camps which was set right in the middle of their gardens and had vervet and red tailed monkeys playing in the trees just in front.
We sat and watched butterflies dance amongst the flowers and then some tiny striped squirrels chasing each other around a tree.
The rooms were spotless and very comfortable, the food was great, all freshly cooked and very filling.
We also had a great walk around the Bigodi wetlands were we encountered several more primate species at close range, many forest butterflies that were only to be found in Kibale, the beautiful blue Turacos and the tiny dwarf kingfisher amongst plenty of other things. The guides were extremely knowledgable and very proud of their countries wildlife and beautiful park.
Would highly recommend and would definitely have liked to have more time in this fantastic park.

Uganda is amazing!

Visiting Kibale was part of our trip in Uganda.
We really loved Kibale. We were surrounded by chimps! They were everywhere, playing, fighting, screaming, grooming and mating.
One female stayed in her nest in the tree.
She had a young baby and we think she just didn't want to come out to join the rest of the group.
They were noisy!
It was very impressive, a completely different exerience than the gorilla's.
Our guide was really good. He had lived in the forest for years during the Amin-regime and told us really everything about plants, trees etc.
We stayed in the primate lodge which is only 5 minutes away from the startingpoint for the chimp-tracking. So very convenient.
We liked the lodge. Stayed in one of the cottages.