Kibale Forest

Tourist Attractions in Kibale Forest National Park-Uganda

Kibale National park is most known as a home to account of 13 species of primates including the endangered chimpanzees- the closest animal to a human being which shares about 99% of the human DNA. On the African continent, Kibale national park is known as the best destination for sighting the chimpanzees because of the very big population of chimps in Kibale forest. Other species of primates in Kibale National park include; Hoest`s and blue monkeys, vervet, red-tailed and black and white Colobus monkeys, olive baboons among others. Kibale National Park is also one of the famous birding paradises in Africa with over 370 species of birds some of which are endemic like the Nathan’s francolin, blue-headed bee-eater, Cassin’s spine tail and masked apalis.

Kibale National park is also ideal for people who carry out research about plants. The forest has over 250 species of trees.

Tourist activities in Kibale Forest National Park-Uganda

The most common tourism (main visitor) activity in Kibale National Park is Chimpanzee trekking and Chimpanzee Habituation. Trekking of Chimps in Kibale national park can be done every day in the morning and in the afternoon. The starting point for this activity is Kanyankyu gate and the activity begins with a briefing by the Uganda Wildlife officials. After the briefing, the tourist heads into the forest together with the ranger guide(s) to search for chimpanzees. A group of maximum 8 people are allowed to trek the chimpanzees and after sighting them, visitors and allowed to spend 1 hour with the chimps. This is mainly done to conserve these endangered cousins on man and only those who have purchased chimpanzee permits for that particular date are allowed to trek Chimpanzee leave in groups (families) and Kibale National Park has at least 11 families that can be trekked. For the case of habituation, visitors are allowed to spend much time with the chimpanzees and learn more about the chimps as much as they can.

Chimps move freely in the wide forest so it is hard to determine the amount of time that will be spent searching for the chimps- but at least 95% of the visitors have been able to see them.

Please read through the trekking rules or consult (us) your travel agents for further assistance.

Another prominent activity in Kibale national park is birding. The Park has over 270 species of birds and some of the forest birds are endemic to this place in all over Uganda and Africa.

The search for nocturnal animals is also another common activity done by most of the visitors in Kibale National Park.

Community walks like the Bigodi Community and Swamp walk is another serious activity in Kable National Pak, this community is initiative has professionally trained staff that enables the visitors to fins more primate and birds of their interesting species like the papyrus gonolek and the great blue Turaco that are available in the park.

Tourist Accommodation Facilities in Kibale Forest National Park-Uganda

Many lodges have been built in around Kibale Forest National Park ranging from 3 main categories i.e. Luxury, Midrange and budget.

Luxury Accommodation facilities in Kibale National Park include; Kyaninga Lodge, Ndali Lodge, Primate Lodge, Crater safari Lodge, and Mountains of the moon, among other.

Midrange accommodation facilities in Kibale National Pak include; Chimpanzee forest Guesthouse, Chimps Nest and many more.

Budget accommodation facilities in Kibale Forest National Park include; Kanyankyu Rest Camp, The Frog,

Kibale National Park is located in western Uganda, about 26km south-east of Fort Portal -the closest town to the Park. Kanyankyu River Camp is the primary centre for tourism activities and this can be accessed from Kampala either from the south through Mbarara and Kamwenge or north, via Mubende and Fort Portal.

The the shortest and quickest route is the northern route, with a 300km tarmac road running to Fort Portal and 36km on murram to Kanyankyu.

There is public transport running throughout the day between Kampala and Fort Portal runs throughout the day (passing Sebitoli) and Fort Portal and Kamwenge (passing Kanyankyu).

By Air, Visitors can fly from Entebbe international airport or any other air strip and fly to Kasese airstrip. From there, a vehicle can be arranged to pick-up clients and transfer them to the lodge of their choice. Domestic airlines like KEA and Aerolink operate scheduled and nonscheduled flight to this destination every day.