Chimpanzee Tracking and Habituation in Kibale
Uganda is blessed with the largest number of Chimpanzees thus making it a great destination for chimpanzee tracking in East Africa. Chimpanzee tracking and Habituation in Kibale is a very interesting experience as these animals are almost humans and share over 98% of their DNA, the chimps are so sociable, intelligent as well as communicative and their charming traits create an incredible experience. Kibale forest is the best place for chimpanzee tracking because it has about 30% of the chimpanzee population found in Uganda. You can have a great natural jungle experience while tracking these impressive creatures as you can play with them, feed them and observe them breast feeding, swinging from one tree to another.
Kanyanchu Primate Walk is the most popular activity in Kibale forest where thirteen species can be sought and a variety of diurnal monkeys invariably encountered, but the stars of this trail are the chimpanzees. Kanyanchu’s chimps have been tracked since 1993 and the chances of locating them are excellent. Guided walks start at 8am and 2pm which may last an average of three hours as early visitors get a chance of watching chimps de-nesting between 6:00 – 6:30am before feeding, copulating, hunting, breastfeeding, resting, patrolling and displaying until the time of building new nests around 7pm. The most favorite of Kibale’s walk embarks on from the Kanyanchu Visitor Center at 8:00 and 11:00am for at least 2 to 3 hours. Chimps and primates are mostly seen during the trail but there is a chance of seeing the black & white colobus, red tailed monkey or grey cheeked mangabey. You can be able to spot out pittas and different bird spices as well as plant species within the forest. The full day Chimpanzee Habituation Experience (CHEX) works with a chimp community which is undergoing habituation.
Chimps stay in groups of 10 – 100 members; they can babysit each other’s young, kiss, groom one another and even hold hands. The young chimps become independent at the age of 4 year. Chimps can be aggressive and unsociable, mainly if disturbed. Although they spend some time on ground, they normally make their sleeping nests up on the trees and normally feed on leaves, seeds, fruits plus flowers. The tracking areas are habituated which gives visitors a chance of seeing the chimpanzees in their natural habitat in the wild. Other habituated chimp tracking areas in Kibale forest include: Kanyawaraa, Ngogo, Sebitoli, Kalinzu S-Group and Kalinzu M-group purposely for research and partly tourism.
Apart from Chimpanzees, Kibale forest reserve also is a home of twelve different species of primates thus referred to as the Worlds Capital City of Primates, various mammalian species including forest elephants, forest buffaloes, both local and exotic birds, several butterfly species, mammals. While tracking Chimpanzees, you can see at least 5 of the 13 primate species in Kibale Forest. There is also Bigodi Wetlands Sanctuary where you can see various primate species, countless butterflies and birds, mammals etc. All this makes one to get a great experience when touring Kibale forest especially for chimp tracking which comes with a package of various beautiful mammals good for watching.