Kibale Forest is often one of the must-visit destinations in Uganda, as it is the most famous spot to find chimpanzees in the wild. There are more places to find these wonderful apes, but here you have the biggest chance. You have to do a trekking, which is an absolute highlight! You cannot miss the trekking, but there are more things to do in the area. The green environment is so cool even without the animals, but there is wildlife in it! If you want to be fully prepared, keep reading!

Tourist occurrence: High

Price: $ 250

How to get here: The drive is 6-7 hours from Kampala

How much time needed: Around 3 hours, but it can be shorter or longer. You are allowed to be one hour around the chimpanzees.

Permit

The most important thing to arrange is a permit. If you do not have a permit, you are not allowed to do a trek. The permits can get sold out (even months beforehand in high season), so when you know when to do a permit, arrange one. Most people book a tour through Uganda with a travel agency, and they will book it for you. You can do it yourself as well. The permit is $250 per person, so it is not cheap!

Before and during the hike

At first you will go to the visitor centre, where you will get a briefing on the trekking and the chimpanzees. There is also a small performance by a local group, which is fun. After meeting your group (I will talk about it later) and guide, you will go to a certain group of chimpanzees. It can happen that you first have a small drive to get into the forest or that you will go straight into the forest from the visitor centre. The hike itself has some elevation, but with a basic condition, it is pretty easy. It depends a bit on where you enter, but it will never be very strenuous. You will be walking on dirt paths (so not always as in the picture). When you find the chimpanzees, you will spend around an hour with them before heading back to the visitor centre with a lovely experience in your pocket! Often the total time of the hike will be 2-3 hours, including one hour with the chimpanzees.

Group

At the visitor centre you will be pointed to a group and guide. With the guide, there will also be trackers and maybe an additional guide. The group consists of 6-8 people (tourists), and with this group you will go to certain chimpanzees. However, chimpanzees can come together, so it may happen that you will also find other groups of tourists. For me, this is a shame, but seeing chimpanzees is everything. Without other groups, it can be annoying that other persons in your group climb before you, so keep that in mind for yourself. The guide will keep an eye out to see if everyone in the group sees the chimps properly. 

Finding the chimpanzees!

After 40 minutes of hiking in the gorgeous forest the guide told us that she heard a chimpanzee very close. After looking a bit, we saw trees moving, and indeed, there was a nice adult male chimpanzee in the tree! It was so cool to see a couple of individuals. After a while one came down and started to move on the ground. He led us to a lot of other chimpanzees (and people) and we saw chimpanzees on the ground, which was so cool! They were only a couple of metres from us, so wow! More and more chimpanzees were around, and in total I think we saw around 30 individuals. Even when we were talking about their behaviour (after you see them, you will get information) at the end of the visit, they passed us many times. This activity is fantastic!

Is there a guarantee to find chimpanzees?

When visiting, chimpanzees always remember that you are trying to find wild animals, so there is never a guarantee of finding them. However, the chances are extremely high, as there are trackers trying to find them. I would say the chances are higher than 99% to find them. Maybe if you could not do a small hike, it could be difficult. 

Is this activity safe?

Again, you are visiting wild animals, but this is a safe activity. The chimps are habituated to humans and are used to have them around, so they will not attack you. However, the forest is not only home to chimpanzees, as there are also elephants and buffaloes. The chances of encountering them is slim, but just in case there are guards with guns. They will not shoot the animals, but in the air to get more space. I want to say it again: this happens on a rare occasion, so do not worry; it is safe.

Other monkeys

The main focus of the trekking is the chimpanzees, but that does not mean that it is the only wildlife you can encounter. I already told you about the elephants, but there are bigger chances of seeing monkey species like grey-cheeked mangabeys (picture), red-tailed monkeys, l'Hoest monkeys, and black and white colobus monkeys. The guide will stop for it, but not for too long, because there is another goal for them (and you)!

Accommodation

Around the visitor centre of Kibale Forest, there are a couple of accommodations.  I recommend staying close to the visitor centre of Kibale Forest, so if something happens with the car or the road, you can get there even by foot, so you cannot miss it. There are different accommodations in the area, ranging from easier to fancier, like Kibale Forest Camp, Turaco Treetops, and Primate Lodge. I stayed in Chimpundu Lodge (pictures above), which is very cool in the forest and is close to the visitor centre. You can go birding in the accommodation. It has a lovely pool, good food and spacious rooms. 

Age limit

The minimum age of doing a chimpanzee trekking is 15 years, but sometimes they make exceptions for children between 12-14 years, but no guarantee. You have to be this old as the kids need to listen to the guides and the chances of spreading diseases is higher towards the chimps. 

Porter

When you are trekking towards the wonderful apes, you can hire a porter to carry your bag and help you walk. In my opinion it is not necessary, as the hike is not difficult, but if you want it, you can. At the gorilla trekking it may be absolutely be very handy.

Things to bring

There are some things to bring, although you will not be away for long:

• Water
• Backpack
• Hiking shoes
• Long sleeves and trousers (for the insects)
• Sunscreen, but you are mostly in the shade, so less important
• Insect repellant (do not forget your ankles)
• Cash money (to tip the guides)
• Hat
• Camera or phone
• Binoculars (but there is a good chance you will see them close)
• Face mask (see below)

Face mask

Face masks are obligatory to take with you. The DNA of chimpanzees is so close to humans that diseases can be transferable, and we do not want to give the chimpanzees any diseases. You do not have to wear it during the whole hike, but you do when you are close to the chimpanzees. Note that the guides do not have spare face masks, so bring them yourselves!

Other things to do at Kibale Forest

Of course, the main thing to do in Kibale Forest is the chimpanzee trekking, but after lunch you can visit the Bigodi Swamp, where you can find eight different species of monkey and many different birds, including the gorgeous Ross's turaco. This is a nice hike for a couple of hours. There are also some cultural activities, like taking a coffee tour or going to the banana man to taste gin and beer made out of bananas.

Other chimp trekkings

Kibale Forest is the most famous place in Uganda (or even the world) to find chimpanzees, and the odds of finding them are extremely high. In Uganda you can also find them in the Budongo Forest in Murchison Falls National Park and in the Kyambura Gorge in the Queen Elizabeth National Park. Both have very good chances of seeing them, but the chances are not as high as in the Kibale Forest. I did a trekking in the Kyambura Gorge and it was also great!

Final Thoughts

Kibale Forest is one of the best things to do in Uganda and maybe in the whole of Africa. Seeing those apes in their natural environment is something very special. The trekking will be one of your highlights in your holiday in the 'Pearl of Africa'. Do not overlook the other birds and monkeys in the green forests. You cannot miss this activity.

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