If you fancy tracking and hanging out with chimpanzees on holiday, then Uganda should be your next destination. Uganda has one of the largest chimp populations and a variety of places to track chimpanzees. Chimpanzees in Uganda are mainly found in protected areas and come in different shapes and sizes.
Chimpanzees belong to the family of great apes that include gorillas and orangutans. Chimpanzees share around 98 percent of their dna with humans. Due to this fact, they have large brains and are very intelligent with great ability to learn new things. Chimpanzee tracking is not only fascinating, but also comes with a lot of fun. Chimps tend to move around more, and you can feel like a child on an adventure following them through the forest.
The treks last about three hours and include a maximum of one hour with the chimps, during which you can expect to see them from a safe but intimate distance of 8-10 metres. Get up close and personal with the chimpanzees and discover their beauty, intelligence, and social structures.
Current estimates for the total wild population of chimpanzees range from 150,000 to 250,000. Uganda is home to over 5,000 chimpanzees in the wild with a sizeable number of communities habituated. Almost 1,500 are found in Kibale National Park, the most popular place for chimp tracking in the country.
Chimp tracking is a great experience. Looking for dung, working out what the chimps have been eating, finding a detached figs from trees, trailing markings left in soft grounds by chimp feet among other all make the exercise real.
Where to track Chimps in Uganda
Kibale National Park
Kibale is best place to track chimpanzees in East Africa. Referred to as a primate playground, it is home to over 30% of Uganda’s primate population. There are 3 habituated communities across Kibale National Park. One community has been set apart for tourists while the other two are for researchers.
Guided tracking with an experienced ranger will allow you to see the chimps, plus other species including the L’Hoests monkey, Red colobus, grey-cheeked Mangabeys, bush babys, baboons, Red tailed monkeys, and the blue monkeys among others. Birders will be impressed with over 345 species in the forest and the nearby Bigodi Wetlands bird sanctuary like the African grey parrot, hornbills, and Breasted pitas.
Tracking excursions leave twice a day, at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. Permits for tracking chimpanzees in Kibale Forest are more expensive than any other place in Uganda at $150.
Kyambura Gorge
Located in the far east of Queen Elizabeth National Park, the Kyambura Gorge is a convenient place to spot chimpanzees while on a safari to Queen Elizabeth National Park. Also dubbed ‘the valley of the apes’, this gorge is around 100m deep, 1km across, and 16km long with a thick underground forest. While the chances of seeing chimps here are about 50%, the incredible scenery with hippos and elephants, plus a lovely nature walk is just as much part of the attraction.
Trek down into it and you’ll feel like you’re in an underground forest, home to diverse wildlife and dazzling birdlife. Hop over streams and traverse rivers as you seek out the chimps; once you find them you can spend a wonderful hour watching them interact, feed, play, and go about their daily lives. Some of the bird species found at the Kyambura Gorge include the blue-headed bee-eater, falcons, and the African Finfoot.
Chimp tracking permits at Kyambura cost US$50.
Budongo Forest
With an area of about 825 square kilometers and a population of over 800 chimpanzees, Budongo forest is another priority destination for tracking chimpanzees in Uganda. Budongo forest is found within the Murchison Falls National. The forest is 3 hours of driving away from Kampala, the Ugandan capital.
The forest is run by the National Forestry Authority and about 100 habituated chimpanzees are available for tracking at Kaniyo Pabibi, part of the forest. The natural walk through the forest adds an exhilarating experience for the visitor.
Tracking permits to Budongo forest cost US$90.
Kalinzu Forest
Another chimp-tracking destination is Kalinzu Forest, located near Queen Elizabeth National Park. Here, there are around 290 chimpanzees and over 70 of these are habituated. The minimum age you can trek with the chimpanzees here is lower than the norm with visitors as low as 12 years of age allowed. The downside to the Kalinzu Forest is that there is no good accommodation here so you would need to head back to Queen Elizabeth National Park to stay there, and more often than not, do the chimpanzee trekking as a day trip.
Chimp tracking permits to Kalinzu forest cost US$90.
Visitors can also spot chimpanzees in Semuliki Wildlife Reserve and in zoos and sanctuaries like Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary and Uganda Wildlife Education Center. Uganda’s chimps can even be found living in small forests on private land in some areas.
Chimpanzee habituation experience
Some tours offer the chance to take part in a habituation experience. The Chimpanzee Habituation Experience (CHEX) enables visitors to accompany researchers and habituators into the forest. The chimpanzee groups involved are less accustomed to human presence than those visited on the Primate Walk and following and viewing them is both exciting and challenging.
Non habituated chimps would have disappeared into the forest long before you could see them, but this process, which takes at least six years, slowly reassures them that humans do not pose a threat. Kibale issues eight permits per day for chimp habituation; each costing US$220.
Chimpanzee Habituation Experience (CHEX) is available on a full or half day basis starting and advance booking for this activity is required. Early visitors can watch chimps leaving their overnight nests between 6:00 – 6:30am before feeding, copulating, hunting, breastfeeding, resting, patrolling and displaying until it is time to build new nests around 7pm.
All chimp tracking fees go towards invaluable conservation and anti-poaching work, and pays the wages of the rangers and park staff.
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