Kibale National park covers an area of about 795km and it’s acknowledged to have one of Uganda’s most gorgeous tropical forest, sweeping savannah and woodland in the Rift Valley floor. It’s a habitat to many forest wildlife and among these is the highest concentration of primates in Africa. It is home to a large number of endangered species like chimpanzees, red colobus monkeys and the rare L’Hoest’s monkeys. The forest occupies the northern as well as the central part of the park. The northern part has a peak of about 1590m above sea level. The northern part is also well known as the wettest area with an annual rainfall of about 1700mm. The rainy months include March-May as well as September-November. It has an average temperature of about 14-27oc and temperatures are high in the south because of the landscape into the scorching rift valley floor. Kibale National Park is located in Kabarole district in the Western Part of Uganda. Kibale National park is also home to over 325 species of birds, 13 species of primates, a total of at least 60 other species of mammals and over 250 tree species.

Vegetation Areas in Kibale National Park offers different varieties of wildlife habitat, ranging from the moist evergreen forest (wet tropical forest) along the Fort Portal plateau, then through the dry tropical forest (moist semi deciduous), and then to the woodland and savanna along the rift valley floor. In the central part of the park, around Kanyanchu, the high forest consist of a mixture of evergreen trees and deciduous with the evergreen species being dominant. The vegetation rises to over 55m and establishes a semi-closed canopy of massive stratified tree crowns. With shade tolerant herbs, a variety of ferns, shrubs and broad leaved forest grasses, the undergrowth is sparse. 351 tree species have been registered in the park.

A Uganda safari to Kibale National Park will enable you to see all these primates. In addition Kibale National park is home to the uncommon L’Hoest’s monkeys, East Africa’s biggest population of the endangered red colobus monkeys, the black & white colobus, red tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, olive baboons, grey cheeked mangabeys, bush babies as well as potto among many others.
There is a number of other wildlife in Kibale National Park however they are hardly seen. These consist of buffaloes, leopards, bush pigs, elephants, and duikers. A keen viewer may also be able to spot some amphibians, reptiles and a variety of colorful butterflies.

With 13 different species, the number and diversity of primates in Kibale National Park is the highest in the whole of Africa. The most popular of these are the chimpanzees with over 1450 individuals living here making it the best destination to enjoy a Chimpanzee Tracking Tour. These chimpanzees live in 13 communities whereby 3 communities are habituated out of 13 communities and one communities is used for tourism while the 2 communities are commonly used for research purposes.

The starting point for Chimpanzee Tracking activity is Kanyanchu gate and the activity begins with a briefing by the Uganda wildlife officials. After the briefing, tourists head into the forest together with ranger guides to search for chimpanzees. A group of maximum to 8 people are allowed to trek the chimpanzees after sighting them, visitors are allowed to spend one hour with the chimpanzees. Chimpanzee tracking gives you an opportunity to see the chimpanzees in their natural habitat like breast feeding, some even breeding, grooming each other. The Chimpanzee tracking permit costs USD 200 per person, USD 150 Per Person for non-foreign residents and Uganda shillings 150,000 per person for East African citizens.

In contrast to chimpanzee trekking where visitors are only allowed to spend one hour with chimpanzees once they are located, this chimpanzee habituation experience (CHEX) allows visitors to spend four hours with chimpanzees in their natural habitat. The activity begins in the early hours of the morning as the chimpanzees leave their nests. You will stay with them and observe them while they eat, groom each other, rest, play and eventually go back to bed. This experience is fascinating.

Kibale National park boasts of over 372 bird species. Bird watchers can spot various species of these birds as they enjoy the various activities in the park. Kibale National park boasts of the rarest birds like the Rear-Green Breasted pitta, great blue turaco. Other species include; Yellow-spotted Nictor, yellow-ramped Tinker bird, speckled tinker bird, little Greenberg, superb sunbird, the African pitta, white thighed hornbill, grey- winged robin, blue-shouldered robin chat, Yellow-spotted Barbet, black-billed turaco, white-napes pigeon, green-breasted pitta, purple-headed starling, red-chested fluftail, joyful Greenbul, cannabis Greenbul, grey-threaded tit flycatcher, scarlet-tuffed, green threated, purple- breasted sunbirds, white-bellied crested flycatcher, masked Apalis, tiny sunbird, white-collared olive-black and black bee eater among others. The best bird watching spot is the Bigodi wetland sanctuary- a community project where guides take you on a 4 hour trail.

This community initiative has professionally trained staff to enable visitors find more primate and birds of interesting species like the papyrus gonolek and the great blue turaco that are available in the park.

Community walks like the Bigodi community walk to explore the atmospheric village of Bigodi. The walk will take up 3 to 4 hours depending on the pace of the group. According to your interests, you will first visit a traditional healer who will happily share his knowledge about spirits, herbs, plants and local medicines. Then visit the homes of elderly men and women who tell interesting stories about birth, marriage, ceremonies, clans and their traditional life. Learn more about the history and issues that they face as a developing community of rural Uganda. Along the way, you will also be given the chance to experience the Ugandan school system, visit a local church and Bigodi’s trading centre, a hub of rural life and activity. In visiting the Bigodi community you are supporting the community directly and through this it teaches them not to encroach on the protected area encouraging them to conserve the home of the Chimpanzees the Kibale Forest National Park.

This involves walking through the rainforest with the help of a guide. Under these walks, one can feel the presence of beautiful natural air and learn more about the plants and animals since the place harbours different species of primates and birds which can be spotted. Nature walks in Kibale national park begin from Kanyanchu or Sebitoli and can take 2-6 days and each day you spend an overnight at various accommodation facilities in that area.

Crater lakes hike in Kibale national park involve a walk to the top of the hill called Nyamirima where you will see 5 beautiful crater lakes surrounding Kibale national park like Lake Ndali kasenda crater, Lake Nyabikere, Lake Nyamusagari, Lake Ntambi, Lake Mubiro, and Lake Nyinabulitwa among others. You will have a chance for sightseeing, taking pictures and meeting up with the local community who will share with you their day to day life.

Although Kibale National Park is accessible throughout the year, the Best time to Visit the park is during the dry season when the trails are dry and passable. This is from December to February and then from June to September. The wettest area in Kibale is the northern area, receiving an average annual rainfall of approximately 1700mm, mainly during March to May and September to November. The climate is usually pleasant with an average annual temperature range of 14C to 27C. The southern part of the park experiences the maximum temperatures and lower amounts of rains where the terrain drops onto the hot rift valley floor and forest provides way to open grassland.

Kibale national park has excellent accommodation facilities situated inside and outside the park, the accommodations range from budget, midrange and luxury. Kibale national park accommodation includes: Kibale Forest camp, Kanyanchu River camp, Nyinabulitwa country Resort, Turaco treetops Lodge, primate lodge, Kyaninga lodge, papaya lake lodge among others.

The park is situated in the western region of Uganda approximately 26 kilometers south-East of Fort portal a grand tourist city in the region, the park is accessed from Kampala the capital of Uganda where most safaris to the park start from. From Kampala the park is accessed by either road or air means of transport,

By road, the park lies in a distance of 300 kilometers to fort portal and from Fortportal it is a drive of 36 kilometers to Kanyanchu Visitor center.

There are domestic flights from Entebbe International airport or Kajjansi airstrip to Kasese airstrip, Kihihi airstrip or Mweya airstrip, these flights are offered by Aero link.

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