The Chimpanzee Trekking Tours in Uganda

Uganda is the world’s top chimpanzee tracking safari destination in Africa, currently, Uganda is home to over 5000 chimpanzees that are fully habituated and open for tourism and they can be visited within their natural habitat daily.

chimpanzee tracking experience in Uganda is exceptional, chimpanzee tracking is done daily across in the deep natural forest of Uganda, chimpanzee tracking starts at 8:00 am daily and, within about an hour later you reach the treetop nests that the chimpanzee community had spent their previous night, each chimpanzee has to build new nests where they are going to spend a night, once you find the chimps visitors will be allowed to spend one hour viewing the chimps as they feed, play, laugh, hug, have sex, kiss, and as they do other daily actives, the advanced team of trackers will find the chimps by following a trail of prints, dung, and fruit to allow tourists to view them at close range, tourists are advised to avoid noise and sudden movement during trekking, chimpanzees share 98.4 percent of human DNA making the closest relatives of man.

Kisoro Tours Uganda offers tailor-made chimpanzee tours in Uganda, detailing the Uganda safari experience to suit the traveler’s choice, budget, and timeline, we can combine your chimpanzee tracking packages with mountain gorilla tracking in Bwindi impenetrable forest national park or in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, and also other wildlife safaris in other Uganda savannah national parks like lake Mburo national park, Queen Elizabeth national park, Kidepo valley national park, and Murchison falls national park among other parks and wildlife reserves in Uganda

Where to go for chimpanzee tours in Uganda

Kibale forest national park is the best place to see chimpanzees in Uganda, Kibale forest national park is the only home in Africa with the highest number of habituated chimpanzee troops open for tourism and visitors can easily walk for a short distance that begins with a briefing from park ranger guide at Kanyanchu visitors center, viewing them in their natural habitat is amazing.

Currently, there are over 1500 chimpanzees living in the Kibale forest, different families have been successfully habituated and open for tourism, other families/ groups for researchers and study purposes, and other families are under habituation process, chimpanzee tracking in (Uganda) occurs daily in Kibale forest national park in both the mornings starting at 800am, and afternoons starting at 200pm, both morning and afternoon tracking last between 3 to 4 hours and once you find them you are allowed to spend one hour with the chimpanzees in their natural habitat.

Prices of Chimpanzee Tracking and habituation permit

In order for anyone to see chimpanzees in the wild in Uganda, you must first obtain a tracking permit which is issued by the Uganda wildlife authority at their head office in Kampala. for the normal tracking permit costs, USD 200 per person valid for only one day for foreign non-residents, and for foreign resident’s permits costs $150 per person for a day while Ugandans and east African pay 150,000 Uganda shillings per person.

Kyambura gorge-in queen Elizabeth national park, Kyambura gorge is found in the far eastern part of Queen Elizabeth national park, this is another perfect place to go for chimpanzee tracking in Uganda, Kyambura gorge is surrounded by the beautiful savannah and craters of queen Elizabeth national park, and on a clear day you are able to see Rwenzori mountains in the background, take note that the chances of finding chimps are lower compared to Kibale forest where the chance of seeing chimps are 100% that’s why even the permits pieces are not the same.

Permit price of seeing chimpanzees in Kyambura gorge

Chimpanzee tracking permit for Kyambura gorge costs USD 50 per person valid for only one day for both foreign non-residents and foreign residents while Ugandans and east African pay 30,000 Uganda shillings per person, chimpanzee tracking in Budongo forest-Kaniyo Pabidi, this forest is part of Murchison falls national park and it is another excellent place to go for chimpanzee tracking in Uganda, Budongo forest is in a good location for chimp tracking en route to Murchison falls national park.

Cost of seeing chimpanzees in Budongo forest-Kaniyo Pabidi

chimpanzee tracking permit for Budongo forest costs USD 100 per person for only one day for both foreign non-residents and for foreign residents while Ugandans and east African pay 30,000 Uganda shillings per person, Kalinzu forest reserve is part of Maramagambo forest which is also part of queen Elisabeth national park, one of the main activities in Kalinzu central forest reserve is chimpanzee tracking, Kalinzu forest is the second best place with a high chance to see chimpanzees after Kibale forest national park.

Cost of seeing chimps in Kalinzu forest

Chimpanzee tracking permit for Kalinzu forest costs USD 50 per person for only one day for both foreign non-residents and foreign residents while Ugandans and east African pay 30,000 Uganda shillings per person (Ugx)

Chimpanzee habituation experience in Uganda

currently, Uganda is the only country in east Africa where one can go for a primate habituation experience for either mountain gorillas, golden monkeys, or chimpanzees, Uganda chimpanzee habituation experience offers the opportunity to visitors/ tourists a full day with a wild chimpanzee troop in its natural habitat.

if one thinks that the normal chimpanzee tracking of one hour with chimpanzees isn’t enough for you, one can always instead go for the chimpanzee habituation experience, where you’ll be allowed to spend a full day following a chimps community undergoing the habituation process which takes yes before a community of chimpanzees is open for tourism, habituation experience will suit you perfectly if you want to spend more time with the closest relatives to a man.

The chimpanzee habituation experience is worth it because it will reward visitors with more intimate encounters with wild unhabituated chimps. chimpanzee habituation experience is done in Kibale forest national park, habituation is considerably a much more entertaining excursion in Uganda, habituation permits for chimps in Kibale forest cost only USD 250 per person for both foreign non-residents and residents while for Ugandans and other east African citizens costs 250,000 Uganda shillings.

chimp habituation experience starts early in the morning at 6:00 am, starts from Kanyachu visitors center, from here tourists head out in the forest to find the chimps as they leave their nest and spend a full day until they make their nest for the night.

What is the best time to go for chimpanzee trekking tours in Uganda?

Yes, chimpanzee trekking tours in Uganda are available year-round, but the recommended best time to go for a chimpanzee tracking safari in Uganda is during the dry season in the months of June, July, August, September, October, December, January, and February, not to say that during the wet season in the months of March, April, May, and November you can’t go for chimp trek visitors still go tracking though the forest is wet.

During the dry season, there are fewer spots of rain, and the trails are more comfortable to navigate through the forest so during this season you’re sure that your tracking will not be interrupted by a downpour. take a note that during this dry season months is the time when everyone else is thinking of traveling to Uganda to see the chimps, so you are advised to book in advance to avoid last-minute booking because there is a limit on the number of people who track chimps every day.

The wet season is from November, March, and April and may usually pull in fewer people visiting during this season which it is much easier to acquire a tracking permit, and also the accommodation is cheaper because there are fewer people booking, one of the challenges of tracking chimps during the wet season is that some trails are almost impassable, and also sometimes it’s difficult to get good photos but also some people would choose the wet season just for the experience because views are stunning, and it mostly rains in the afternoon for just one or two hours so at some point may not even temper with safari activities during this season.