Kibale Forest National Park

Kibale Forest National Park is located in Kabarole district in western Uganda, the ark adjoins Queen Elizabeth National Park to the south making a 180 km (110 mi) wildlife corridor. Kibale Forest National Park is well known for having Uganda’s most magnificent tropical rain forest, which is habituated to the largest number of chimpanzees in Uganda and twelve other primate species, hence priding for being Africa’s protected area for primates. The park boasts of being the location of the Makerere University Biological Field Station.

Kibale Forest National Park has an area coverage of 776 sq km (300 sq mi), the park derives its name from the Kibale Forest which is one of its major tourist attractions which encompasses primarily moist evergreen forest, it is one of the remaining areas to host post lowland and montane forests and the last significant expanse of pre-montane forest in eastern Africa.

Kibale National PARK is an important eco-tourism and safari destination and it contributes widely to Uganda’s tourism industry because of its high concentration of Chimpanzees in the country.

Kibale National Park is a home to over 70 different mammal species, 375 bird species, 351 species of trees, 250 butterflies rooming its area making it a perfect getaway for your Wildlife Safari. The park is governed by the Uganda Wildlife Authority just like most of the Uganda National Park.

HISTORY

The now Kibale National Park was first gazetted in 1932 by the British and the reason for gazetteing it was to extract hardwood form the forest and collecting the wild coffee, after deforestation they later planted exotic trees in the area to replace the hard trees. In 1948 it was declared a forest reserve but this didn’t spot the British from extracting hardwood trees from the forest following the construction of the Kilembe copper mines. Luckily in 1993 the forest reserve was upgraded to a National Park level and in 1944 the Uganda National Parks took over the management of the park hence protecting all the natural authenticity of the forest and since then the UWA has been so progressive in conserving and protecting the forest and trying to bring back authenticity up to date.

ATTRACTIONS

Wildlife

Kibale National Park is home to reasonable number of wildlife species that come form Queen Elizabeth National Park like Queen Elizabeth National park such as blue duikers, bushbucks, warthogs, Buffaloes, Bush pigs, Elephants, forest hogs to mention but a few.

Bird Species

Kibale National Park is home to over 375 bird species with forest birds, endemic and migratory bird species namely Olive long-tailed cuckoo, Afep pigeon, Crowned Eagle, Red-chested Owlet, Little Greenbul, Blue-breasted Kingfisher, African Grey Parrot among others.

Chimpanzees

Kibale National Park is home to highest number of Chimpanzees in Uganda and the best and popular place to trek habituated chimpanzees in the country, and boasts being Africa’s protected area for primates. Apart from the chimpanzees, Kibale National Park is home to 12 other primate species which include the L’Hoests Monkeys, Uganda red colobus, Mangabey, Blue Monkey, white and Black colobus monkeys a mong others.

ACTIVITIES

Hiking and Natural walks

This activity gives visitors an opportunity to explore the park on foot, tourists will be able to get close to the park’s wildlife, primates, rivers, swamps, different tree species, birds, grassland all this on foot. This activity is guided by an experienced guide who will show you everything by name, you will be able to watch the famous naked Adam and Eve tree.

Chimpanzee trekking

Chimpanzee trekking is the most rewarding tourist activity in the park, it starts very early in the morning at the park headquarters after breakfast, the search for chimpanzee with range from 2 hours to a whole day and tourists will be given an hour to spend with the chimpanzees and experience how they play, feed, take care of young ones, jump from branch to branch. You will take as many picture as you wish with a camera with no flash light. In order to engage in this breath-taking activity tourist a required to get a chimpanzee trekking permit.

Chimpanzee Habituation

Chimpanzee habituation is one of the best tourist attraction in the park, this activity requires tourists to follow researchers as they follow chimpanzee throughout their day teaching them to get used to human presence. Tourists can spend up to a whole day in the forest with these primates, your guaranteed that this activity will pay off all the hard work and hustler you went through to get there, it is a lifetime experience worth all the expenditure.

Visit Amabere Caves

Amabere is a Batoro word which means breasts, these breasts carry with them an interesting ancient story of how they came about and the story will be narrated to you when you get to the caves.

Nakayima witch tree

This tree is believed by the locals to have powers to heals a lot of diseases, infertility, relationship failures and more. This tree is found on the way as you head to Kibale National Park, you can stop over and visit it.

Bush Craft children

This is an activity for the kids as their parents go for hiking, it intended to keep them busy and its only for children below the age of 12 years.

BEST VISIT TO GET TO THE PARK

Kibale National Park is open for visitors all year, unlike most of Uganda’s national parks, Kibale Forest National Park has a tropical rainforest hence likely to rain any tome of the day and plus Uganda’s equatorial position. The best time to visit is the dry season between the months of January and December. The wetter season are between the months of April to May and November.

Weather patterns are always changing n Uganda because the country is equatorial and so receives similar temperatures all year round meaning rigid season is becoming outdated.

HOW TO GET TO THE PARK

Kibale National Park can be accessed by Road and Air transport.

By Road;

Kibale National Park is 360 km/ 224 mi from Kampala on a well-surfaced road and the Kanyanchu trekking trail head is 35 km (20 mi) from the town of Fort portal.

By Air;

There are domestic flights to Kibale National Park and are arranged by your Ugandan tour operator.

WHERE TO STAY

Kibale National Park has a number of accommodation facilities ranging from luxury, mid-range and budget namely Kyaninga lodge, Primate lodge, Ndali Lodge to mention but