How many people are allowed to visit a chimpanzee family in Kibale
How many people are allowed to visit a chimpanzee family in Kibale: There is a long list of travelers that keep wondering how many people trek a chimpanzee family in Kibale forest national park. Well, today you are going to get the answer to the question you have been asking yourself. In Kibale forest national park, there are 13 chimpanzee families but all are not open to tourism activities. 5 are open for research, 6 are wild, 1 is for chimpanzee trekking and the other is for chimpanzee habituation.
How many people are allowed to visit a chimpanzee family in Kibale
Only two chimpanzee families are open for tourism activities within Kibale forest national park. One is open for chimpanzee trekking and tourist are allowed to be around them for 1 hour while the other is open for chimpanzee habituation and tourists do get an opportunity of being with them for the whole day with an aim of making them get used to human presence around them.
How many people are allowed to trek a chimpanzee family in Kibale? 72 people are allowed trek and meet a fully habituated family while 12 can meet a semi-habituated family. The 72 people that visit a fully habituated family in Kibale forest national park don’t go at once. The groups heading into the jungle to search for chimpanzees never exceed 8 people. Each of the groups has its own ranger guides and uses different trails to search for the chimpanzees.
When different groups search for a chimpanzee family, it’s hard to locate the group at the same time. Every group will be given 1 hour after locating the family and this is done to reduce congestion around the members. Unlike mountain gorillas who have group members from 5 to 25, chimpanzees have over 100 members in the group and they don’t move together. They are split most of the time during the day so many trekkers can be around different small groups but of the same family.
Chimpanzees only get together during the evening hours when it’s time for sleeping but once they wake up they will move separately but not so far from each other. This means that over 72 people can trek a chimpanzee family in a single day, at different times, and trek different few members but of the same habituated group.
For chimpanzee habituation in Kibale forest national park, it’s 12 people that visit a semi-habituated chimpanzee family. The 12 people are split into 6 and each group is given armed ranger guides and researchers that lead them to where the chimpanzee family could be. It’s always okay for all 12 people to be around a semi-habituated family because the chimpanzees in the troop are very many.
Travelers should now know that a fully habituated family in Kibale forest national park is trekked by a maximum of 72 people a day and 12 people are allowed to trek a semi-habituated family a day. To trek any of the families, you must possess a chimpanzee trekking permit or a chimpanzee habituation permit from Uganda Wildlife Authority.
How many chimpanzee permits are in Kibale forest national park a day?
There are 72 chimpanzee trekking permits and 12 chimpanzee habituation permits in Kibale forest national park every day. The 72 permits are sold to tourists that want to spend 1 hour with habituated chimpanzee families while 12 permits are sold to tourists that want to spend filly day with chimpanzees making them get used to human presence around them.
At how much can I get chimpanzee permits for Kibale forest national park?
Tourists that want to trek a fully habituated chimpanzee family in Kibale forest can purchase the chimpanzee trekking permits at $200 for foreign non-residents, $150 for foreign residents, and UGX150,000 east African citizens. The chimpanzee habituation permit where you spend whole day with chimpanzees goes for $ 250 for foreign non-residents, $200 for foreign residents, and UGX200,000 for East African citizens.
To get these chimpanzee permits for Kibale forest national park, you can either use a local tour operator or get them directly from Uganda Wildlife Authority. All you need are the dates of the month and year you want to trek and the information shall be used to check for permit availability. Once permits are available, a deposit or full amount of money must be paid for you to get yourself one.
On the day of chimpanzee trekking or chimpanzee habituation, you must present your permit at Kanyanchu visitor’s center to be allowed to trek. Chimp trekking starts with a briefing where trekkers learn the dos and don’ts of trekking. Armed ranger guides lead the trekkers into the jungle and start looking for where the chimpanzees could be.
The search for chimps takes 2-6 hours and on meeting the chimpanzee community trekkers are given 1 hour if it’s trekking and for chimpanzee habituation, it’s a whole day with these chimpanzees getting them used to human presence around them. During the time trekkers are around chimpanzees, they learn about their behaviors, take photos and watch them carry out daily activities like nesting, coupling, eating, feeding, and playing among others.
