Why visit Kibale forest national park

Why visit Kibale forest national park: The chimpanzee trekking is the most thrilling activity that pulls tourists to Kibale forest national park. Kibale forest national park is located in western Uganda and it is the place with the highest number of chimpanzees in Uganda. The national park has chimpanzees, more than 12 species of primates, 60 mammals, and 370 bird species.

Several activities are done in Kibale forest national park which tourists need to be part of. The national park is the only protected area in Uganda where full-day chimpanzee habituation does take place. Tourists who visit Kibale for chimpanzee habituation do join researchers and armed ranger guides to be part of the activities that make chimpanzees get used to the human presence around them.

Why you need to visit Kibale forest national park is because of the so many wildlife that loves with the park. It’s the best national park to see chimpanzees in Uganda reason being it hosts over 1500 of them. We are going to look at chimpanzees but again there are so many reasons as to why tourists need to visit Kibale forest national park and below is why you need to visit this forested national park.

The chimpanzee: Kibale forest is the best area in Uganda to see endangered chimpanzees in their natural habitats. The national park is home to over 1500 chimpanzee species some of which have been habituated, others are still going through habituation and others are wild. A visit to Kibale will give you an opportunity to visit one fully habituated chimpanzee family and another one semi-habituated chimpanzee family.

Chimpanzee activities are only done by those that have chimpanzee permits which are obtained from Uganda Wildlife Authority. Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale or chimpanzee habituation is a thrilling activity that gets you close to endangered chimpanzees. Tourists that visit Kibale get an opportunity to meet species of primates that are said to be close relatives to human beings around them.

Diversity of animals: Kibale forest national park is home to 13 primates and 60 mammals which are seeing during the different activities that take place within the park. By doing a nature walk in Kibale forest or Bigodi wetland sanctuary, you are guaranteed to see a lot of animals that find a home in this area. Animals can still be seen during bird watching and chimpanzee trekking activities.

The animals likely to be seen in Kibale forest national park include duikers, sitatungas, bushbucks, warthogs, waterbucks, cape buffaloes, hippos, elephants, spotted hyenas, leopards, lions, side-stripped jackals, blue monkeys, olive baboons, black and white colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, pottos, mangabey, red colobus, vervet monkeys, and l’hoest’s monkeys among others.

The birds: For bird lovers visiting Uganda, Kibale forest national park is one of the best birding destinations in Uganda with over 372 bird species recorded. Birds of Kibale forest are seen in Kibale forest and Bigodi wetland next to the park. The national park has permanent birds living in the park all throughout the year and it has migratory birds that come in the park November to April.

Visiting Kibale forest national park for birding activities will give you an opportunity to see birds such as the African pitta, masked apalis, afed pigeon, African grey parrot, red-faced woodland warbler, western nicator, black-backed apalis, crowned eagle, Abyssinian ground thrush, red-chested owlet, black bishop, yellow-spotted barbet, brown crowned tchagra, white-naped pigeon and Rwenzori apalis among others.

Night forest walk/ Nocturnal forest walk: One of the areas in Uganda where night nature walks in Uganda are done is Kibale forest national park. Tourists will be given a chance to explore the national park on foot during the night hours. Night forest walks in Kibale start in the evening at around 7:30 and tourists are taken to areas where nocturnal animals tend to be. During the night forest nature walks in Kibale, tourists will be able to see animals like pottos, bushbabies, galago, owls, tree hyrax, night jars, civets, and serval cats among others.

Bigodi wetland sanctuary: Located next to Kibale  is Bigodi wetland sanctuary. This is an area for bird watching with over 138 bird species and a place to do nature walks because of the wildlife that stays in there. Bigodi wetland sanctuary is one of the reasons you should take a visit to Kibale. A visit to this wetland will give you an opportunity to see so many bird species, primates, and small mammals.

Bigodi community walk: This is not a major activity done in Kibale forest national park but it’s always combined with different activities. Tourists who love African culture are the ones that do Bigodi community tour on their safari in Kibale forest national park. The community tour rakes tourists to a home of a medicine man, a home of coffee makers, and a home of a local man who makes wine and alcohol from bananas.

Best time to visit Kibale forest national park

Discussing about Best time to visit Kibale, the park is open all throughout the year for all park activities. This means that tourists can visit the park whenever they want for all activities organized in the park. However, much Kibale is open all throughout the year, the best time to visit Kibale is the dry season because it has little rainfall, chimpanzee trekking trails are dry and the vegetation is short with good views of attractions.

Travelers especially budget tourists should consider visiting Kibale in the rainy season because that is when the lodges are at a discount. The rainy season is however not the best because it has too much rainfall, the chimpanzee trekking trails are muddy and slippery and vegetation is tall with unclear views of the wildlife.