Kibale National Park and its Environs

Exploring Kibale National Park with Jumanji Africa Safaris allows you to experience a variety of different safari activities to make your trip even more memorable. Below are the various activities that you can take part in when you visit Kibale National Park.

Kibale National Park most notable primate is the chimpanzee which are a population of 1500 individuals divided into at least 12 communities of which 4 are habituated to humans and are available for tracking. The Kanyantale community at Kanyanchu has been available for tourism since 1993 and the other 3 are reserved for researchers. They include Ngogo the world’s largest chimpanzee community with more than 200 individuals.

Kibale has a recorded 200 tree species with large-buttressed mahoganies, figs and other whose canopies are up 60 – 70 meters above the ground. The thick undergrowth included wild robusta coffee trees.

The Park also has at least 60 mammal species particularly rich in about 13 primate species recorded the highest concentration in Uganda. These include vervet, redtail, L’Hoest’s, blue, Black-and-white, red, grey-cheeked mangabey monkeys, olive baboon and chimpanzee. Other mammals are also resident in Kibale but are rarely seen by tourists these include leopards, lions, forest elephants, buffalos, hippos, giant forest hogs, bushpigs, bushbuck, warthog, red and blue duikers and sitatungas.

The Park has a recorded 370 bird species with 4 species not recorded anywhere else in Uganda. These are Cassin’s spinetail, Nahan’s francolin,blue-headed bee eater and the lowland masked apalis. In general, the most productive birding spots are Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary and the stretch of the main road running either side of Kanyanchu Visitors Center.

The main highlight of visiting Kibale National Park is the chimpanzee tracking experience. The sightings are not guaranteed but chances stand at more than 95%. Trackers visit Kanyantale community of 90 individuals which has been habituated for a long time and visitors will be able to watch the chimps play, groom, feed and swing up in the trees and on ground. This community can easily be approached within 8 – 10 meters. Tracking usually takes about 3hrs with 1hr given to spend time with the chimps.

Up to 36 tracking permits are both morning and afternoon with trackers moving in 6 groups each with 6 members but finally converging on the same sighting.

Bigodi swamp is a wetland sanctuary and a community-based conservation project with proceeds directly benefiting the conserving community who converted it from a rice paddy to great wildlife sanctuary that always loved by its visitors. We always recommend visiting the swamp.

This offers some of the finest birding and monkey viewing in Uganda. It’s a much-loved guided walk outside the park. You can easily tick off more than 40 species of birds mostly swamp specials. A major highlight is the great blue turaco which is seen by most visitors. Others include papyrus gonolek, yellow-billed, yellow-spotted and double-toothed barbets speckled, yellow-rumped and yellow-throated tinkerbirds, blue malkoha, brown-eared woodpecker and many more. The swamps most common monkey is the red colobus, but red-tailed, L’Hoest’s, black-and-white and Uganda mangabey are also sighted regularly.

The Toro crater lakes are the most northernly part of the crater lakes region of Queen Elizabeth National Park numbering more than 100 in total. The crater lakes stretch from north of the Kampala – Fort Portal Road running south to the Ndali Kasenda crater field west of Kibale National Park. The Ndali Kasenda crater field has about 30 – 40 crater lakes and is a host to wonderfully sited upmarket and budget lodges. With time to spare we recommend a visit to this magnificent field that is quite scenically rewarding and is a reminder of the immense volcanic forces that molded the landscapes of western Uganda.