A GUIDE TO CHIMPANZEE TREKKING IN UGANDA
Chimpanzee Trekking Safaris
Trekking chimpanzees through the tall, tangled scrubs and primeval trees that carpet western Uganda’s rainforest in the most dramatic jungle encounters on the African continent. With over 20 primate species and the highest density worldwide, Uganda promises exceptionally thrilling primate adventures than any other destination worldwide.
Chimpanzee trekking is one of Uganda’s top safari destination activities, promising dramatic primate encounters on chimps tracking safaris. A few troops among the estimated 5000 chimps in Uganda are habituated for tourists to visit within their natural habitat. The hike through the rainforest jungle with a troop is what we call chimp trekking.
Trekking chimpanzees through the tall, tangled scrubs and primeval trees that carpet western Uganda’s rainforest demands you have a guide with a machete, wear light hiking boots, hiking trousers, a ridiculous hat to keep the thorns out of your head. The experience requires that you carry a bucketload of patience and a wild sense of humor. Such dramatic encounters are exceptional, but even on a slow day, the chimpanzee tracking is exceptionally thrilling.
Trekking entourages set off daily across the forest floor at 0800 and, about half an hour later, reach the treetop nests that the chimpanzee community had built the previous night. They spend the next hour watching the chimps feed, play, laugh, hug, kiss, and fornicate. The male chimps hold fight bouts, slap hollow buttress roots, and chase each other, jostling for a seat at the top of the hierarchy.
Your trackers will find them by following a trail of knuckle prints, dung, and half-digested fruit and allow tourists to observe them from a distance, avoiding loud noise, sudden movement, standing, shaking branches, and worst of all, staring at them. Still and all, tempting to gaze into the eyes of a wild creature that shares 98.4 percent of our DNA will change everything you thought and felt about primates.
The Chimpanzee Trekking Experience
Small groups of selected trekkers set off daily across the forest floor at 7:30 am and reach a noisy chimpanzee community habituated for human visits about half an hour later. Local trackers who lead the chimpanzee trekking excursions track the chimps by following a trail of knuckle prints, dung, and half-digested fruit.
Very soon, you're in the center of lawless primates acting like a bunch of six-year-olds on a sugar high. You, then, spend the next hour watching the chimps feed, play, laugh, hug, kiss, and fornicate. The drama unfolds as male chimps hold fight bouts, slap hollow buttress roots, and chase each other, jostling for a seat at the top of the hierarchy.
The guides allow tourists to observe them from a 7-meter distance, avoiding loud noise, sudden movement, standing, shaking branches, and staring directly into their eyes. Still and all, tempting to gaze into the eyes of a wild creature that shares 98.4 percent of our DNA will change your deepest thoughts and feelings about the great Apes of Africa
Chimpanzee Habituation Experience
Chimpanzee Habituation is the process by which primatologists repeatedly expose human observers to a chimpanzee troop to reduce their usually fearful response to human presence. The process can take more than two years and is archived when the chimps treat the observers as neutral elements in their environment.
Chimpanzee Habituation Experience is a full day adventure with the chimps. The activity begins at about 06:00 am, just before the chimps leave their nests. It lasts until 07:00 pm, when they build their nests and settle in for the night. You will have to wake up at dawn for an early breakfast, carry a lunch pack, energy snacks, and a drinking water bottle (preferably in a reusable can). After a briefing at Kanyanchu Visitor Center, you’ll join the Chimpanzee Habituation team and head out to find a chimp’s nest.
When you find the chimpanzee troop, you’ll trail them the whole time, observing their antics, hunting, feeding, grooming, fornicating, struggling for dominance, and resting. The experience allows you to be close enough to recognize the chimps’ distinctive features and learn about the great apes’ group dynamics. Nevertheless, wild chimpanzees are unapproachable; they will fearfully hide from humans or aggressively attack them as a considerable threat.
During the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience in Kibale Forest, you’ll be following and observing a troop that moderately understands your presence enough not to consider you a threat to their existence. However, the apes still consider your presence a foreign element in their wild environment. So, they’ll keep on moving, spending less time close to you. The experience with wild chimpanzees can be quite physically demanding, trotting or walking to keep up with their movements; chimps are very active and boisterous apes. They’ll spend most of their busy day drumming tree trunks, jumping and hooting in the forest canopy, but will occasionally stop for a nap or break from their foraging expeditions.
Your time on the ground will be some of your most treasured moments on this chimpanzee adventure journey, and it’s the best time to capture the perfect primate photography.
Whenever you feel that you’ve enough, even before nesting time, you’ll return to the lodge to nurse your exceedingly excited muscles with a hot bath and meal around the camp fire sharing stories and moments.
Booking Your Chimpanzee Trekking & Habituation Safari
Our Safaris team makes booking a chimpanzee trekking and habituation safari in Uganda very easy. We will process the chimpanzee trekking or habituation permit on your behalf, and we rarely fail to secure a permit at a reasonable booking date. Our safari experts will work with you to customize a safari trip that suits your taste and style of travel while immersing you in local social-cultural, enterprenual and wildlife eco-system of Africa. We associate with different eco-friendly lodges in and around Kibale forest that will give you the exclusive treatment that travelers have come to love over the years.
Contact our local safari experts to get you started on the planning right away.