One of the top popular tourist activities in Uganda is chimpanzee habituation and trekking in Kibale Forest National Park, this forest is very special as it is one of the top places in the world with the highest population of chimpanzees in Africa and also Kibale forest is the best place where travelers can do both chimpanzee trekking and the Chimpanzee habituation experience.
At Kisoro tours Uganda we are offering chimpanzee habituation in the Kibale forest from Kigali so that tourists and other travelers in Rwanda can also get the opportunity to experience the process of making chimpanzees get used to human beings around them before its opens to tourism, chimpanzee habituation in Uganda takes about 2 years to complete the habituation process.
A standard chimpanzee trekking in the Kibale forest gives tourists only one hour with the chimps while the chimpanzee habituation experience allows tourists to spend a full day with the chimps as they go through the habituation process under the guidance of professional researchers and well-experienced ranger guides, both activities can be done throughout the year but the number of people allowed to trek chimps per day is more than those of doing habituation. For example, with trekking, a maximum of twelve are allowed to trek one community of chimps while only 8 people are allowed to take part in the chimp habituation process
Kisoro tours recommend to all its estimated clients and other travelers to book their chimpanzee permits in about between six months to a year in advance to avoid missing out on their preferred day or date because there is a limit to how permits are issued per day and how many people that can trek a particular chimpanzee community daily.
Chimpanzee habituation experience starts at 6:00 am morning daily once a day while trekking is done twice a day the first session starts at 7:30an briefing and the second session starts at 2:00 pm in the afternoon, both activities are guided by a well-trained team of rangers/guides and researchers. The team of rangers/guides knows where to find the communities of chimpanzees by following clues left behind by the chimps.
As we all know chimpanzees share 98% of their DNA with humans and on this trekking, you will be amazed at how some habituated chimpanzees can easily identify the familiar faces of the ranger/guides because these ranger/guides visit these chimps almost on daily bases.
Chimpanzees are more active in the morning as they get out of their nests and head out for feeding, hunting and also go by their daily business so we recommend for morning session because if you go for the afternoon session, you find most of the chimpanzees resting, grooming each and also as they prepare for the night. During the trekking, you will also come armed ranger escorts who work to scare off other wild animals just in case you meet them for example Buffaloes and elephants you don’t want to meet them when walking on foot in the forest because they may pose a danger to you but by scare shooting in the air, they move away.
Habituation is the process of allowing wild Chimpanzee get used to human presence through continuous visits led by professional researchers and well-experienced rangers, habituation process can take between one and a half to two years before the chimpanzees can get used to humans around them, usually, unhabituated chimpanzee when sees humans they get suspicious and flee away but by end of 2 years of habituation, there are already used to humans’ presence so that you can trek them freely.
The cost of a chimpanzee habituation experience is $250 per person for the full day with unhabituated chimps that are undergoing the habituation process while a normal chimp trekking permit cost only $150 per person for one hour with chimps so the habituation permit price is slightly higher than normal chimpanzee trekking permit price yet with habituation experience you even get to spend more time with the chimps which means that u get better value for your money.
For normal trekking, you trek a community of chimps that is already fully habituated while with chimpanzee habituation experience you spend the full day following wild unhabituated amazing creatures (chimpanzees).
In East Africa, Uganda is the only place where tourists can get the opportunity to participate in the chimp habituation process in Kibale Forest National Park, Kibale forest is very rich in primates because apart from chimps, there are other 13 primates species recorded in Kibale forest, because of Kibale forest national park, Uganda is known as the “primates’ capital of Africa”, Kibale forest is the best place in East Africa where tourists are given opportunity to take part in chimpanzee habituation process.
Kisoro tours we are a registered tour operator in Uganda we offer some truly memorable chimpanzee habituation in the Kibale forest from Kigali, gorilla tracking, and wildlife safaris in Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya, Tanzania, and DR-Congo, all our tours are tailor-made to fit your time and budget.
You can reach us at info@kisorotoursuganda.com or call us at +256 785790925 also on WhatsApp for free information or a free quote