Budongo Forest in Uganda
Budongo Forest in Uganda: This is one of Africa’s ancient tropical rain forests and the largest in Uganda, known for its rich biodiversity and diverse tree species dominated by classic mahogany trees. Budongo is located in northwestern Uganda on the escarpment northeast of lake Albert in the Nywoya District within Murchison Falls National Park, covering an area of over 825 square kilometers. This forest reserve is one of the top attractions in the park, famous for chimpanzee trekking, birdwatching, nature walks in the Royal Mile, Kanio Pabidi, and Busingiro.
Being a primaeval forest, this natural habitat is home to about 464 tree species, 24 mammals, 9 primates including, black and white colobus monkey, olive baboons, and others. The forest is the prime forest destination with the biggest Mahogany tree species in the whole of East Africa, with trees reaching over 80 meters tall. More still, the forest is amazingly biodiverse with hardwood trees and several other tree species.
The forest is one of the most amazing places with natural beauty of emerald green, which visitors enjoy with the sounds of chirping birds and several other wildlife species on their way to Murchison falls National Park. More still, this visit offers spectacular views of the intelligent chimpanzees, man’s close cousins that share 98% DNA with humans. Birdwatchers and nature lovers will have a chance to spot several bird species, especially forest birds such as Hornbills, flycatchers, Bee-eaters, Kingfishers, and, on a lucky day, you may come across the forest’s endemic Puvel’s Illadopsis and the Yellow-footed Flycatcher, among others.
Top Attractions in Budongo Forest
Chimpanzees
The intelligent chimpanzees are the forest’s top highlight that draws tourists all over the world to come and witness the magical chimpanzees that share 98% DNA with humans. Chimpanzee trekking in Budongo Forest allows visitors to enter the jungle in search of the chimpanzees in their natural habitat. This exercise begins in the morning at the forest headquarters in Kaniyo Pabidi.
After you will enter the jungle in search for chimpanzees taking about 2-4 hours depending on the location of these apes. During the trekking exercise, visitors will have a chance to see other primates such as black and white colobus monkeys, pottos, red-tailed monkey, blue monkey, galagos, vervets, and red-tailed and blue monkeys. Upon seeing these primates, you will spend an hour with them as you study them in their day today routines, take photos and videos as well.
Generally, Budongo Forest in Uganda has a moderate number of chimpanzees that have been habituated and are open for trekking. To track these chimpanzees in their habitat, you must have a valid chimpanzee trekking permit, and with the help of the forest armed rangers, you will have the chance to participate and interact with these apes for a maximum of 1 hour.
Besides the standard chimpanzee trekking, Budongo Forest also offer chimpanzee habituation experience to visitors where trekkers can spend 4 hours in the jungle with the semi-habituated chimpanzees as they study their behaviours and daily routines. This activity allows chimpanzees to get familiar to humans, and this offers trekkers a great experience as they take photos and videos for future reference and memories.
Wildlife Species
Since Budongo Forest is located in Murchison Falls National Park, this offers a chance to visitors, especially wildlife enthusiasts, to conduct game drives in the northern part of the park, where they can spot several wildlife species during morning game drives, evening game drives, and night game drives. This will enable you to spot various animals, both nocturnal and diurnal species such as leopards, spotted hyenas, Jackson Hartebeest, lions, waterbucks, Rothschild’s giraffe, elephants, warthogs, topis, sitstungas, and many others.
Birds
The forest is one of the top birding destinations especially in the Royal Mile, Kaniyo Pabidi and Busingiro with over 360 bird species, as another source of attraction in the forest. This offers a chance for birdwatchers to spot a variety of bird species in the top birding destinations of Kaniyo Pabidi and the Royal Mile, among others. The forest will introduce you to the endemic Pulvel’s Illadopsis and several other bird species that commonly reside in the tropical rainforests.
Other birds to see in Budongo Forest include Blue-breasted King Fisher, White-thighed Hornbill, Hairly-breasted Barbet, Fire-crested Alethe, African Dwarf Kingfisher, Scaly-breasted Illadopsis, Yellow-footed Flycatcher, Crested Guineafowl, Nahan’s Francolin, Blue-throated Roller, Golden Crowned Woodpecker, African Pitta, Piping Hornbill, among others.
Best time to visit Budongo Forest
Budongo Forest in Uganda can be visited all year round; however, some months are better than others. The best time to visit Budongo Forest is during the dry season, which occurs during the months of June to September and December to February. During these months, there is little to no rain, making the trekking trails dry and accessible when tracking chimpanzees and spotting bird species. More still, the vegetation cover is short and sparse, which offers clear views of unique attractions within Budongo Forest.
The forest can also be visited during the rainy season, commonly known as the low season. This occurs during the rainy months of March to May and from October to November. However, since these months receive a lot of rainfall, the trekking trails tend to get slick and slippery, making the tracking activity a little challenging, with thick vegetation that obscures the forest attractions.
Accommodation in Budongo Forest
The forest has a variety of accommodation facilities ranging from High-end and mid-range to Budget options among others. These include both facilities from the forest and the Park, including Budongo Eco Lodge, Paraa Safari Lodge, Red Chill Rest Camp, Pabidi Lodge, Pakuba Lodge, Sambiya River Lodge, among others.
Accessing Budongo Forest
Since Budongo Forest in Uganda is part of Murchison Falls National Park, the forest can be accessed on road from Kampala or Entebbe International Airport using the Luwero-Nakasongola via Masindi town to the park. The journey takes about 5 hours to reach Budongo Forest. Alternatively, you can access the park via flight from Entebbe International Airport or Kajjansi Airfield to Pakuba Airstrip and after connect to Budongo Forest headquarters by road.
