What to Expect on Kibale Safari Adventure
What to Expect on Kibale Safari Adventure: Kibale Forest National Park is one of the top primate destinations in Africa, famous for its chimpanzee population. It is a tropical rainforest located in western Uganda that covers about 776 sq. km, spanning the districts of Kyenjojo, Kamwenge, Kasese, and Kabarore. This remarkable destination harbors the highest number of primate species across Africa, with over 13 unique primate species.
It was gazetted in 1993, particularly to restore and protect several wildlife species, as well as this incredible forest. Considering its rich biodiversity, Kibale Forest National Park is home to over 13 primate species, 60 species of mammals, 372 bird species, and others.
The park is over 322 km away from Kampala, Uganda’s capital, which may take about 5-6 hours for clients who prefer the option of a road trip to the park. Since the park covers a total area of 776 sq. km, this means that visitors are guaranteed to encounter diverse wildlife and several unique physical features within and around the park. On your way to the park, you will explore a lot, ranging from plantations, people and their unique cultures, homesteads, and farms as part of your adventure.
Since Kibale Forest National Park is globally known for its chimpanzee population, sightings of these unique and intelligent chimpanzees are more guaranteed than anywhere else in the country. This means that chimpanzees are the highlight and the reason as to why you have a safari in the vast forest of Kibale Forest National Park. However, visitors have alot to expect on Kibale safari adventure.
What to Expect on a Kibale Safari Adventure?
This prominent national park is a tropical rainforest with a unique ecosystem ranging from vegetation cover to diverse wildlife species. Kibale Forest National Park has over 226 tree species with several plant species that give this forest its stunning beauty. Additionally, this vegetation cover harbors several mammals, primates, and unique birds, including a few species of the Albertine rift. During your nature walk safaris, you will encounter diverse wildlife and varying nature patterns that are rarely seen.
Expect to see different crater lakes.
Since Kibale Forest National Park is located in the western region of the East African Rift Valley around the Ndali-Kasenda areas, you will have a chance to see a variety of dotted crater lakes. Along the way from Kibale Forest National Park, regardless of the entry point, whether from the Fort Portal or Kasese side, expect to see quite a big number of scenic crater lakes.
Some of the crater lakes you expect to see on your way to Kibale Forest National Park include Lake Nyabikere, Lake Nkuruba, Lake Nyanswiga, Lake Nyamirima, Lake Mubiro, Lake Nyinambuga, Lake Nyamasagani, Lake Ntambi, and others.
Change in the weather
Kibale Forest National Park is one of those destinations in Uganda that can receive rainfall at any time of the day, especially during the rainy season. This means that during the rainy season, there is plenty of rainfall compared to the dry season.
This means that visitors who prefer sunny or warm-temperature days are advised to visit the park from June to September and December to February. The rainy season begins from March to May and October to November. This attracts fewer visitors, most of whom prefer budget services.
Chimpanzees- What to Expect on Kibale Safari Adventure
This is the highlight as to why visitors frequent Kibale Forest National Park, and visitors are guaranteed over 90% chances of seeing these intelligent chimpanzees. The morning shift is more productive since these chimps tend to be closer to their nesting locations compared to the afternoon session. Kibale Forest is home to over 1450 chimpanzees, of which 6 families are wild, 5 are for research, 1 is for habituation, and the last one is for trekking activities.
Only visitors with chimpanzee trekking permits will be allowed to participate in the chimpanzee activity, and definitely they will have a chance to have a close encounter with the chimps as they carry out their routine activities. Upon seeing these chimps, you will spend a maximum of 1 hour with the habituated chimps, while visitors with habituation permits will have to spend the whole day for them to get familiar with human presence.
Wildlife views
You will have an opportunity to see numerous wildlife species in Kibale Forest National Park. Besides being a remarkable destination for chimpanzees, the park is home to over 60 mammals, 13 primate species, insects, and about 372 bird species. In addition, many of these will be seen during your adventure safari in Kibale Forest.
Animals
Some of the wildlife species to see in Kibale Forest include mammals such as buffaloes, leopards, sitatungas, duikers, forest elephants, and bush babies. Primates to see include chimpanzees, red-tailed monkeys, olive baboons, blue monkeys, patas monkeys, vervet monkeys, L’hoest’s monkeys, and black and white colobus monkeys, among others.
Birds- What to Expect on Kibale Safari Adventure
Birding enthusiasts on their safari to Kibale will have a chance to see several bird species such as the masked apalis, black bee-eater, afed pigeon, black-capped apalis, African pitta, yellow-footed flycatcher, western nicator, red-faced woodland warbler, dusky crimsonwing, blue-headed bee-eater, brown illadopsis, crowned eagle, Abyssinian ground thrush, African pied wagtail, among others.
See some lodges
During your safari adventure in Kibale Forest, you will have the chance to pass by a few lodges while seeing others from a distance. These accommodation facilities range from luxury, mid-range, and budget options. These facilities are mainly put in place to be used by tourists that are visiting the park for adventure purposes. Lodges to see include Kibale Forest Lodge, Primate Lodge, Chimpundu Lodge, Crater Safari Lodge, Rweetera Safari Park, Guereza Canopy Lodge, Kibale Tourist Lodge, Tabebuia Safari Lodge, among others.
