What is Kibale National park famous for? Kibale National park is located in kabarole district in the southwestern Uganda near fort portal town, which is considered as the biggest town in Kabarole district. Fort portal town is known to have a big number of people of the Batooro tribe and currently they have the Omugabe King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru as the king of Tooro kingdom and have the king’s palace located in the heart of the town.
Kibale national park covers a total surface area pf about 795 square kilometers and stands at an elevation of about 1,590 meters above the sea level and 1,100meters below as the lowest point on the floor of the Albert line Rift valley. This park is managed by the Uganda wildlife Authority whose role is to protect and manage all the national parks in Uganda. More so, this park is the best place one can opt to go to while on their safari in Uganda because it is a good place surrounded with good nature, woodland and savannah grasslands, swamps, tropical rainforest which act as a good habitant to many wildlife species which attract many tourists in the country hence contributing a lot to the development of the tourism industry in Uganda.
What is kibale national park famous for?
Kibale national park is famously known and most visited because it has been ranked as the best place in the country where tourists can go to and capture the best views of the wild chimpanzees. Uganda as a country harbours a total number of 4950 chimpanzees and kibale national park is a home to over 1500 of them making it a best place for chimpanzee trekking and chimpanzee habituation activities. Chimpanzee habituation is a process when chimpanzees are trained to get used to the presence of human beings whereas chimpanzee trekking is an activity that involves tourists to walk through the forests looking for the chimpanzees and this normally goes for about 2-5 hours depending on where the species are located and after locating them, individuals are being given one to hour of interaction while in the presence of the chimpanzees.
These endangered primate species are known to be interesting animals that catch an eye of many travelers and the unique thing about these species is that they share 90% of their DNA with human beings and this national park is the place you can visit and get a chance to see a plenty numbers of them. However, apart from kibale national park, there are other destinations in Uganda where tourists can travel to see chimpanzees and these places include; Kyambura Gorge and Kalinzu forest in Queen Elizabeth national park and Budongo forest in Murchison falls national park among others.
Things to do in Kibale National park.
Tourists who travel to Kibale national park are always given great opportunities to engage themselves in different activities within the park as they explore and enjoy their safari. Therefore, these activities include the following;
Wildlife viewing.
Kibale national park is not only a home to chimpanzee species but it also acts as a natural habitant to around 70 mammal species such as; buffaloes, hippos, forest elephants, antelopes, monkeys and also is a habitant to over 13 primate species like chimpanzees. More so, Kibale national park is also a good destination for bird lovers to visit while on their safari in Uganda because it harbours over 375 bird species such as; the rare shoebill stork and many more.
Chimpanzee trekking.
Kibale national park is a home to over 1500 chimpanzee species that tourists are always guided by the park guides to move through the tropical rainforests within the park in order to easily track these primate species. This activity as mentioned earlier above goes for about 2-5 hours depending on where the species are located and after they have been tracked, individuals are always give one hour of interaction where they get a chance to learn about the behaviours and characters of the chimpanzees, for example how they eat and feed their young ones. However, they are also given some rules to follow such as; keeping a distance of about 8 kilometers while in the presence of the species, disable use of flash lights in the phones and cameras while taking pictures and recording videos of the species, avoid direct eye contact with the species in order to avoid any harm between the tourists and species.
Visiting the Amabere Ga Nyina Mwiru.
Amabere Ga Nyina Mwiru is a place of natural wonders and myth that are situated 5 kilometers away from Fort portal town in a cave. The site manager always welcomes tourists who tend to visit the Amabere Ga Nyina Mwiru as soon as they arrive, who takes them through the history and myth about the cave in a relationship with strong cultural attachment of the Batooro and their kingdom. More so, while leading to the caves, tourists are always blessed with fascinating, classic views of the waterfalls and they can get chances to hike to the top of the hills that are close to the caves where they capture views of the stunning crater lakes, What is Kibale National park famous for?
Guided Nature Walks.
Tourists in Kibale National park can opt to go for guided nature walks through the Bigodi wet land sanctuary swamp, which takes about a walk of 6 kilometers from the kibale national park headquarters. These guided nature walks always go for about 2-3 hours whereby tourists are always accompanied with the park guides who take them through the papyrus reeds and palm trees where they get chances to spot different mammal species, tree species, and very many bird species not forgetting that this jungle swamp is best known and considered as the birders paradise.
More so, tourists in Kibale National park can also opt to take a walk through the kibale forest trail and it takes about 6 hours as individuals walk through the grasslands, tropical forests, swamplands, tropical jungle, and open riverine forestation, grasslands where they always get chances of sightseeing different mammal species and this activity normally begins at 8:00am to 2:00pm.
Chimpanzee Habituation.
Kibale national park is a good place to visit for Chimpanzee habituation activities where tourists are always allowed to spend some good time with the chimpanzees in order for these species to get used to the presence of humans. This activity normally goes for about 6 hours and tourists should note that, the permits of habituation are abit expensive compared to the chimpanzee trekking permits.
Get in touch with our trusted tour operators for more information and inquires about this national park and Book with our tours and travel companies such as; Achieve Global safaris who offer the best tour packages while planning to visit Kibale National Park on your safari in Uganda.
