About Kibale Forest National Park

Kibale Forest National Park is one of the best safari destinations in Africa for chimpanzee trekking safaris and has the highest number and diversity of primates in East Africa. There are 13 species of primates including chimpanzees living within its 795km2 land cover with the most beautiful and most diversified tracts of tropical forest in the whole of Uganda. The Forest covering predominates in the central and northern part of the park on the raised Fort Portal plateau. At the park’s northern tip, Kibale is highest and stands 1590m above sea level

Kibale Forest National Park Uganda is one of the best safari destination in Africa for chimpanzee tracking. See advice, sample Uganda safari packages, how to get a chimpanzee tracking permit and so much more information on Uganda tours.

where is  Kibale National Park located

The Location of Kibale National Park is in the western part of Uganda about (5 hrs. drive) from Kampala and about 26km south-east of the beautiful Fort Portal town – one of Uganda’s most lovely places to explore. The park is located close to the serene Ndali Kasenda crater area and it takes a half day’s drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park, Rwenzori Mountains & Semuliki National Parks and the Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve.

Southern Kibale borders Queen Elizabeth National Park and collectively these conserved areas protect a 180 km long migration corridor for wildlife that stretches from the remote southern sector of Queen Elizabeth National Park in “Ishasha”, to “Sebitoli” in northern Kibale.

 Activities in Kibale National Park

Kibale Forest Hikes | Walking Trail

The Kibale Forest walk trail is 12km long and the hike is usually done in the dry season from the month of June to September are mid-November to February, taking between 5 and 6 hours. Hiking Tours offer you an opportunity to discover the park’s assorted habitats such as river line forest, swamp, grassland and tropical rainforest.

Birding in Kibale

The park is a home to 325 different bird species, including 6 that are native to the Albertine Rift area like the dusky crimsonwing, black-capped apalis, blue-headed sunbird, collared apalis, red-faced woodland warbler and purple-breasted sunbird. Other Kibale specials are the green breasted pitta, African pitta, black bee-eater, Abyssinian ground thrush, yellow spotted nicator, little greenbul, black-eared ground thrush, brown chested alethe, yellow rumped tinker bird, blue-breasted kingfisher, along with the crowned eagle.
The Bigodi nature walk offers the best birding safaris  opportunities in the park as the swamp alone has approximately 138 bird species. It’s also famous for wildlife such as chimpanzees, red colobus, black and white colobus, red tailed monkey, bushbuck as well as mongoose.

Cultural Tours around Kibale

Led by a local guide, you will get a chance to meet the native Batooro people as well as the Bakiga immigrants (from the densely populated southwestern part of Uganda) who stay around this park. During the Kibale Cultural Tours you will visit a traditional village to see the traditional lifestyle of the Batooro, visit the local church, primary school, traditional healer and get a closer encounter with these natives. You will also enjoy some energetic traditional dances and songs by the Bakiga.

Crater Lakes Tour

The Kasenda area found in Fort Portal is home to more than 50 different crater lakes which are surrounded by steep sided volcanoes. a visit to this picturesque are will give you an opportunity to appreciate the unique landscape of this area.

Cultural Trails

The nature walk begins from Kanyanchu or Sebitoli and it takes about 2 to 6 days. The enroute will help discover the forest and late rest in the community-run campsites close to the villages of Kikoni, Nyabarongo and Nyaibanda.

When to visit

Although Kibale National Park is accessible throughout the year, the Best time to Visit the park is during the dry season when the trails are dry and passable. This runs from December to February and then from June to September. The wettest area in Kibale is the northern area, receiving an average annual rainfall of approximately 1700mm, mainly during March to May and September to November. The climate is usually pleasant with an average annual temperature range of 14C to 27C. The southern part of the park experiences the maximum temperatures and lower amounts of rains where the terrain drops onto the hot rift valley floor and forest provides way to open grassland.