Although most travelers to Uganda have ranked tracking chimpanzees as the most interesting wildlife encounter in the whole world, the chimpanzee habituation experience is the best encounter. Though less known to most travelers to Uganda, the full day habituation gives you more time to interact with the chimps.
There are approximately 4950 chimpanzees in Uganda with about 1500 of these found in Kibale forest national park. This national park is one of the most of Uganda’s parks attracting a good number of tourists all year round. Kibale is a tropical rain forest and harbors 12 other different primate species alongside the chimpanzees. A Uganda safari to the park provides travelers with great and memorable experiences including chimpanzee watching, nature walks, tree identification, bird watching and more.
Chimpanzee Habituation:
Related to chimpanzee trekking, chimpanzee habituation is yet another experience in Kibale National park participated in by travelers. A chimpanzee habituation permits is sold at US$250, which is quite higher than the chimpanzee tracking permit, but the experience is quite awesome.
Chimpanzee habituation entails a traveler to be with the chimpanzees for the whole day. This gives them an opportunity to learn more about chimpanzees, their behaviors, feeding habits and how chimpanzees participate in different activities within their respective groups.
Chimpanzee habituation is best done during the month of March, April and November when there is limited number of travelers visiting the national park for chimpanzee trekking.
To all travelers planning to participate in this activity, it is recommended to book a chimpanzee habituation permit in advance foe easy allocation of the chimpanzee group. It is different from chimpanzee trekking where a traveler can get a chimpanzee trekking permit even at day of arrival.
Chimpanzee habituation experience is a long daytime and this requires one to carry packed food and some drinks for refreshments. Raincoats, jackets long trousers and long sleeved shirts are recommended. This is because of the unpredictable weather conditions in he forest in that it can rain at any time of the day.
In the past years, the number of people participating in chimpanzee habituation experience was limited to only six. However, presently, a group of twelve individuals is allowed to interact wit a chimpanzee family for the whole day. This is a great opportunity to travelers interested in chimpanzee habituation in that the number of permits has been now increased.
While spending time with he chimpanzees and following them up, travelers have great opportunities to encounter other animals in the national park such as the different monkey species, butterflies, birds among others, all which adds to the final experience.
Although travelers are allowed to spend much time with the chimpanzee during the proves, there are reminded to keep a distance o seven meters from the animals, this is because chimpanzees are the closest relatives to human beings sharing 99.9% of human genes. This makes them so susceptible to human disease and this distance is encouraged to ensure safety of these rare animals.
Concerning g the years, children below 15 years are not allowed to participate in the habituation process. It is similar to gorilla habituation that is also done in Uganda. Travelers in the chimpanzee habituation process follow trails in the forest in search of the chimpanzees depending on where they spent the previous night.
All travelers must go for a short briefing about the do’s and don’ts in the process and then follow a guide for the safety of bot the chimpanzees and the travelers. Guides carry some weapons just to scare the wild animals away but they do not shoot.
In conclusion therefore, chimpanzee habituation is the best experience that every traveler should not miss out, all travelers to Kibale national park should there fore include chimpanzee habituation is there package for the greater and memorable experience. Every travel interested in visiting Kibale forest national park can book with a Ugandan tour operator for a great and memorable experience.
Highlights bout Kibale national park:
- It is a main destination for chimpanzee trekking and habituation.
- It has many other primates along side chimpanzee
- Birding takes place there
- Nature walks
- And many tourism activities take place there.
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