Kibale National Park

Wonderful place

When I headed to Kibale Forest NP my main interest was the chimpanzee tracking: the forest is said to be the best place in East Africa to spot them so a visit there was due. But I wasn't prepared to everything else Kibale has to offer: a beautiful rainforest, stunning scenery, lots of other monkeys (red tails, black and white colobous) and THOUSANDS of butterflies. Whenever walking in Kibale, be it from the lodge to the tree house or during the chimp tracking, I was followed by a multitude of colorful butterflies of different sizes: it felt like a dream!
Even without a guide it was rather easy for me to spot quite few red tails and a couple of colobous; in the afternoon, on the other side of the pond in front of my tree house, I could hear crushing sounds and could see the trees shaking: apparently there were a couple of forest elephants lingering in the area. Given the thick vegetation I couldn't really see much of them but it was a cool experience. At night, I could hear a group of monkeys coming onto mthe roof and deciding that it was a good place to rest! Fantastic, and it was only my first day!
The chimp tracking was demanding since it was in the afternoon and not in the morning: it took almost three hours to track the group but when we managed to find them, it was unbelievable. The females and the babies were in the higher tree branches, while the alpha male was keeping an eye on us. At a certain point while the group started to move, the male came down the tree and started to walk on the ground in the opposite direction, almost trying to attract us away from the females and babies. No wonder they are considered the most intelligent animal in nature. I managed to take a lot of pictures, but best of all were the countless memories I have.
All in all I'd return to Kibale in a heartbeat, even among Uganda highlights I think it's underrated: I'd put over Kibale only the Rwenzori mountains and Bwindi NP.

A surprise around every corner

We only had one full day in Kibale which was a shame as there was so much to see and enjoy there. It seemed that everywhere you turned there was a new species that you hadn't yet seen, it was full of diversity from Primates to butterflies, birds to flowers it just seemed packed to the rim with wildlife.
We did the chimp walk in the morning and within a few minutes came across three walking straight towards us, they go so fast but we managed to keep up with them and fortunately they chose to stop and groom each other on a fallen log, further along we encountered a few more of the group including Males, Females and babies.
We stayed at the Primate lodge in one of the tented camps which was set right in the middle of their gardens and had vervet and red tailed monkeys playing in the trees just in front.
We sat and watched butterflies dance amongst the flowers and then some tiny striped squirrels chasing each other around a tree.
The rooms were spotless and very comfortable, the food was great, all freshly cooked and very filling.
We also had a great walk around the Bigodi wetlands were we encountered several more primate species at close range, many forest butterflies that were only to be found in Kibale, the beautiful blue Turacos and the tiny dwarf kingfisher amongst plenty of other things. The guides were extremely knowledgable and very proud of their countries wildlife and beautiful park.
Would highly recommend and would definitely have liked to have more time in this fantastic park.

An incredible place for scientists, and probably everyone else!

I stayed at the Makerere University Biological Field Centre (a research centre) in Kibale Forest NP as a zoology student, rather than travelling there as a tourist, so my opinions might not all be applicable to people looking to go on holiday there. But for what it's worth, Kibale is incredibly beautiful, 'untouched' by touristy culture, and still relatively close to a hospital at Fort Portal. All of the Ugandan people we met were overwhelmingly friendly and accommodating, and our forest guides were extremely knowledgeable of the forest and the movement of its animal inhabitants, of which there were many!

I personally saw 6 different species of primate, including chimpanzees, and others in my group saw even more, such as the elusive l'Hoest's monkey. A troupe of olive baboons lived near the research centre and roamed around exploring and causing trouble; they were generally not aggressive and could be chased away if needed - but keep your doors locked! As for the birding, it isn't my speciality but we spent two mornings mist netting on the forest floor and caught ~30 different species of small bird (and a few very large beetles), there was a pair of turacos nesting near the research centre which we saw daily, and a few hornbills that came to eat the insects from our insect traps in the morning; as well as the many birds living in the forest canopy.

The weather at the time we were there switched unpredictably between blazing sunshine and incredible downpours with lightning over the hills, which was fine for us who don't mind getting soaked while wandering through the forest, but may not be ideal for people on holiday - and of course, the weather will vary depending on the time of year. The only downside I could possibly think of to staying there was the isolation from the outside world - barely any phone signal, no internet, no particularly easy roads out of the forest (at least where we stayed). However, as in my case, I'm sure many will find the isolation quite enjoyable!

Amazing experience with the chimps, with an easier trek than Bwindi!

This area of Uganda was one of our favorites as it was much greener than other parks. The tea plantations were stunning. We stayed at the Kibale Forest Camp just outside the park and it was our favorite accommodation of the entire trip. The staff was super helpful and attentive, and we loved staying in the forest and hearing the sounds of the jungle in the morning. The trek to find the chimps was a very easy one on flat terrain and the actual experience with the chimps was fantastic. My one complaint was the large number of people who go see the chimps at the same time. They split you into several groups of about 7-8 and each group takes a separate path into the forest. We all ended up trekking the same large group however, and I was surrounded by more tourists than chimps. Other than that, I can't recommend this highly enough.

Chimps watching, beautifull rainforrest partch. Butterflies every where.

I hole day with chimps is better then visiting the Gorillas

Chimps!

Beautiful

Kibale forest is the home of the chimpanzees. One will see footsteps of the bush elefant and one will hear the call of the great blue turaco.

Kibale Forest pretty much guarantees you a sighting of the Chimpanzee family the forest habitats. Great experience tracking through the forest in search for the chimps.