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The Kibale Forest National Park harbours one of the most pristine African and the most accessible of Uganda's major rainforests. It is home to a remarkable number of 13 primate species, including baboon, blue monkey, black and white colobus, mangabey and the very localised red colobus. Kibale's major attraction, however, is the opportunity to track habituated chimpanzees - these delightful apes, more closely related to humans than to any other living creature, are tremendous fun to watch when squabbling and playing.

Their evocative pant-hoot call is an indissolubly sound of the African rainforest. Chimpanzees have been habituated for tourism at Kyambura Gorge and Budongo Forest, where I’ve also been to. The best place, however, to have an unforgettable meeting with them is Kibale Forest! Chimp trekking is completely different to gorilla trekking as chimps live in big communities which spread out and come together several times a day. Chimps move a lot and quite fast. So following them can be quite exhausting.
 

A network of shady forest trails connects the giant fig trees where chimps are often to be found. 335 different species of birds are also recorded – a  birder’s paradise! We trekked Kibale’s community three times and had three very different experiences from sitting in the middle of 20 chimps till following one elusive chimp for nearly an hour without getting closer than 30 metres. Taking pictures of chimps is extremely difficult because of the darkness in the forest, their black coat and the fact that they don't stop moving. Anyone with an illness can’t track the chimps and the maximum time you are allowed to spend with them is one hour. Mean annual rainfall in the region is 1750 mm and it can rain any time so raincoats and water proof boots are advisable.