Across Lake George to the north east of Queen Elizabeth National Park in the west of Uganda is the Kibale Forest National Park. Although these forests are connected and chimpanzees are found in the Queen Elizabeth National Park, we recommend seeing our closest relatives in the Kibale area as it’s a little easier to find the chimpanzees. In fact, the Kibale Forest is recommended as the best place in the whole of East Africa for seeing chimpanzees.

The most popular trail in the park is the walk from the Kanyanchu Visitor Center, which lasts about three hours to visit the chimps and to see a diversity of wildlife enroute. When you encounter the chimpanzee groups, you are allowed to spend a maximum of one hour observing the fascinating animals, as they play, feed and relax in their group.

As with the gorilla treks, to visit the chimpanzees you are recommended to book your chimpanzee permit and tour in advance as the visits per day are tightly controlled for the chimpanzees’ welfare and they can get quickly booked up.

In addition to the chimpanzees in Kibale, you will also encounter some of the other primates inhabiting the area, such as blue & red-tailed monkeys, red-colobus mangabeys, and the grey-cheeked mangabeys swinging in the forest’s canopy. Another of the favorite trails is the Kanyanchu Primate Walk to see some of the park’s thirteen species of primate.