With Standard Safaris, you can experience the fascinating chimpanzee trekking adventure in Budongo Forest, northwestern Uganda. Chimpanzees are great apes that share with us humans almost 98% of our DNA. They are distinguished from other primates by their thick black fur that covers their entire bodies but their face, ears, fingers, and toes. Chimpanzees also have short legs, prehensile thumbs, arms longer than their knees, and without tails. Chimpanzees are omnivorous, with their diets consisting of mainly fruits. They also feed on leaves, buds, and blossoms. Chimpanzees supplement their diet with meat by preying on antelopes, baboons, and a variety of monkey species among others.
Chimpanzees can use their hands to feed and they can spend up to 8 hours of their day foraging for food. Male adult chimpanzees can weigh from 40-60 kilograms while adult females can weigh from 32-47 kilograms. Their populations are threatened by habitat loss, accidental snaring, diseases, and killings by humans in their gardens among others. There are over 5,000 chimpanzees in Uganda and Budongo has at least 400 individuals. Budongo Forest is part of the Murchison Falls Conservation Area that spans about 825 square kilometers within the Rift Valley escarpment in the northeast of Lake Albert. This is the second biggest natural forest in Uganda after Mabira forest with a diversity of flora and fauna species that inhabit its tropical rainforests.
On the road, Budongo Forest is about 246 kilometers northwest of Kampala city center. The scenic journey takes about 4 hours to reach Masindi Town and another 84 kilometers to reach the entrance.
By air, a visitor can board a scheduled flight from Entebbe International Airport or Kajjansi Airfield to either Pakuba, Chobe, or Bugungu airstrips. This flight takes about 1 hour and reaching Budongo Forest entrance is done by road transportation.
How Chimpanzee Trekking is done in Budongo Forest
In Budongo Forest, chimpanzee trekking tours are done twice each day of the year the first one starting at around 8 AM and the second at around 2 PM. Each chimpanzee trekking tour starts with a pre-trekking briefing session at the Kaniyo Pabidi eco-tourist site where a park authority edifies the visitors about the trekking rules in the forest. In a group of not more than 8 people, visitors will be led into the forest by a ranger guide where they will locate a habituated chimpanzee group. Along the trails, you can also observe other wild animals including black and white monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, olive baboons, vervet monkeys, and several bird species.
The chimpanzee trek may last between 3-4 hours depending on where the chimpanzees are or where they spent the previous night. Locating habituated chimpanzees is less challenging compared to gorilla trekking since they are so vocal and can be noticed from afar. Once you encounter the playful chimpanzees, you will spend an hour in their presence, where you will witness their unique behaviors that involve gathering fruits, flowers, and leaves to eat. You will also notice how the female chimpanzees nurse their offspring while the male chimpanzees forage for food in the canopy.
Acquiring a Chimpanzee Permit for Budongo Forest
Trekking a habituated chimpanzee group in Budongo Forest requires the visitor to have a genuine trekking permit. This can be acquired from the Uganda Wildlife Authority located in Kampala through a trusted tour operator like Standard Safaris. We are a very experienced and trustworthy tour operating company. We can check for the availability of the trekking permit on your preferred date and book it for you. Each chimpanzee permit per person costs USD 120 for a foreign non-resident, USD 110 for a foreign resident, and USD 75 for an East African Community citizen.
When to Travel to Budongo Forest for Chimpanzee Trekking?
Traveling for a chimpanzee trekking tour in Budongo Forest can be done throughout the year but the best time is during the dry seasons. There are two phases of the dry season experienced in Uganda’s Budongo forest. There is the short dry season that runs from December to February and the long dry season that runs from June all through to September. During these dry months of the year, Budongo forest experiences relatively warmer and dry weather conditions with minimal chances of rainfall. This is suitable to make the trails drier compared to those during the rainy season, thus facilitating easy movement inside the forest. Visibility in the forest is also much better thanks to clearer skies above and less dense vegetation cover.
If you are one of those daring travelers, you should opt for the relatively challenging terrain and weather conditions of the rainy season. The trails are relatively muddy and slippery thus promising a thrilling adventure in the dense tropical rainforest. The vegetation is denser and with the cloudy skies, visibility is affected thus enhancing the mystery of finding the chimpanzees. The chimpanzee groups tend to move shorter distances since their food is much more plenty in the forest during the rainy seasons, thus easier to locate.
