The introduction of golden cat tracking for 5 days in Kibale National Park diversifies tourist activities beyond chimpanzee safaris. Now, visitors in Uganda can track this beautifully colored cat species in the wild. Start your experience at a place called Kanyanchu, known for its dense tropical forest habitat. During this guided, experience follow a variety of signs left behind by the cat to find it. Also, you are provided with camera trap data as well as intelligence from park rangers, both very vital for success.

Nevertheless, you must have your professional guide with you in the forest. Uganda Wildlife Authority offers armed rangers to ensure that you are safe throughout the 5-day trip. Whether you encounter the golden cat or not, the trip is very exciting. So what makes this worthwhile despite of the outcome? The African golden cat is not as popular as many other African cat species. Therefore, studies on it are still scarce. Then, this is a nocturnal and solitary wildlife species that presents difficulties to encounter in the wild. When you see it, you feel special.

Cost of Golden Cat Tracking?

Golden cat tracking in Kibale National Park costs $350 for Foreign Nonresidents, Foreign Residents and Rest of Africa. Ugandans and citizens from within the East African Community can do golden cat tracking for 350,000 Ugandan shillings. The rates are for each person and for up to 5 days inside the forest. You should therefore stay at Kibale National Park for this multi-day experience. Chances of seeing the African golden cat are increased by this huge offer, yet cheaper than a gorilla trek. Enforcement of this price starts on the 1st of January 2027.

How to Reach Kibale NP?

Traveling to Kibale National Park to see the golden cat is enjoyed either in a car or aircraft. If you have ever travelled for 276 kilometers, you know that a drive from Kampala to Kibale takes 5-6 hours. Without taking any detours pass via Mityana, Mubende and Fort Portal. A beautifully smooth scenic trip like this is best experienced in a 4X4 safari land cruiser. We have these in our extensive fleet of vehicles. This also incorporates other strong cars for such a journey, like minibuses, safari vans, buses, SUVs and sedans etc.

In an aircraft, AeroLink Uganda offers daily scheduled flights from Entebbe International Airport to Kasese Airport. The latter is the best known airport nearest to Kibale National Park. A 50.6 kilometers distance on the road is covered if driving from Kasese Airport to Kibale National Park. Air transfers offer both aerial and scenic trips while on your way to Kibale National Park. By the way, booking a flight ticket for your transfer is doable, and with us, it becomes much easier. Save time and money by booking with Standard Safaris.

When to do Golden Cat Tracking?

Golden cat tracking is an outdoor activity and doable on any day in the year. But tracking this cat seems much easier when the forest floor is drier, hence less slippery. So we perfectly recommend that you go to Kibale Forest in the dry season. It is a great time when rainfall is quite lower than in the wet season. Vegetation cover also does not grow so dense in a dry season. Therefore, better visibility is offered in the forest since the cats have less cover to hide behind. For dry season tracking, visit from June to August and December to January.

Wet season golden cat tracking is desired by several visitors as well. They always love to experience the thrill and mystery that comes with tracking in a period of heavy rainfall. Though the trails are muddy and slippery, they soldier on until they meet an African golden cat. Seasons of heavy rains fall between March to May. October and November also present times of some heavy rainfall. Regardless of what time of year you travel for golden cat tracking come with a rain jacket and warm sweater. Rains can fall anytime here.

Kibale National Park

Kibale is relatively big in size (795 square kilometers) national park found in the western region of Uganda. Gazettement of the forest occurred in 1932, but as a national park, Kibale was established in 1993. In the Albertine Rift Valley, Kibale National Park boasts of a variety of habitats. Most parts are generally tropical rainforests, while others comprise woodland and grassland savannah. It is also dotted with a number of crater lakes, while other areas support large tea estates.

This forest houses 13 distinct primate species including the common chimpanzees. Statistically, Kibale has the largest number of chimpanzees in Uganda, with almost 1,500 of them. Other primates that share Kibale Forest include L’hoest’s monkeys, olive baboons, red colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys and Uganda mangabeys etc. Combined the number of mammal species here reach 71. Species of birds and trees are 370 and 350 respectively. Birds also include a lot of Albertine endemics like dusky crimson wing.