Chimpanzee Trekking

Chimpanzee trekking; Chimpanzees are endangered primate species in East Africa. This is has been caused by the rampant poaching by the communities next to the national parks, however, the governments are also not resting.

A lot of measures are being devised to culminated the poaching problem and making sanctuaries for chimpanzees to allow them multiply in number from the safe areas strictly protected from poachers like ngamba island in Uganda, Lwiro in the democratic republic of Congo are renown chimpanzee sanctuaries.

Chimpanzees are apes that share almost 99% of the human DNA, they are also similar to the mountain gorillas in terms of behavior, and however, the chimpanzees are smaller than the ambiguous gorillas. Both of them live in groups of not more than 60 members, both are fruit lovers among other similarities that you need to find out soon. The chimpanzees stay both on land and in trees where they make their nests by bending tree branches and twigs.

The chimpanzees are habituated to make them familiar with the visitors; this prevents them from migrating due to frequent visits by the tourists. The habituation process take about 3years and it is done by experts in primate behaviors. However, some visitors pay to get involved in the habituation process when it takes place in different national parks in east Africa; it is more expensive than the chimpanzee trekking permits.

Chimpanzee trekking is a thrilling activity that is famously done by tourist during their African safaris. Most of the chimpanzee trekking safaris are combined with gorilla trekking in bwindi impenetrable national park mgahinga national park, volcanoes national park and virunga national park in Uganda, Rwanda and democratic republic of Congo, respectively.

Chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe

Chimpanzee trekking in Rwanda is done in nyungwe national park which has ever 13 primate species. Nyungwe national park is Africa’s largest Montane forest and Rwanda’s best park and tourist destination when it comes to chimpanzee trekking. Nyungwe has about 500 chimpanzees and 100 are habituated using human names. Nyungwe national park has two communities of chimpanzees (habituated chimpanzees), one community has 60 chimps and the other has 30 chimps in cyamudongo area.

In nyungwe national park, chimpanzee trekking starts really early compared with trekking in Uganda, the visitors or group ready for chimpanzee trekking meets at the reception center at 0430hrs where they gather for briefing and then hit the thick forest for chimpanzees in the early morning; this is the best time to meet the chimpanzees as they go down from the trees to meet their daily routine of looking for food.

Chimpanzee Trekking in Queen Elizabeth

In Queen Elizabeth national park, chimpanzee trekking is done in kyambura gorge also known as kyambura game reserve; gazette for chimpanzees, monkeys and birds. Kyambura gorge is located north east of queen Elizabeth National Park about 30km from mweya Uganda wildlife authority (UWA) headquarters. Kyambura gorge is hidden making it so easy for the visitors to miss it. It has a rainforest vegetation type characterized with tall trees and closes canopies that allow limited light to reach the ground. Kyambura gorge steep sides are said to have been forms by Kyambura River, passes through to Lake George, many years ago. It is a buffer zone and a water hole for the animals during the dry season in Uganda.

Kyambura gorge has one family of chimpanzees ready to be visited; almost all the members of this family are habituated chimpanzees. They are so familiar to human behavior that they tend to imitated almost everything, despite; you should not imitate them back.

Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale National Park

Kibale national park is the best primate community in Uganda and it is referred to as the world primate capital with over 1400 chimpanzees and some are habituated. The landscape of kibale national park is the reason as to why it is an evergreen and semi-deciduous forest ecosystem which is so adaptable to the primates that love swinging on one tree to another, you can imagine the fun.

Chimpanzee trekking in kibale national park is daily and commences at 8am and another shift starts at 2pm. The activity lasts for 2 to 3 hours; however, the guests are given a one hour interaction with the chimpanzees and also learning their behavior. A group of six people is allowed to visit a chimpanzee community and the chimp trekking activity can be done twice a day, therefore, on a daily twelve visitors are allowed to have fun with the chimpanzees in kibale national park.

The chimpanzee trekking permits are sold at mainly sold at the Uganda wild life authority headquarters in Kampala; you can also buy your permit at ishunga center in kibale national park. The chimpanzee trekking permits go for usd150 per person per day, and this money includes one full hour of interaction with the chimpanzees, taking a lot of photos, hiking through the raised slopes and the simple valleys if kibale forest park, perhaps, you can go for the nature walk in bigodi wetland.

Lwiro Chimpanzee Sanctuary

Lwiro chimpanzee sanctuary is one of the biggest in Africa with also progressive conservation of the endangered chimpanzees in tango community in the democratic republic of Congo (DRC). Lwiro chimpanzee sanctuary was created in 2003 to carb the rampant pouching of the chimpanzees in Congo. It is like a refugee camp for chimpanzees redeemed from poachers and pet traders; lwiro has over 85 chimpanzees and money other primates.

Lwiro is located in tango community just for 4km away from kahuzi-biego national park of the low land gorillas; you can visit the lowland mountain gorillas too when you go to lwiro chimpanzee sanctuary, lwiro is recognized by the international union for conservation of nature (IUCN) in the 3^rd position of the world’s most important site for the conservation of the eastern chimpanzees. You can pass by lwiro chimpanzee sanctuary during your gorilla safari in Congo; virunga national park.

Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary

Ngamba island sanctuary for chimpanzees is also not so far away, it is another chimpanzee sanctuary found in Uganda on a the largest freshwater lake in east Africa. Ngamba is a 95 hectare wide area with a rainforest vegetation type; perhaps, it is the reason for the construction of the facility.

Ngamba island chimpanzee sanctuary was created in 1998 by a number of volunteers both local and international organizations. The main aim for the setup in Ngamba Island was and still is, the creation of a safe haven for the orphaned and rescued chimpanzees. The chimpanzees when rescued from the poachers by Uganda wildlife rangers, they are brought to ngamba for rehabilitation and the well ones are sent back into the wild.

Ngamba island sanctuary has about 49 make chimpanzees and 29 female chimpanzees which roam around the island area. About 40 chimpanzees are habituated to blend with the visitors that come daily to take time with the funny primates, most of the chimpanzee at Ngamba Island are habituated and only tree where lucky enough to be born on this island. You can choose ngamba from the other chimpanzees trekking expeditions in Uganda, however, they are more adventurous than ngamba island chimpanzee trekking. Indeed ngamba is a haven for the endangered chimpanzees and the conservation work is progressive.