Kibale forest national park

Dubbed the Primate Capital of the world, Kibale Forest National Park is one of the best safari destination in Africa for chimpanzee trekking safaris and hosts the highest number and diversity of primates in East Africa. The park is home to 13 species of primates including the largest population of chimpanzees in the region thriving in an area of 795 square kilometres.

Kibale Forest is one of the most beautiful and most diversified tracts of tropical forests in the whole of Uganda, predominately covers the central and northern part of the park on the raised Fort Portal Plateau. The park lies at an altitude of 1,590m and 1,100 above sea level and is located in the Western part of the country, along the East African Rift Valley near the Ndali Kasenda Crater. Kibale Forest National Park’s varied altitude supports different types of habitat ranging from tropical forest to woodland and savannah on the rift valley floor.

Established as a forest reserve in 1940s, Kibale was upgraded to a national park status in recognition of a biodiversity that includes 350 tree species, 71 species of mammal and 370 bird species. Kibale Forest National Park is best known for its primates which include chimpanzees, the localized red colobus and L’Hoest’s monkeys.

Wildlife in Kibale Forest National Park

Kibale Forest hosts a variety of wildlife species, including 70 mammal species, 13 primate species and 325 bird species inhabiting under its canopy. Notable wildlife in Kibale Forest National Park include the remarkable chimpanzees, olive baboons, red colobus, black and white colobus, L’Hoest’s, red-tailed, vervet, and blue monkeys, and the Uganda mangabey.

Other wildlife species include forest elephants, duiker, bushbuck, sitatunga, bush pig, giant forest hogs, common warthogs, and African buffalo. Predators found in the forest include leopard, several, African golden cat, mongooses, otter and occasionally visiting lion.

Birdlife in Kibale Forest National Park

Kibale Forest National Park has 375 recorded species including the Red-winged Francolin, Green-breasted Pitta, Joyful Greenbul, White-bellied Crested Flycatcher, Woodland Warbler and Orange-tufted Sunbird. Four species: Nahan’s francolin, Cassin’s spinetail, blue-headed bee-eater and masked apalis among others.

The Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary and the stretch of the forests bordering both sides of the road to the Kanyanchu Tourist Centre are normally the most productive birding spots in the park.

Flora in Kibale Forest National Park

Kibale Forest was initially protected as a logging reserve in 1930s and as a national park since 1993, the forest has over 351tree species, the oldest and tallest specimens reaching 200 years and 55 metres.

75% of Kibale Forest’s vegetation is forest with grassland savannah appearing on summits and ridges. The park’s topography determines the nature of forests, with swampy areas in valley bottoms and drier variation on the slopes.