Kibale National Park

Overview

Kibale is 795 square kilometres of moist evergreen forest on the edge of the Albertine Rift, and it has the highest density and diversity of primates in Africa - thirteen species, including around 1,500 chimpanzees. Several communities are fully habituated, and the standard hour-long tracking permit has a success rate above ninety percent, which is why Kibale rather than anywhere else is the place to do this. The chimpanzee habituation experience, a full day with researchers as a community wakes, feeds and nests, is the deeper version. Red colobus, L'Hoest's monkey, grey-cheeked mangabey and the nocturnal potto all live here, along with forest elephant that are rarely seen. Just outside the park, Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary is a community-run swamp walk that is excellent for birds and monkeys and puts its fees straight into local schools. The Ndali-Kasenda crater lakes nearby make a good add-on.