Kibale NP & Budongo Forest - Tracking our closest cousins

Chilling out

Uganda, referred to as the pearl of Africa, is the premier destination for chimp trekking in the world. Uganda is also home to other great wildlife including Africa’s big five. Uganda boasts some great national parks including Queen Elizabeth (QENP), Muchinson's and Kidepo, with the first two also being home to chimpanzees. Chimp tracking is done in a number of other parts of Uganda with the premier destination being Kibale NP in Western Uganda.

Agama lizard

Kibale NP is located about 30 minutes from Fort Portal on the Mbarara road and is accessible on an excellent tarmac road by a sedan vehicle (while QENP is a 3 hour drive from Fort Portal on a badly rutted tarmac road). On the edge of Kibale NP is the village of Bigodi and home to the Bigodi swamp, an excellent birding location.  Take note however, that there is some confusion in Bigodi as there are two different birding options. Make sure you actually visit the swamp and the entrance is on the edge of the swamp (away from the village) as opposed to other options located in the village. You will see the office brightly painted with birds.

Red-bellied flycatcher

With a border separating Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and thus attracting birds from the Congo basin biosphere, the country in general - but Western side in particular - is a world renowned birding hotspot. There is a long list of East Africa rarities that only occur in the Semliki forest in Western Uganda, located about an hour’s drive from Fort Portal. Unfortunately, despite two visits to Fort Portal we just couldn’t fit in Semliki mainly due to the limited availability of facilities and uncertainty about safety given its close proximity to the volatile Eastern DRC.  

Shining blue kingfisher

We stayed at Kibale Forest Camp which is only about 15 minutes drive from the Kibale entrance gate. We had stayed there before on our previous trip to Uganda and knew it had good value for money accommodation options with bonus sightings of the Shining blue kingfisher and Black bee-eater. We were lucky enough to catch the Shining blue, but the black bee-eater eluded us this time around, so we still haven't got a shot of this amazingly coloured bird.

Splendid sunbird

Other common residents of the camp also include Great blue turacos, Casqued hornbill and both Red-tailed and Black and white Colobus monkeys. There is a resident white spotted fluff-tail that frequents the staff quarters washing bay and was calling next to the area we were staying, but despite the camp manager fetching us when the bird was around, he was too shy to stay in the open for long and disappeared before we could get a sighting of him. The new beauty for us on this trip though was a great view of the Superb sunbird in the garden, which is another Uganda special. 

Black and white colobus monkey

The last time we visited Uganda, we skipped the chimps as we planned to check them out in Rwanda’s Nyungwe forest as we were living in Rwanda, however security concerns saw us keep away from Nyungwe. With us subsequently leaving Rwanda, missing out on chimp trekking was to be a regret from our time in East Africa. But an surprising delay obtaining work permits to our next country led us to mark time in Kampala for a few weeks. This of course meant it was an unexpected and welcome opportunity for try seeing our closest cousins.

Chilling out in Kibale

Chimps are wild animals, need to be tracked down daily and are not a guaranteed sighting despite the high price tag.

Kibale NP offers the best odds with a 90%+ chance of a sighting but this also makes it the most popular with limited spots available for a given day and so it requires advanced bookings.

If you are up to making the chimp trekking permit bookings on your own get ready for a time consuming episode at the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) office on Kira Road in Kampala, the only place you can get a permit.

It never ceases to amaze me how wildlife authorities make things awfully difficult for the independent traveler. If you want the easy way out most accommodation and tour operators will manage your chimp permits for a fee. (We did find out later that it MAY be possible to buy the permits at Kibale itself, but we didn't test the theory.)

Your best chance with the UWA office is be there by 7.30 am with a book to read and wait and hope the working day starts at 8.00 am. Even after the work day starts, one could be excused for concluding that the sole purpose of some of the employees is to demonstrate different levels of being dazed and confused - find the one that looks willing to help! Luckily as the only non tour operator, they were a bit more helpful to us and after only 2 hours the payment was made and booking obtained.

Chimpanzee portrait

There are limited permits per day for the morning and afternoon so you need to work this out if you are an independent traveler to ensure your accommodation is worked out accordingly and of course check the weather as it rains constantly in this part of the world.  Usually the morning permits are booked out first, but the afternoon permits tend to be available for last minute bookings.

Checking us out

Fitness wise, the trek to see the chimps at Kibale NP is a lot easier than the gorilla trek in Rwanda which is up a volcano. The terrain is a lot flatter but you still need sturdy hiking shoes and long pants to tuck your trousers in to give yourself a chance with the safari ants – do not underestimate these little ants, you do not want one biting your leg!

We had a long debate on if the morning or

Contemplating life

afternoon treks are better and concluded the afternoon is better, which was just as well because we also couldn’t get permits for the morning!

Since we had already paid the entry fee for the chimp trekking that would be in the afternoon, we also decided to do an early morning bird walk in Kibale the same day, and check out the bird life. 

The bird life in terms of lifers is prolific, however spotting a bird in the tall canopy is near on impossible without a trained guide. The most famous avian resident of this forest is the Green breasted pitta but it is really only for hardcore birders - the search starts at 6am in total darkness in the hopes of catching the pitta doing its display.  Unfortunately, for us weren't successful in our pitta search, but thoroughly enjoyed the trek through the forest as it woke up.

We did hear the chimps up high in the trees though - they were just waking up for the morning and calling to each other.  Considering that it had rained heavily the night before and our bird guide had told us that when it rains they don't come down early we were glad we had picked the afternoon (even if it wasn't by choice). 

Chimp "pantooning"

You only have an hour from when you find the chimps to spend with them - craning your neck to see them high in the forest canopy for an hour with no opportunities to get photos didn't sound like a great chimp experience to us.  At least with the afternoon trek, the chimps have already been located and a ranger stays with them all day, so less chance of not finding them.

More chilling

We were at the Kayanchu Visitors Centre by 1.30pm in time for our 2pm start.  Each trek is a group of 6, so we were added to another family of 3 - we were hoping we wouldn't run into any safari ants as they were definitely not geared to handle them.  And it didn’t start well for them when a huge male baboon ran for the youngest member of their team and we had to shoo it off. It is said both baboons and hyenas will take chances with females and children over men and this was a demonstration of that theory.

We set off with our guide who was carrying an AK 47 riffle presumably to shoot poachers or bandits as it would not be of much use on the elephants and buffalo who we had just learnt also habituate this forest. While any mammal is considered a rare sight, we were surprised to see elephant dung around and then be informed of up to 300 elephants roam the forest which has a corridor to Queen Elizabeth NP.

Moving among the trees

The news from the chimps was that they were on the edge of the forest and were looking like they wanted to cross into the village fields which would be a major disappointment not to catch them in the forest but would be great light for shooting.

Snacking

We parked on a village track on the edge of the park and made our way through the grasses and across an elephant trench, which is a bit tricky as it's designed to keep elephants and buffaloes from leaving the forest. We could hear the chimps screaming and this is where you need to be quick on the scene as opposed to the situation we had trying to get the old woman of the group through the elephant trench. Eventually she made it up like all of us, rather unglamorously crawling up on all fours.

There are almost 1500 chimpanzees in the Kibale NP belonging to multiple communities, of which 8 communities have been habituated for tourism. There are other chimp families in difference stages of habituation and you can buy a permit for the chimp habituation experience, which is the whole day but at an extra cost.

Each community can consist of over a hundred members but the most chimps seen together according to the rangers is around 40 and this is only on rare occasions when food is scarce.

You will hear the chimps long before you see them as they are awfully noisy animals constantly communicating within and across groups on the availability of food and presumably other chimp related matters. Chimps are largely herbivories but meat is thought to make up 10% of their diet and a hunt is a coordinated mission among the males in the group.

Their favorite meat is monkey with whom they share the trees but the monkeys are small and are safe at the upper reaches of the tree tops which the heavier chimps cannot reach. Thus, a coordinated attack is required on the chimps part to get a hold of a monkey.

The tactic is to chase the monkeys from tree tops in to a panic in the direction of carefully positions chimps on trees and forest floor. The males will share meat with the females provided the female returns the favor through sex and the sharing of meat is the second part of this bargain!

Even though you could hear the chimps it is difficult to see them but the guide soon had us in front of a chimp that was seated on the ground - apparently the leader of the group.  Despite looking calm, he suddenly got up, screamed and looked like he wanted to charge us but luckily just ran past.

He charged soon after this photo

We could hear the rest of the family and followed the guide who found us another on the ground but we had to move quickly as it seemed that the group was on the move.  That was probably the best chimp sighting we had and he too got up and started following 3 other chimps who were walking along the forest floor. Almost impossible to shoot this scene as the guide leads, unfortunately getting in the way of photos ;)

Suddenly, the 5 chimps we had found started climbing a huge fig tree and once again, you need to be super quick as they climb with effortless ease and reach the upper branches in seconds. Once they reached the upper branches, shooting was pretty much a nightmare with shards of lights crisscrossing the frame and invariably the brightness of the sky in the background of the trees throwing up more photo challenges.

You need to hope that a few remain on the lower branches offering decent views as once they hit the tree top, it’s a poor sighting. Thankfully for us, a couple of chimps remained within sight and we shot away hoping that something worthwhile resulted. 

The chimps would break into loud pan-hoots every now and then which is rather amusing and awfully loud. And they would often change position offering us new or lost shooting opportunities, so we spent our time scrambling around the trees looking for the best views. The guide ran off to check for the rest of the chimp family groups in the area but came back to report that this was the best sighting. 

After a while of non-stop eating, the chimps took a rest. They actually stretched out and went to sleep, which was uncannily human like. One of the chimps looked dazed and just gazed in to the forest while resting its chin on its arms. Then without a warning one of the chimps stared to descend and again, he was on the ground within seconds.

We followed the chimp on the ground in the hope it would perch somewhere for a moment but no such luck as it climbed up a huge tree and disappeared in to the tree tops. We waited by the tree in the hope the rest of the family would follow but wasn’t to be and got summoned back to the original tree by the guide.

Not knowing anything about chimp trekking you are totally reliant on the guide to make the calls and of course because of the time limit, you don’t want to be messing around. However, as luck would have it, two more chimps came down and were on the move in seconds and up the next tree we had just left, before we could catch up to them. 

They are fascinating creatures to watch and too soon our time was up and we started heading back. We met another lone chimp, easily the biggest chimp we had seen who immediately walked away upon seeing us. Apparently he is a well-known chimp called Koza, which translates to "Problem", as he always moves away from people - some chimps just won't be habituated.


After a bit of forest walking we were back out of the forest and negotiating the elephant trench from the forest side which was much easier and we were soon out of the forest and watched a troop of red tailed colobus monkeys as we said goodbye to Kibale NP.

We thoroughly enjoyed our chimp experience and were happy with the sighting but felt that while we were in Uganda that we would try to see them again.  However, we wanted to do a few other things, especially take advantage of the birding in the country, so we put it on the backburner while we planned other trips to various parts of the country.  It turned out that we didn't need to go back to Kibale...

A bonus sighting of chimps...

A week later we were heading to out the Royal Mile, a famed patch for twitchers in the Budongo Forest Reserve. The Royal Mile is a 1 mile walk from the entrance to the Budongo FR research station at the Sonso river - after that the road is out of bounds. It is named the Royal Mile for Kabalega, the ruler of the Bunyoro, who created this road for his army.

Cabanis bunting

Budongo is another birding hot spot in Uganda that attract some of the Congo Basin specials and only habitat in East Africa for the Chestnut-capped flycatcher and Puvel's illadopsis. It is also home to some of the Western Ugandan specials such as the White-thighed hornbill, Chocolate-backed and Dwarf kingfishers, Lemon-bellied crombec and Ituri batis.

Narina Trogon

From Masindi, which is a 3-hour easy drive on an excellent tarmac road from Kampala, we headed out on the Busingiro road, a gravel road doable in a sedan in the dry, for 20 km to the village of Kabango. At the second roundabout in Kabango we took the right to the village of Nyabyeya, which is the location of the forestry college.

The Forestry college has a rest house which is very basic and offers a room with cold water showers and attached toilet for less than $5 per room for the night. They also offer local meals at cheap prices but we had come prepared with enough food so we didn't have to test the kitchen with their meals of rice and beans.

Black-and-white casqued hornbill

To reach the Royal Mile, head back out of the college and take the first sharp U-turn at the sign Board to the college. Another 5 km down the road you will get to a manned gate by the forest department who will demand a $20 entrance fee and the hiring of a guide.

The guide is a huge advantage as the birds are often high in the canopy and are often difficult to identify from the bottom.  The best way for identification in this case is through call and the guy to contact is Raymond (+256 752 930 065) who lives in the village and is an expert in the area and will find most of the local specials. There are also nice birds to be found in and around the Polish Church in the village - birds to look out for in the surrounding shambas are the Brown twinspot, Cabanis bunting and Oliveback as well as the usual farmland suspects.

Our first walk was in the afternoon after driving up from Kampala. The forest was quiet in the afternoon but we managed to mark down a few lifers. We also saw what looked like a chimp nest but we had the impression that the chimps of the Budongo forest were in a different area as there was no chimp trekking activity around.

A bonus sighting of a chimp in Budongo Forest

However, on the walk back we heard the distinct pan-hoots of the chimps. The guide informed us that there were chimps around and they are in the process of being habituated but the activity is currently not open for tourism. Given the time of the day we discussed the possibility of the chimps nesting for the night in the area and a potential sighting the following morning. In fact, Dru was debating if he should take his camera given the difficulty of shooting birds in the canopy but the lure of the chimps meant the camera was coming.

With Uganda following Kenyan time, everything seems an hour out with it only getting light around 7am, so we met up with Raymond then to bird in the surrounding shambas before heading to the forest around 8am when the light was a bit better.   As we entered the forest we could hear the pan-hoots of the chimps and they had crossed the Royal mile road from the previous evening. The pan-hoots kept coming and it was very close which was exciting.

Bonus sighting of bushbuck in Budongo FR

It seemed as if the forest was waking up and there were plenty of birds to try and identify as they flitted high in the canopy, and we managed quite a few birds including the Chestnut capped flycatcher which only occurs in this forest in East Africa and our first sighting of the African emerald cuckoo.

The Alpha male listening for other communities

Then from the opposite side of the pan-hoots, a chimp appeared on the side of the road. He was still some distance away and he checked us out for a moment before he crossed the road and went into the forest, soon to be followed by 3 others. They didn’t appear bothered by us, making it a magical sighting in the dappled light of the Royal Mile. 

One chimp even took the time to sit in the middle of the road and take a good look at us. Clearly these chimps were in the process of being habituated and presumably will join Uganda’s chimp trekking options one day, although its a long term project as it takes up to a decade to habituate chimpanzees.

After bagging the two famous forest kingfishers (Chocolate-backed and Dwarf) along with 18 other lifers, we were headed back to the entrance in the late morning when for the first time we heard the sound of a chimp thumping a tree with his feet. The unmistakably thunderous sound is best described as drumming with simultaneous pan-hoots that the male chimp makes to warn other families of his size and stature, presumably much like a male lion roaring.

Having not been told about this before of hearing it, it was surprise and thrill, further enhanced when the noisemaker appeared out the forest growth. After looking around listening for any return calls, he went back into the undergrowth, soon to be followed by more thumping and pan-hoots, the message to other males that he is big and strong.

White-thighed hornbill

We wanted to wait there to see what happens but the guide was nervous if the researches were with the chimps (they track them daily) they wouldn’t appreciate us having a look at the chimps as it alters their behaviour.

Mom and baby

So we reluctantly moved slowly, but the chimps played fair game by showing up again behind us. First one and then another followed by a mother with a baby on her back which was surely a highlight. There were up to 4 chimps on the road at one time and the baby got off the mum’s back and ran around a bit. It was an unexpected and magical chimp sighting at an unbelievable location way off the beaten track. 

Unexpected bonus sighting of chimps in Budongo Forest

For a birder, the Royal Mile in Budongo is special, but when you add in some chimpanzees to the mix, especially when they haven't been completely habituated, it feels like you have stumbled into a patch of pristine forest that has been the same for hundreds of years.