Chimpanzee Habituation in Uganda

Chimpanzee habituation in Kibale is a unique way you can interact with the chimpanzees in the wild setting o Kibale Forest National Park with guidance from rangers. Unlike chimpanzee trekking, chimpanzee habituation is much an exhilarating activity that allows you to learn the real behaviors of the wild chimpanzees in their natural environment. Chimpanzee habituation experience is a very good activity that you can engage in if at all you want to intrinsically learn about the real behaviors of the wild primates. However much it is so interesting and everyone would love to join in to a chimpanzee habituation experience in Kibale national park, chimpanzee habituation is much a scientific experiment than just an activity for visitors; it is an experiment that allows researchers to learn about the wild behaviors and adaptability of the chimpanzees with in the natural setting, as well as making them used to human encounter for tourism purposes.

Kibale is special because it is one of the few places where tourist can do both the standard chimpanzee trekking or go for the Chimpanzee habituation experience. Chimpanzee habituation refers to the process of making chimps used to human beings around them. It takes about 2 years to complete the process. Chimpanzee trekking in Kibale allows tourists only one hour with the chimps after locating them. During the chimpanzee habituation process, tourists spend the while day with the chimps. Chimpanzee habituation experience and  tracking takes place all year round. However the best time to track chimpanzee is during the rainy season despite the mud. During the dry season, chimpanzee like to move deeper into the forests looking for food. During the rainy season, the forests are green and full of fruit reducing the mobility of the chimpanzee communities. Visitors can easily locate them without having to trek for long distance. It is always recommended that visitors book their chimpanzee permits months in advance. There is a limit to how many people can track a particular chimpanzee community each day and this depends entirely on which place you go tracking in Uganda or Rwanda. However in most cases, it’s 6 people per community in a single session. Chimpanzee tracking usually starts in the morning with briefing from a guide. Visitors cannot go out to the forest by themselves and must be led by a park guide or ranger. The rangers know where to find the chimp communities by following clues left behind. Moreover, habituated chimpanzee can identify the familiar faces of the guides which make them  reassured. In most of the parks and reserves where chimp visits are open to tourists, there are two sessions of tracking – in the morning and afternoon. The chimps are more active during the morning session as they head out feeding and hunting. In the afternoon, many of the members are resting and grooming each other as they try to find shelter to avoid the suns heat.