Chimpanzee habituation is the process of training chimpanzees on how to get used to human beings and preparing them to be tracked later on. Chimpanzee habituation takes about 3 years to be completed. Kibale Forest National Park is recorded to be home to over 1500 chimpanzees, out of the 5000 chimpanzees in Uganda. Click here to view mountain gorilla trekking safaris

Kibale Forest National Park is located in Kabarole district and is the only place in Uganda where chimpanzee habituation takes place. Click here to see our recommended mountain gorilla trekking tour.

Chimpanzee habituation allows visitors to spend the whole day with these wild primates. In order for one to fully enjoy the habituation experience, permits should be booked 3 months prior to the actual tracking date. A Uganda Chimpanzee Habituation Trekking Permit costs $300 per person.

Chimpanzee habituation day starts with an early breakfast. Your lunch will be packaged, and you will head to meet your guide for the day, who will take you into the forest. This experience only allows a maximum of four people above 15 years old to participate, including researchers, so you are taken to see the place where the primates built their nest the previous night. If you wake up early and are lucky enough, you will surely find them just getting up. 

Ideal chimpanzee habituation starts at dawn, between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. Other activities will take place in due course, such as feeding the adults, breastfeeding the young ones, hunting, resting, and in the evening, around 7 p.m., witnessing the building of the new nest where they will stay at night.

Kibale forest national park is one of the best destinations for chimpanzee tracking experiences in the Pearl of Africa, although Uganda has other places where chimpanzee tracking can be done as well, such as Kyambura Gorge in Queen Elizabeth National Park and Budongo Forest in Murchison Falls, among others. Kibale Forest National Park chimpanzee tracking permits are expensive compared to these other places where chimpanzee tracking is done in Uganda.

Kibale Forest's normal chimpanzee tracking allows travelers to spend an hour with a chimpanzee family. From the time they meet the chimpanzee family, travelers observe the behavior of these chimpanzees, such as their feeding habits and how they take care of the young. Travelers are allowed to take pictures and videos with these chimpanzees as part of their great memories of the African wildness.

Kibale forest Chimpanzee habituation experience is an interesting adventure tour that can be done only in Kibale Forest National Park. Travelers are accepted to spend a maximum of four hours with the chimpanzee family. And the Uganda Wildlife Authority launched this program to help wild chimps become accustomed to humans. Travelers learn about these chimps' behavior and lifestyle, such as how they feed and build nests, among other things. Travelers are allowed to take pictures and videos with the chimpanzees.

Kibale Forest National Park chimpanzee habituation is a scientific and unique encounter that is done by the majority of Ugandan travelers, especially researchers who would like to study chimpanzee behavior in their natural environment. Uganda's Chimpanzee habituation experience is being done in the Kanyanchu Sector of Kibale Forest National Park.

Chimpanzee habituation and chimpanzee trekking in Kibale Forest National Park take place throughout the year. However, the best time to trek chimpanzees happens in the rainy season, despite the mud, when there is plenty of food. During the dry season, these chimpanzees tend to move deeper into the tropical rain forests, searching for food.