Is Chimpanzee Habituation Experience in Uganda Worth The Money?

What makes the chimpanzee habituation experience worth the money is the unique chance it offers travelers to immerse in the forest from dawn to dusk, watching a wild troop of chimps feeding, grooming, traveling, and resting. The typical chimpanzee trekking time is one hour viewing the chimps, but the whole-day guided experience promises a more in-depth adventure with a wild chimpanzee band that still has their primal fear for human intrusion.

Uganda offers this unique adventure in two world-renowned protected forest reserves: Kibale National Park in the west and Budongo Forest in the northwest at a mear fraction of the gorilla trekking permit price. The experience is an open window into the daily life of the chimpanzee, our closest living primate that dwells in the tropical rainforest of Africa.

Watching chimpanzees in their natural habitat was popularized by famous primatologist Jane Goodall, whose work has held up a mirror, albeit a blurred one, to our own species, suggesting that a great many of our behaviors, once thought to be uniquely human, may have been inherited from the common ancestors we shared with chimpanzees six million years ago. The chimpanzee habituation experience is like a stroll through Goodall’s trails, and it’s worth every penny you’ll pay.

Chimpanzee Habituation Experience

The chimpanzee habituation experience group heads into the forest at the break of dawn to catch the chimps as they leave their nightly nests to start their daily foraging, social, and traveling chores. Chimps are active by day and asleep by night in a nest made with branches and vines in a tree, well above the ground, safe from predators. Your small group will follow their trails and noises until you catch up with them and try to stick with their movements throughout the day.

Guided by instructors who live and work with wild chimpanzees, the chimpanzee habituation experience is the most exciting way to learn how Jane Goodall’s early discoveries changed our view of human uniqueness. The adventure into Goodall’s footsteps is quite affordable and worth the money.

Like watching a live wilderness television documentary, only this time you’ll be in it; your guide and primate expert will give you accurate information about the troop with the flair of a reality TV commentator. After a day under the humid forest canopy, you will gain a new appreciation of the profound similarities between chimpanzees and humans in intelligence, tool use, hunting, personality, and social relationships, a priceless authentic wilderness experience in Uganda’s forests.

Best places for the experience

The best places for the chimpanzee habituation experience worth your money are Kibale National Park, the primate capital of Africa, and Budongo Forest in the Murchison Conservation Area northwest of the Ugandan capital.

Kibale National Park

Kibale National Park is a top choice for most primate adventurers if you’re hoping to experience the best intimate encounter with chimpanzee troops in Africa. The Forest is a 766 square kilometer last stronghold of the highest primates density in the world. It is home to 13 primate species, including over 1500 chimpanzees.

Located about 330 kilometers west of Kampala capital city, Kibale is the most accessible Ugandan park by car. It has a great selection of worthy accommodation facilities for your chimpanzee habituation experience. Most trips will spend a night or two around Kibale, meet the chimpanzees, and head south to the gorilla trekking destinations in the country’s far southwest.

Chimpanzee habituation experiences in Kibale happen every morning from Kanyanchu center with a restricted number of tourists.

Budongo Forest

Relatively less-visited, Budongo Forest is part of the Murchison Conservation Area, found en-route to Murchison Falls National Park. The mahogany-rich forest is one of Uganda’s top destinations, superb for guided nature hikes, birding, and tracking chimpanzees habituated by primatologists. 

A new chimpanzee troop in Budongo Forest is available for the chimpanzee habituation experience but only available during the low seasons of January–June, and October–December. However, half-day chimpanzee trekking excursions are available throughout the year.

Apart from Kibale National Park, Budongo Forest is the only place in Uganda that offers chimpanzee habituation experiences worth the money and the cheapest.

Price of the experience

Chimpanzee habituation experience permit in Kibale National Park costs USD 250 per person per day. The same permit in Budongo costs USD 230 per person per day. The permit includes an expert guide and armed ranger(s) and allows you a full-day experience, although you can pull out anytime the whole party agrees with you.

Compared to the chimpanzee trekking permit of $200 in Kibale and $85 in Budongo that allows you only one hour with the chimps, the habituation permit is far worth the money.

Although permits can be purchased at the UWA offices in Kampala, it is advisable to use a licensed local operator to help you navigate the local bureaucracy. Encounter Africa Safaris deals with local logistics and managing your safari, let us know at info@gorilla-tracking-uganda.com when you’d want to have this unforgettable experience, and we’ll help you book the permits.

Note that it’s not just the permit price you’ll have to cover for the gorilla habituation experience in Uganda. Accommodation, transfers, meals, and miscellaneous activities like gorilla trekking will be part of your trip for the experience. That’s why you’ll need a local operator like Encounter Africa.

Best time to go

Although chimpanzee habituation experience can be done all year-round, it is at its best in the Dry season of November to February and mid-year during the temporary light rains of June and July. The dry hiking tracks during these times make chimpanzee habituation, chimp trekking, and birding much enjoyable.

It is the joy of the long, thrilling search, wrapped in the forest’s leafy embrace, with birdsong and pant-hoots beckoning me on that makes the chimpanzee habituation experience in Uganda worth the money. So when are you coming?

When ready, book with us at info@gorilla-tracking-uganda.com. A private consultant will guide you through the whole booking process and manage your trip, including reserving your gorilla trekking permits and finding the best accommodation for your experience.