Kibale Forest National Park, Uganda
The most accessible of Uganda's major rainforests, Kibale Forest National Park is home to a remarkable 13 primate species, including the much localised red colobus and L'Hoest's monkey. Due to its chimpanzee trekking, this fascination and wildlife rich park is one of the best safari destinations in the whole of the Uganda. The park itself contains one of the most beautiful and with the most varying tracts of tropical forest in the whole of Uganda and offers the chance not just to see chimpanzees in their natural environment but also 13 other species of primate.
Kibale's major attraction is the opportunity to track habituated chimps, these delightful apes, more closely related to humans than to any other living creature, are tremendous fun to watch as they squabble and play in fruiting trees. Tracking the noisy chimpanzee families racing through this verdant forest is a thrilling experience.
For botanists and butterfly lovers the network of shady forest trails provides much to delight, while birders are in for a treat with 335 species recorded including the endemic Prirogrine's ground thrush. The elusive forest elephant, smaller and hairier than its savannah counterpart, moves seasonally into the developed part of the park, while other terrestrial mammals include buffalo, giant forest hog and a half dozen antelope species.
Accomodation within the vicinity of the park is quite selective; Ndali Lodge is set stunningly amidst the Bunyaruguru Crater Lake region of Western Uganda, 24 kilometres south of Fort Portal lies at the centre of 1000 acres of privately owned fertile farmland still cultivated in a traditional style.