Kibale Forest National Park Location and Activities
Kibale Forest National Park is nestled in the Kabarole district of western Uganda, protecting moist evergreen rainforests. Kibale covers 766 square kilometres with an alluring landscape of evergreen blanketing the floor, biodiversity, and many remarkable tourist activities. This protected tropical rainforest and the close Ndali Kassanda craters are mysteriously attractive to nature lovers who are attracted to their wide range of forest birds and primate species.
Kibale Forest National Park was gazetted in 1932 and formally established in 1993 to protect a large area of the tropical forest previously managed as a logged forest reserve. Kibale Forest National Park, also known as the world’s primate capital, lives up to its name, being home to a considerable number of endangered primate species of chimpanzees. The park stretches through Kabarole, Kamwenge, Kyenjojo, and Kasese districts. The tropical rainforest park is just 26 kilometres southeast of Fort Portal City, among gently undulating green hills of cultivated lands.
To its west lie the legendary mountains of the moon, erupting in snow-capped splendour, while the lakes of Queen Elizabeth National Park are to its south in grasslands. The parks create a wildlife corridor of about 180km. The forest park is an important eco-tourism and safari destination popular for habituated chimpanzees and twelve other species of primates. Chimpanzee habituation slowly introduces the endangered chimpanzees to the human presence around them. The process takes about 3 years to complete.
Kibale Forest National Park is at an altitude of 1,100–1,590 m above sea level. The vegetation is dominated by the tropical rainforest and open grasslands, but northern Kibale is the wettest area of the park. The climate is generally pleasant, with a mean annual temperature range of 14–27 °C. The thick forest covers the central and northern parts of the park on the elevated Fort Portal plateau.
Kibale is one of the very few places in Africa with remaining expanses of both lowland and montane forests. It is the highest on the park’s north tips, and this tropical forest is rich with mature forest towering with giant trees and young exploding in the profusion of new growth. The grasslands are home to many bird species, some of which are endemic to the Rift Valley region.
The graceful palms sway along the meandering streams to swamps, which form pools for the elephants, who then silently weave their way between the hugging strangler figs with broad buttresses. Deep in the tropical forest interior, beetles roll their dung balls, and golden mushrooms fill the carpet with soft decay. Meanwhile, in the forest canopy, chattering monkeys spring from trees in search of food, and when you try to look above, you will see crowned eagles. Wherever you look, a rich diversity of plants and animals are busy playing their role in maintaining the balance of this tropical park.
Kibale harbours over 350 plant species, 71 mammal species, 13 primate species, 3 nocturnal species, and 372 bird species. There are about 13 key primate species in the diverse tropical forest, and 3 are nocturnal. The park harbours a significant concentration of forest elephants, several habituated chimpanzees, and several species of central African monkeys, including the manga bey, Lhoest, red colobus monkeys, baboons, red-tailed monkeys, bush babies, blue monkeys, de breezes monkeys, and white colobus monkeys. The park is best visited in the dry season, around January to late April. The park has a lot of lodging facilities around it.
Kibale Forest National Park, Uganda
