Kibale National Park and Chimp trekking

As our lodging’s name suggests Chimpanzees are rather a draw here. Kibale Forrest is home to a family of 120 individuals who often split themselves into ever smaller groups depending on the availability of food. When its plenty everyone’s happy, when its scarce individuals break off.

The area isn’t really designed for the ‘independent’ traveller with most people arriving as part of a tour completing the Ugandan circuit. Our only option was to take a boda-boda down the 10k dirt road to the trail head. Now we’ve not been granted the upmost faith in boda-boda’s, small 125cc motorbikes that swerve around traffic picking up passengers with nothing short but a blatant disregard of the law of the road and for the drivers own health. We unfortunately had also seen far to many people on our trauma list as a result of this lawlessness. However there is little traffic here and we had little option, so at 0700 Hugo found himself clinging onto a boda driver in a bright pink mac and wellies whilst Katie found herself desperately trying not to slide off the end. Either he was very calm or our combined weights made it tough for the 125cc engine but at least the up hills were slow, downhill was a slightly different story as we gathered pace and momentum to conquer the next hill. Being on a motorbike did however give us a unique view of the forest and its wildlife. The family of baboons with some very little ones didn’t seem perturbed by our arrival.

Having tucked our trousers into socks, the safari ants like to climb legs before choosing to bite, we set off in search of our close primate relatives. Even without our main goal in sight the forrest was beautiful. Saved from logging in the 30’s a lot was young rainforest but some of the old giants live on. Huge roots at their base formed partitions on the forrest floor – almost inviting you to sit down and stare up the towering height of the tree. Vines draped themselves across the plants twisting into uniquely beautiful shapes and all around was the constant chatter of bird life. Our guide, Bosco, and our protector, Ferida with the AK47, where extremely adept at mimicking bird calls and naming them. They were also highly skilled at pointing out the marching lines of safari ants that would quickly envelope any object in their path and take a nip if fleshy enough. Imagine my joy later at having to fish out the camera’s lens cap from one such congo line....

Not to much later we caught our first site of our ancestral cousins. High up in the tree tops a Chimpanzee mother was building a nest for herself and her youngling. The night before we had been entertained by a dramatic thunder and lightning storm and the rain had continued into the morning. The upside was a cooler trek, the downside we were warned was the the chimps tend to curl up in the tree tops in the cold. We walked on but an hour later had not stumbled on any more chimpanzees. Just as we were reconciling ourselves to the fact that the distant glimpse we had caught earlier would be our lot, huge cries echoed out across the forrest. As the calling increased into a deafening crescendo we caught site of a male chimp in the tree above. The males are a lot bolder and he happily continued his foraging with only the occasional glimpse in our direction. We spent a good amount of time watching him swing above us no more than 5m above our heads. He quite happily showering us with the standing water from the trees, making us duck the odd stray leaf and branch. The Wildlife Authority rules meant we couldn’t stay any longer than an hour but we left, muddy, tired, wet with the odd ant bite but very satisfied.

An uneventful boda ride and some lunch later saw us sitting outside our room looking over the tea plantations writing the blog in the company of Spot the dog. Our new companion whilst staying here has kept us company during the day and been an impromptu guard at night. We also met Agnus N. the daughter of an Englishmen who after his RAF days worked as a commissioner in Uganda eventually retiring to the region after his final placement in Fort Portal. His untimely death when she was young saw her being looked after by their family friends, the original owners of this property and has seen it blossom into the business it is today. Old ordinance and mining survey maps line the old house and the shelves are filled with old books that would have been read by some of the initial colonial settlers, their version of the Bradt and Lonely Planet guides.

The guest feedback form asks if we would stay here again on a return to the region. No need to think about that one-we’d be back like a shot.