Kibale National Park/the primate capital of the world, is found in western Uganda covering an area of 795sqmi. This is a tropical rain forest with several animals like African forest elephants, cape buffaloes, primates like the chimpanzees, black and white colobus monkeys, endemic red colobus monkeys, red tailed monkeys, grey checked mangabay/Ugandan crested mangabay, blue monkeys, vervet monkeys, olive baboons, and many others. The forest also has several bird species like the great blue turaco, ross’s turaco, black and white casqued hornbill, long crested eagle, African harrier hawk, black kite, green-breasted pita, red chested cuckoo, klas’s cuckoo, African emerld cuckoo, and red headed malimbe. The forest also has a number of reptiles, months, fungi.
This national park is easily accessible by road from kampala, the capital city of Uganda and this will take you approximately 6/six hours drive. And has a variety of lodges ranging from budget type of accommodation, midrange accommodation and luxury.
BIGODI WETLAND SANCTUARY
This sanctuary started in 1992 with the over 200 members with the aim conserving the environment and community development. It covers the total area of 8km and it can take around 2-3 hour walk while searching or viewing animals, birds, plants, reptiles, and many other natural attractions.
The place has over 200 species of birds, including turacos and hornbills, and 6 species of monkeys. Monkeys include red colobus monekys/ashy colobus, black and white colobus/ guereza monkey, l’hoest monkey, red tail monkey, grey cheecked monkey/Ugandan crasted mangabay, vervet monkey and olive baboons.
BIGODI COMMUNITY TOURS
This is a community based project started by the group of single mothers headed by Arineitwe Kate who organized them selves with a purpose of supporting their needs and other fellow women within the community. These women help them selves through making suviniors using materials from the swamp like papyrus plants, palm leaves, fig backs. Here they make crafts like baskets, wallets, hats, beads, handbags, table mats, and many other which they sale to tourists.
They do a lot of entertaining to the tourists like traditional dancing that relates to their local way of living.
Here you also visit the coffee queen, who explains to you how coffee is planted, hervested, sundried, grinded or pounded until it is finally formed in a powder form. Here you will get a chance on their robusta type of organic Uganda coffee made by the coffee queen.
Continue to the banana man, who will take you through the whole process of banana brewing by making different types banana drinks like banana juice and take you through how banana bear and banana gin is brewed or made
Here he will allow you to taste all the types/ aroma and also participate in the brewing process.
You will also get a chance to meet the traditional healer/witch doctor who uses local medecines to cure different diseases. He goes to the swamp to collect her herbal medicine like, cytropsis, psupasodia/ tulip bucks, prunus Africana/red stink wood, wabogia ugandasis and amnay others.
3 Days Kibale Forest Park Tour
Day 1, early morning after breakfast, you will be picked by the company driver at your hotel who will take/drive you through the green lushes of mubende until you reach the beautiful tea plantations of fortportal/ kabalole district. After we proceed to fort portal city that you will get your lunch from. After lunch you will proceed to your accommodation for dinner and overnight.
Day 2, after your breakfast you will be transfered to the park briefing point where you will have the general briefing about the park, year of gazzetement, number of animal and primates within the park, and many more. After you will be grouped in a smaller group of 9 members and be allocated to your ranger guide who will be have 2 more armed rangers that will help to provide security about dangerous animals like elephants, buffaloes and other chimpanzees that are not habituated
After the tracking, you will go back at your hotel and after you will go the bigodi community walk. Here you will experience the women weaving, local medicine man, coffee queen and banana man. All these will take you through the processes and possible make you attached to the African culture
Day 3, after an early breakfast, you will travel back to the airport for your departure
4 Days Kibale Forest Chimpanzee Trekking & Bird Watching Safari
Day 1, depending on your time of arrival, you will be transferred to Kibale National Park, which is 7 7-hour drive away from the capital to western Uganda. We will pass through the green lush plantations of plantain/banana, continue through different homesteads until we pass through the big tea estates to the park. Here your guide will allow you to learn and understand more about the tea plantation growing until the final stages of processing and packaging. Upon reaching your hotel you will have an optional activity of crater hiking, which will allow you to visit different crater lakes. Stay at the chimpanzee forest lodge, guereza lodge, turaco tree tops and many others.
Day 2, Wake up early in the morning and assemble at the park headquarters for the briefing. Here you will get full information in a general briefing about the park, the size and year of gazzettment. You will be allocated to a small group of 9 people par group and also allocated to the a ranger guide that will be able to take you deep in the jungle with the help of 2 security personnel who are eligible and able to scare shoot up in air incase of any dangerous animal. This activity take half a day and later, we proceed to our lodge for lunch and relax at our lodge as we sort out field photos and video.
Day 3, we start up our day early in the morning to bigodi swamp looking for birds like the red headed malimbe, black headed heron, gray crowned crane, great blue turaco, whithieghed hornbill, African casqued hornbill, different types of waever bird, kites, eagle, tchagras, apalis, cuckoos, cuacals, different species of sunbirds and many more. Besides being in the swamp, we also expect to see different types of monkeys like vervet monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, red tailed monkey, red colobus monkeys, baboons, statungas and many more animals.
This swamp walking activity takes us a whole day. Later e come back for lunch and after we proceed for a coffee tour with a coffee queen, banana bear, and traditional herbalist who will take the whole process.
Dinner and overnight and the same lodge.
Day 4, depart back.
