What you need to know about chimpanzee trekking

What you need to know about chimpanzee trekking : Chimpanzee trekking is a primate activity that allows you to go into a rain forest to see the great chimpanzees. This activity is a popular safari activity only outweighed by mountain gorilla trekking. It’s actually very similar to mountain gorilla trekking but here you are in a rain forest and you will see chimpanzees.

Well, because of its similarity with the mountain gorilla trekking, people always confuse it and they never know what to expect on a typical chimpanzee trekking experience.

And that’s why we have written this article to give your insight on the things you need to know about chimpanzee trekking so that you are not green about the Uganda Primate safari when you are going for it.

So here is a list of things you need to know about chimpanzee trekking: –

• Chimpanzee trekking is not mountain gorilla trekking
• On a chimpanzee trekking experience, you will see chimpanzees in their natural habitat which is the rain forest.
• You can book for a chimpanzee trekking experience 24 hours to the experience which is not the case for mountain gorilla trekking
• In East Africa chimpanzee trekking is majorly done in Uganda and Rwanda. Though Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo are also known to have the chimpanzees
• Uganda is the primate capital so it has the most chimpanzees in the region.
• The most popular chimpanzee parks in the region are Nyungwe National Park Rwanda, Kibale National Park, Budongo Forest, Kyambura Gorge, Ngamba Chimpanzee Sanctuary, and others in Uganda.
• Chimpanzee trekking is done in rain forests; that’s where the chimpanzees stay
• Like in gorilla trekking chimpanzee trekking is done in groups of 8 to 10 people who will enter the forest to look for these chimpanzees.
• Chimpanzee trekking can be done in the morning or even in the afternoon, you choose you prefer.
• The actually activity doesn’t not take more than 6 hours
• You spend one hour with the chimpanzees before you exit the forest.
• On these chimpanzee treks there are rules you should follow that include but not limited to: – not touching the chimpanzees, keeping a 7m distance between you and the chimpanzees, not coughing or squeezing into the chimpanzees, not feeding the chimpanzees, not using flash photography, not making funny noises Infront of the chimpanzees among other things.
• The most important rule about the chimpanzee trekking is you cannot trek the chimps if you are sick or have any communicable disease. This will be detrimental to the chimps.
• You also need to be quite physically fit to trek the chimpanzees.

  

• Since these chimpanzee treks are quite short compared to the mountain gorilla trek, you can have other activities to do still in that same day. In Kibale National Park you can have a bird watching experience in the bigodi swamps.
• Chimpanzee trekking can be done any day of the week and any time of the year. Though definitely its best done in the dry seasons.
• You can choose to go for the experience alone because either way you will be placed in a group with others to see the chimpanzees, you can also choose to go for the experience with a group of people the more the merrier.
• The cost of chimpanzee trekking experience can range between 100 USD and 250 USD. The rate changes depending on the place you are trekking.

Basically that’s the information you need to know about the chimps and chimpanzee trekking but you can always get more information from your tour operator when you are going for your chimpanzee trekking experience.