Get into Kibale National Park, and you will immediately sense the freshness of the dew, the fragrances of endemic flowers, and the musty scents left behind by monkey troops in the canopy. The sounds are also alien, from the distant echoed hoot of red colobus monkeys to the exotic chirping of endemic birds.
In the distance, you may hear the sound of one of the park’s elephants plowing a path into the trees, and all around your camp, there will be evidence of four-legged visitors, like the bushbuck and the warthogs. Gaze up, and a single scene might capture the iconic and the unique as an olive long-tailed cuckoo will fly above a small buffalo herd. Kibale Forest National Park is one of the best safari destinations in Africa for chimpanzee trekking safaris and has the highest number and diversity of primates in East Africa. There are 13 species of primates including chimpanzees living within its 795km2 land cover that you can explore on some of the prettiest hiking trails in all of Africa. Kibale National Park is accessible throughout the year. However, the best time to visit the park is during the dry season when the trails are dry and passable. This runs from December to February and then from June to September. The wettest area in Kibale is the northern area, receiving an average annual rainfall of approximately 1700mm, mainly during March to May and September to November. The climate is usually pleasant with an average annual temperature range of 14°C to 27°C.
