Kibale national park

Kibale national park is situated in the southern part of fort portal district in western Uganda. It’s also referred to as a tropical forest in uganda with a forest cover of both grassland and swamps that monopolize the south and central parts of the national park.

The national park has a land cover of about 795 kilometers and it’s known for chimpanzee trekking safaris in the national parks. This is due to its beautiful vegetation cover. The park has 13 species of primates,351 species of trees where others rise to over 55meters and they are over 200 years.

With such wonderful sceneries, Kibale national park becomes Uganda’s best safaris destination.

 ATTRACTIONS IN KIBALE NATIONAL PARK

PRIMATES

Kibale national park is known to be a home of primates with chimpanzees having the highest number. The national park is covered with thick forests with big trees where these primates live, feed and rest from hence a large number for them to breed.

Kibale national park has 13 primates such as blue monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, Rey cheeked mangabey, Uganda red colobus, central African monkeys, red tailed monkeys, Lhoests monkey, bush baby and chimpanzees having the biggest population of 1,450 members.

Chimpanzees are the major attractions in Kibale national park and this has attracted many visitors to come and do chimpanzee trekking which starts from kanyanchu.

OTHER ANIMALS

Kibale national park is a home to other animals and not only the primates the park has at least 70 mammals that habituate in the thick trees in the park. These include Elephants with an estimation of them being 500, golden cats, leopards, lions, serval cat,buffaloes,bushpig,marsh mongoose, giant forest hogs, swamp otta,warthogs and duikers among other.

NDALI KASENDA CRATERS

  The many crater lakes that are found in Kibale national park are also called the Kibale ndali kasende crater lakes. These offer a peaceful and breathtaking view and a basically located near the park.

The crater lakes where formed long ago and these include 60 stable and seasonal fresh waters. These include lake ntambi, lake Mburo, nyamasingiri, nyanswinga, nyabikere, nkuruba, kifuruka and Lyantonde among other.

 Lake Nyabikere

    This is close to the town of fortportal,11kilometers off to Kibale nationalpark. It’s also called the lake of frogs due to the existence of many frogs that made noise mostly at night. Its also a base for chimpanzee trekking.

Its silver blue waters give a good feeling which can’t be got from somewhere else. Bird species that come to the lake make it also more attractive these also include fish eagle, herons, kingfisher, cranes among others.

Lake Nkuruba

This lake is located 25kilometers south of fort portal. Its also an access point to the top of the world hike were mahoma falls and other explosion craters are found.

Lake Nyinambuga

This is found in bunyaruguru and was formed over 1000years as volcanic result.it also has blue waters which are good to watch by visitors. It’s also good for hiking, camping, birding and also sky viewing at night.

Lake Kifuruka

  This lake gives a panoramic view of the forest and undulating terrain. It’s also located in the Katwe area of explosion and the others are found in kichwamba escarpments.

Lake Lyantonde

This sits near nyinambuga on the western part. The lake is also good for hikes and chimpanzee tracking activities.

BIRD SPECIES

Kibale national park is also taken to be a home for 375 bird species. The park has forested and migratory bird species which move from queen Elizabeth national park and other neighboring parks. These include red-faced woodland, red chested owlet, brown crested alethe, blue breasted kingfisher, western tinker, African grey parrot, olive long tailed cuckoo, brown illadopsis,green breasted pitta among others.

CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS

Kibale national park is majorly surrounded by two ethnic groups of people that is the bakiga as the few immigrants from kigezi and the majority being the batooro with big chunks of land. These two groups have interesting and different African activities such as local dances, songs, cultural wears, their taboos and also locally handmade crafts.

AMABERE GA NYINA MWIRU

The roads that lead to mabere ga nyina mwiru are often slippery but short. This place is located in the cave few meters from nyakasaru school in fort portal.

Scientists believe that this came as a result of stalagmites and stalacities. And yet the people of toro have a different belief and also hold a strong cultural attachment to the site.

The batoro’s believe that a young girl called Nyina Mwiru’s breasts were cut by her father due to her refusal to marry the man they had selected for her.

With such history many visitors plan for a safari in Kibale national park to see such places and to get more history about the sites.

ACTIVITIES IN KIBALE NATIONAL PARK

CHIMPANZEE TREKKING

Chimpanzee trekking is the activity that is largely done in Kibale national park. Thus making it the major reason to maintain the area.

Chimpanzee trekking mainly starts from kanyanchu visitors center at around 8:00am and ends at 3:00pm. This basically lasts for 2 to 3hours

For one to do chimpanzee trekking a fee of USD 150 is paid for one to get the chimpanzee permits

BIRDING

Kibale national park is greatly known for having over 150 bird species which some are forested and others migrate from the neighboring parks. Those visitors that love bird watching tend to wake up so early because the activity starts as early as 7:00am in the morning. Common birds that can be watched include the white -spotted flufftail, white-tailed ant -thrush, superb sunbird, yellow-billed barbet among others.

BIGODI WETLAND SANCTUARY

     This is basically a project that was put up by the local community to protect nature and also increase on their living standards by putting up a swamp as a tourist venture.

This swamp offers activities such as bird watching, mammal species and vegetation cover. The swamp is visited by very many tourists who come to the national park and thus charges are put for those who want to view it.

NATURE WALKS

      With such activity visitors are guided by park rangers to have a walk within the forest.

Kibale national park has a good vegetation that makes one to feel calm and peaceful due to natural winds from the trees. Through this activity visitors get to know more about bird species, trees and different Uganda wildlife Safari.

The visitors are grouped into 6 individuals per group to do the natural walks and are performed in the morning, afternoon and evening.

VISIT TO AMABERE GA NYINA MWIRU

  Various tourists come to the cultural site to learn more about how the caves came into existence and also view the physical features that are in that place. Therefore, the batooro have a different aspect about how the site came into existence and also scientists have their belief.

The batooro say this came up as a result of a young girl who refused to marry the man his father had chosen for him and this made the father angry and hence cutting off her breasts.

Scientists also believe in the forces of stalagmites and stalactites. This makes different visitors to opt for the safari in order to learn more about the cave formation.

CRATER LAKES

This is also one of the major reasons why people would like to visit Kibale national park. During the nature walks one is able to view various lakes and these are called Ndali kasenda crater lakes .these include lake nyanswinga,Mburo,ntambi,nyabikere,nkuruba,kifuruka and Lyantonde.

The lakes are found in Kabarole district and were formed by volcanic depressions. The silver blue waters in some lakes are appealing and attractive to the eyes of the visitors.