If gorilla trekking is a quiet hour sitting still, chimpanzee tracking is the opposite: fast, vocal, and often at a jog. Doing both in one trip is the single best decision most of our travellers make.
- Best park
- Kibale Forest, Uganda
- Kibale permit
- US$250, or US$300 for four hours
- Nyungwe permit
- US$150
- Budongo permit
- around US$130
- Kyambura permit
- around US$50
- Minimum age
- 12, against 15 for gorillas
Where to do it
| Forest | Country | Permit | Success rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kibale | Uganda | US$250 | ~95% | The best. ~1,500 chimpanzees, 13 primate species |
| Budongo (Kaniyo Pabidi) | Uganda | ~US$130 | Moderate | On the road to Murchison; superb mahogany forest |
| Kyambura Gorge | Uganda | ~US$50 | Lower | Small isolated community in Queen Elizabeth; spectacular gorge |
| Nyungwe | Rwanda | US$150 | Moderate | 05:00 starts; the forest and colobus supertroops compensate |
| Ngamba Island | Uganda | Varies | Guaranteed | A sanctuary for orphaned chimpanzees, not wild tracking — honest about being so |
What the hour is like
Trackers locate the community at dawn. You walk in on flat forest floor — easy going compared with a gorilla trek — until you hear them, which happens well before you see them. A pant-hoot chorus carries a kilometre and is genuinely startling the first time.
Then the hour begins, and it moves. Chimpanzees feed high, drop down, groom, squabble and travel. You keep eight metres back where you can, which they routinely ignore. Photography is harder than with gorillas: they are higher, faster and usually backlit against the canopy.
The habituation experience
Kibale's four-hour habituation option costs US$300 — only US$50 above the standard permit — and starts at 06:00 while the chimpanzees are still in their night nests. You follow the community through the morning with researchers. For anyone with a real interest in primate behaviour it is much better value than the standard hour.
Rules and practicalities
Groups are capped at six to eight. Minimum age is twelve, which makes chimpanzees the better option for families with teenagers too young for a gorilla permit. Do not track with a cold or flu — the disease risk runs in both directions. Masks are recommended and sometimes required.
Questions
Frequently asked
Which is better, gorilla or chimpanzee trekking?
They are not substitutes. Gorillas are the more emotionally affecting hour; chimpanzees are the more exciting one. If you can only do one, do gorillas. If you have five days, do both.
Is chimpanzee trekking physically hard?
Much easier than gorilla trekking in terms of terrain — Kibale is essentially flat — but you may move quickly to keep up. Anyone who can walk briskly for two hours will manage.
Do I need to book chimpanzee permits far ahead?
Nothing like as far as gorilla permits. Two to three months is usually comfortable, though Kibale's habituation slots are limited and go earlier.
Next
Keep planning
- Kibale Forest National Park — the best place to do it
- 5-day gorillas and chimpanzees — the classic pairing
- 4-day fly-in gorillas and chimpanzees — the same, two days shorter
- Gorilla trekking guide — how the two compare