Located in the Masindi District 300 km / 4 hours drive northwest of Kampala Capital City, Budongo Forest Reserve spans 825 km / 319 sq. miles. The forest is the environmental “lungs” that naturally shields Masindi District town and human habitation from animals in Murchison Falls National Park. Huge mahogany tree species, woods, thickets and brush, grassland and areas of wetland vegetation abound in this vast stretch of lowland rainforest.

Getting average 1300mm-2300mm rainfall per year, the woodland is wet almost all year long. Brief showers start March-May interspersed by brilliant sunny days June-August and explode into storms marked by high winds and thunderstorms during September-November.

Dry season is between December and February. Combining elements other than season helps one to predict the weather of the period with sporadic brilliant sunlight throughout the rainy season and heavy rain during the presumed dry season.

At average of 470 tree and plant species, Budongo Forest is bursting with life. The forest is a natural draw and perfect habitat for many kinds of animals. Of the nine species of primates, 350 bird species, many kinds of insects (290 butterflies and 130 moths), reptiles and fish, residents in a forest average 29 animal species.

Among the extremely unusual residents of the forest are enormous forest hogs, warthogs, waterbucks, hippopotamus, duikers, bush pigs, leopards, pangolins, bush babies, and many more. Often seen are olive baboons, black and white colobus, red-tailed, velvet and other monkeys. The primary tourist draw at Budongo Forest Reserve is chimpanzee monitoring.

Extremely blessed with many natural resources, Budongo Forest is naturally drawn for human avarice via illicit human activity. Among many other things, lumbering and logging for timber and poles for housing construction, expansion for plantation and commercial agriculture, human settlement, charcoal burning, poaching for game meat, cattle grazing, infrastructure development (road construction), tourism development, industrialization and growth (oil refinery).

Through Uganda animal Authority, National Forest Authority, and Jane Goodall Foundation, the government of Uganda pulls resources together to maintain holiness, animal preservation and conservation for tourist reasons, therefore countering this great human desire for natural resources.

With 98.7% DNA shared with humans closest cousin in the wilderness, chimps (Pan troglodytes) are an ape species living in the wild. Apart from the face, hands, toes, and the hind-quarters, black hairs cover Chimpanzees’s body.

Long arms and legs including five fingers and toes define chimps. Thumbs apart from other fingers and toes enable one to grab and hold objects, utilize tools, and steady movement. Naturally walking on both legs and arms, chimps also use knuckles. Sometimes chimpanzees carry, move, deliver, or transfer objects in hands and walk exclusively on legs.

Social mammals, chimps live in communities sometimes numbering 250 people under the direction of an alpha male. In order to easily acquire survival materials, they broke up in smaller groups in the mornings. The alpha man is a dictator. He guarantees protection to members of the community, discipline in the group, direction and route of travel, feeding and watering places and oversees normal activities.

The alpha man gets rights of mating and feeding. From their nests before sunrise, chimps hunt and migrate to locations rich in food. They play games, guard, sentry and patrol, curdling and grooming; they take siesta at midday and participate war exercises and pretend skirmishes. They establish nests around sunset for the night and feed one final time close to nightfall. Except in cases of a danger mostly from a predator, thunderstorms, or wild bush fire, they are rather silent and inactive at night.

Omnivores with many choices for a diet are chimps. Main food comes from fruits, plants, fresh vegetables, shoots, barks, rhizomes, root tubers, nuts, eggs, insects, grasses.

Along with gathering fish in shallow streams, marshes and ponds of water, chimps hunt in groups, catch and eat tiny antelopes, reptiles, birds, monkeys, rodents. Though they can adapt and periodically live in woodland, grasslands, and visit wetlands for survival supplies, chimps preferred natural environment is rainforest with abundant of trees that assure consistent food availability.

Chimpanzees fall into many categories. Endangered with average 180,000–300,000 only individuals left on the planet; 800 only estimated in Budongo Forest Reserve In their native environment, chimps might live up to 45 years old.

Leopards, lions, and crocodiles are among the predators chimpanzees in the wild face. Other natural hazards to chimpanzees include diseases, bush fires, droughs. Human activity still poses the biggest danger to the existence of chimpanzees; illicit international wildlife trade, zoo capture, movies, dogs and scientific study.

While some indigenous people poison, create bush fires destroying their environment, hunt chimpanzees for game meat, trade in chimpanzee body parts for rites and ceremonies, others construct traps and kill chimpanzees that intrace on their territory. Through unregulated human contacts, negligent disposal of human waste, littering among others, chimpanzees pick up human illnesses and aberrant habits.

Note: money paid for chimpanzee monitoring in Budongo Forest Reserve go to support conservation of species.

Average 35km Masindi- Murchison Falls National Park route; 8 minutes driving beyond Kichumbanyobo park entry gate; chimpanzee tracking briefing site is Kaniyo-Pabidi. Note expert research teams habituate chimps before tourist activities.

Though wild, tourist chimpanzees stays peaceful and not disturbed by human presence. To assess their health, research workers routinely track tour chimpanzees. Two-shift day activity in mornings and afternoons is chimps tracking. Some rules for a successful, safe, and easy chimpanzee tracking trip throughout Budongo Forest Reserve:Make some information collecting investments regarding the Budongo Forest Reserve top priority. Pay attention to trends of climate and weather. The dry season covers December–February. Season for Rain: March–May, September–Novator

Adher to the established chimpanzee tracking rules. The rules are meant to consider your as well as those of animals.
Track Budongo chimpanzees under a reputable tour and safari operator. Among other things, the permit notes visitor names, age, gender, resident status, date of tracking, time of tracking, cost payable.

Arrange at Kaniyo-Pabidi; the chimpanzee tracking beginning point an hour to track time Bring your monitoring permit for the Budongo Chimpanzee and your identity records.
Head of the entourage in the forest is the guide. Work with him, take attention to his comments. He offers just what you want.

At Kaniyo Pabidi, eight groups of chimpanzee are ready for tourists. Every tracking entourage may have just six guests.
Tracking chimpanzees requires starting time and length different from each other. Verify your category:Half day tracking; average four hours of wilderness discovery. Morning tracking begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 15 p.m. afternoon.

Starting from 6.00 am until 6.00 pm, full day chimpanzee tracking—also known as chimpanzee habituation

Tracking chimps requires minimum age of 15 years. Aim is to reduce chances of spreading and getting communicative illnesses.
Tell the forest guide and rangers your health condition and provide required information. The guide in the forest adapts to the speed of journey in the forest. If you feel sick and incapable of doing the whole activity, volunteer to opt out of chimpanzee monitoring.

Wild, extremely mobile and suited for natural environments, chimps are One cannot determine how long it takes to arrive at their precise whereabouts.
Visitors engage with chimpanzees for one hour only.

When you engage with chimpanzees, keep eight meters away. It is a rather crucial control of health.
Turn off the camera flash light before taking pictures of chimpanzees.
Turn off GPS on your gadgetry.
Use of body motions should be minimized to nil. Unless advised by a forest guide, never copy calls or chimp behavior. The chimpanzees could understand the message their own way and respond thus.
Follow the remainder of the entourage. Ask the forest guide to change the steps and speed to fit your needs.

Silence voices to ambush animals in their native habitats and provide optimum pleasure of the tour.
Appropriate clothing fits the wilderness environment and facilitates wilderness movement. See below for more about attire.
Just pack the basics into the wilderness. On a nominal charge, potters are on hand to assist in carrying the load.

Bring ample drinking water and a lunch pack with high healthy light snacks. Note to consume your lunch pack and remove beverages from the chimpanzee presence. Remember to bring any trash with you from outside the forest; notify the forest guide should you require calls of nature.

For monitoring Chimpanzees in Budongo Forest Reserve, what should one wear?

The vast rainforest known as Budongo Reserve has soft undulating slopes. Deep into the woods, woodland, brush and thickets cover areas of meadows. Under any kind of weather, chimpanzee tracking is an all year-long hobby. Rainfall that falls constantly results in streams, rivulets, and drain-into pools of water ponds and little lakes.

The tropical sun often shocks us, and the blazing heat usually follows right after the rain. Thorns are a feature of certain plants and shrubs; others have noxious smells. Sometimes chimps tracking entourages come across both crawling and flying unpleasant, biting and stinging insects. One might find opportunities to personally meet buffalues, charging forest elephants, and other creatures. Pack sets of clothing fit the aforementioned environmental conditions and situation.

Face masks.
Light long sleeved shirts, blouses and tops ideally in subdued tones.
Safari sloppies
Rubber boots, water proof hiking boots
Poncha, also known as rain gear
Warm apparel for light
sturdy stockings
Gardener’s hand gloves
Head gear; round cap, head scarf, helmet
Sun visors

Changing clothing after the chimpanzee tracking trip during the rainy season may call for a walking stick; potential improvisation at the starting site
Items to pack for following chimpanzees in Budongo Forest Reserve
Although chimpanzee tracking merely takes a few hours, the objects used for the activity provide an amazing sensation.

Binoculars First aid pack with basic tools
Lunch bag camera
water bottle
Field guide book, note book with a pen or pencil
Map and Compass
Excellent flash brightness

To optimize and fulfill adventurous adrenaline, there are many possibilities of combining chimpanzee-tracking expedition in Budongo Forest Reserve with other tourist activities within and adjacent to Murchison Falls National Park.

Bird viewing in the Budongo forest
Walking in a forest
Game watching safaris inside Murchison Falls National Park
Boat ride along the Nile River; adventure discovery above Murchison Falls
Sambiya River Lodge has zip lining.
Touring Bokwe Community near Kichumbanyobo Gate
Boat cruise headed toward the Delta; Expedition in Shoe Bill

Every adventurer’s perfect rendez vous for chimpanzee tracking is based on location; Budongo Eco-lodge is a gem in the center of the jungle sharing complex with Kaniyo-Pabidi briefing point. For a small number of group guests, the facility has self-contained cabins with heated baths and communal lodging. For those seeking firsthand interactions with nocturnal animals, there is a camping ground.

Thirty minutes drive farther into the forest on the way to Murchison Falls from Sambiya River Lodge with a swimming pool and zip line. Masindi town average 35km south of Kaniyo-Pabidi offers a broad selection of lodging suitable for any kind of visitor. Paraa Safari Lodge, Bakers Lodge, Pakuba Safari Lodge, Red Chilli Hideout and Paraa region provides a range of additional choices for such places of lodging near Budongo Forest Reserve.

All-smooth asphalt road from Kampala Capital City to Budongo forest reserve runs via Masindi Municipality on average four hours travel. Private travel is the most chosen kind of transportation as it goes at own speed.

Up to Masindi Town, there is consistent public bus and taxi transit. Then plan private transport; average 35km over Murchison Falls National Park. For light aviation charter flights, Bugungu 1 hour drive towards Paraa and Pakuba Airfield 1 hour and thirty minutes from Budongo Forest Reserve. See specifics by contacting Katland Safaris.