Chimpanzee Tracking in Uganda and Rwanda
Chimpanzee tracking pairs naturally with gorilla trekking on a Uganda or Rwanda itinerary — both countries hold excellent, habituated chimpanzee communities within reasonable driving distance of the main gorilla sectors, making it easy to add without significantly extending your trip.
Kibale Forest, Uganda
Kibale holds the highest primate density in Africa, with reliable chimpanzee sightings thanks to communities researchers have followed for decades. The forest also holds twelve further primate species alongside the chimps, including red colobus and grey-cheeked mangabey. See our Kibale National Park guide.
Nyungwe Forest, Rwanda
Nyungwe offers chimpanzee tracking alongside a canopy walkway through the forest, one of the few of its kind in East Africa, and a genuinely different forest ecosystem from Uganda's Kibale. See our Nyungwe Forest guide.
What Tracking Involves
Chimpanzee tracking follows a similar structure to gorilla trekking — an early morning briefing, a walk in with trackers who've located the community, and time observing once found — though chimps move faster and more unpredictably through the canopy than gorillas, so treks can vary more in length and pace.
Combining with Gorilla Trekking
Kibale sits roughly two hours from Queen Elizabeth National Park, making it easy to combine with a broader Uganda circuit, while Nyungwe pairs naturally with Volcanoes National Park gorilla trekking on a Rwanda itinerary. See our gorilla trekking guide for how the two experiences fit together.
Interested in adding chimpanzee tracking to your itinerary? Contact our team.