Chimpanzee Habituation Experience

Chimpanzee Habituation experience is a process where by a trekker spends more hours or even the whole day with the chimpanzees deep in the forest. This process involves removing the fear of humans from the chimpanzees.

Normally chimpanzees or even gorillas that are not familiar /used to human beings are taken into the habituation process to remove the aggressiveness from these creatures when they interact with human beings.

Chimpanzee tracking is where by a trekker goes to the forest to view the already habituated chimpanzees. The habituated chimpanzees are normally confined in one area and are not aggressive and sturbon. They are friendly.
Chimpanzee tracking can take 1-3 hours.

Chimpanzee tracking is when you spend an hour with the chimpanzees of Uganda while chimpanzee habituation is an experience to be with them all day long.
This activity entails following up of chimpanzees so that they get used to humanity without them being wild. entails getting the chimpanzees to the presence of humans (to remove the fear of humans from the group), a process that takes up to two years – and today you are part of that process by your all day presence in the forest. Years ago, it used to be that you had a 20% chance of seeing chimpanzees in the wild, today because of the habituation process that has increased to over 90%.

Your day will be full, your camera will fill up with quality pictures of the chimpanzees and you will get to learn to identify them as individuals after a while by their markings, sometimes scars and other unique features that makes them stand apart from rest.

The day ends as the chimpanzees climb into their newly built nests for the evening and you head back to your lodging for the evening,

Edited by: devineafricansafaris

Hi guys, I'm doing a long bike ride through africa from january and had Uganda and the gorillas on my itinery. I know you have to apply months in advance for the gorilla permits, is it the same with the chimps or can i just rock up and spend the day (habituation) which i think unlikely. Do I have to stipulate an exact day or can it be more relaxed to say a particular week or even better for me (as no idea how long cycling between egyot and uganda is gonna take) a month.
any info would be greatlt appreciated

Habituation is whole day with the chimps, tracking is 30mins - 3 hrs! of course tracking is 3 times cheaper..

Leafennelly,

It depends on where you want to track/Habituate the chimps.

Chimpanzee habituation is done mainly in Kibale forest and Ngamba island chimpanzee sanctuary in the forest.

For Kibale forest chimpanzee habituation, you need to book in advance, pay for your chimpanzee permit at UWA at 220$ for the whole day
if you want to track the chimps the permit costs 150$

chimpanzee tracking in Kyambura godge-Queen elizabeth park is 50$ (you do not need to book in advance)
chimpanzee tracking in semliki park is 30$ (you do not need to book in advance)

Thanks everyone for your answers! Thanks again to you Katonatours for your information. It has been very valuable. It might sounds silly but obviously Kibale is the best for tracking right??

Kibale forest is the best place to track and habituate chimps in Uganda

I second what cardonbarbon said, thanks very much to katonatours for your excellent advice, really helpful!

i decided to track chimps in budongo. i think i payed $50. i just called the office a week or less in advance. the a.m. trips for the days i hoped for were full, but i was able to get an afternoon spot. they have habituation there too for like $150 it seems. but apparantly they dont do it during the high season.

sorry im a little fuzzy on the details.