The Six-Hour Chimpanzee Habituation Experience in 2022
Spend More Time with a Group of Chimpanzees being Habituated in Kibale Forest
In Uganda, where everything is abbreviated the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience is called CHEX. The Chimpanzee Habituation Experience is being with a group of chimpanzees habituated. It is an all-day Learning Experience where you learn how Chimpanzees live. You become a part of the habituation process. It means that the chimpanzees become used to the presence of humans.
Like the Gorilla and the Golden Monkey Habituation Experience, this is a hands-on learning experience where you learn from the Researchers and the Chimpanzees as you observe them.
You will have a Uganda Wildlife Authority Guide for who will point out not just the Chimpanzees being habituated but also other inhabitants of the forest. Many of them, mammals, birds, and butterflies, all call Kibale Forest their home.
A Chimpanzee Habituation Permit is $250 and includes the park entrance fees plus your guide. Since your park entrance fee is included.
You can include other activities that day, such as the one-of-a-kind Nocturnal Forest Walk where you encounter the creatures of the night. Something not to be missed at Kibale Forest.
What makes the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience so different?
The Chimpanzee Habituation Experience became so popular because it gave one more time with the chimpanzees. In addition, one was not just an observer but a participant in the habituation process. Primate lovers all over wanted to be part of the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience and it became a runaway hit overnight. Over ninety percent of our clients chose the Habituation Experience over the typical chimpanzee trekking, and Permits became hard to find.
Someone at Uganda Wildlife Authority began to tinker with the experience and changed it from a full day to six hours. A different and more complex chimpanzee troop to find came along. The combination of the two changed the experience that trekkers had up to them
Tourists come to Uganda for Mountain Gorilla and Chimpanzee Tracking. There are 5000 plus chimpanzees in Uganda with about 1,500 in Kibale Forest.
Most Tourists visit the chimpanzees much like the Mountain Gorillas for one hour. There is, however, another option that allows you to spend more time with the chimpanzees by doing the Habituation Experience. I can be done in the forests of Budongo (during the off-season) or Kibale Forest all year long.
The Chimp Habituation Experience is all day with chimpanzees in their natural setting. The Chimpanzee Habituation experience is limited to the number of visitors that can take part, and one must plan early to get a spot on the day and date you would like. This is not like chimpanzee tracking with a larger group of Trekkers, this is spending time with a team of trackers, researchers, and the Chimpanzees.
The Chimpanzee Habituation Experience – takes more planning.
The All-Day Chimpanzee Habituation Experience means more planning. It also requires that one book a spot through as early as possible secure your time with the Chimpanzees. There has been an increase in Visitors to Uganda wanting to do this one-of-a-kind activity.
Permit Prices for the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience are $259, while chimpanzee trekking is $200 per permit. For 50 USD more, have more time with the chimpanzees, In Kibale Forest. The permit cost includes a 24-hour park entrance fee which allows for other activities.
You will see a lot more than the Chimpanzee Group being inhabited. There are other primates, birds, butterflies, and wildlife to be seen in the park.
The Chimpanzee Habituation Experience – CHEX differs from a normal Chimpanzee Trek in that you are an active participant in the Chimpanzee Habituation Process.
In past times the activity was a most popular activity. The popularity has been waning as changes have been made to it.
Get a feel for what the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience is like
“The Chimpanzee Habituation Experience” means an early breakfast for you. It would be best if you packed some snacks. And have some bottled water with you.
You meet your guide, and you are off to where the chimpanzees built their nests the night before. Dawn is just breaking, and the chimpanzee community you will be with the rest of the day rises from their sleep in the nests.
Keep your eyes open, and you will see much more than chimpanzees. This day Kibale Forest has Forest Elephants, Buffaloes, Bush Pigs, over 350 species, 12 other kinds of primates, and yes, there is much more to see besides the Chimps.
However, you are here for the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience. Habituation is getting the chimpanzees used to the presence of humans (to remove the fear of humans from the group). A process that takes up to two years. Today, you are part of that Process by your presence processors.
Your camera will fill up with quality pictures of the chimpanzees, and you will get to
learn to identify them as individuals by their markings, sometimes scars, and other unique features that make them stand apart from the 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.
What to bring and wear for the Habituation Experience:
You will need a daypack with two liters of water some snacks like dried fruit or granola bars. Clothing: waterproof hiking boots, a hat, light rain jacket, long-sleeved shirt, long trousers, insect repellent, binoculars, and anything else you might like.
Chimpanzee Habituation Experience, a day not soon forgotten, can be included in any safari of a Kibale Forest. Participants must be over 12 years old, the same age as Gorilla Trekking. The activity ends around lunchtime.
What is the Difference between an all-day Chimpanzee Habituation Experience and Chimpanzee Trekking in Uganda’s Kibale Forest?
When you go for Chimpanzee Trekking, you spend one hour with a fully habituated Chimpanzee Group, which means they are used to Human Beings.
When you go on an all-day Habituation Experience, you are observing a Chimpanzee Group that is in the Process of being habituated, a process that takes up to two years long, and you are a participant in the Process.
The best park for either activity is Kibale Forest.
Is the Chimpanzee Habituation a Better Experience than Chimpanzee Trekking?
As of late, the Chimpanzee Habituation Process has not been the most rewarding activity for visitors. It has been hit and miss when it comes to actually seeing the Chimpanzees.
Instead of being with a chimpanzee troop there are the long treks in search of the chimpanzees. It does not happen every day, not in every instance, but more than enough causing us to write about to make you aware of it. Obviously, you can still choose the Habituation Experience, but you now know that it might not be what you expect.
Some of our clients have been disappointed. Presently we would recommend the regular Chimpanzee Trek over the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience. You might even want to consider two Chimpanzee treks. You have the option of trekking twice in Kibale Forest. You al, and you Kalinzu Forest and the Kyambura Gorge where you can trek Chimpanzees and then trek them in Kibale Forest.
Our Take on the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience at Present:
Presently we do not recommend the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience in Kibale Forest. The six-hour activity is unlike in 2019 when it was an all-day trek. The present group being habituated is far from the starting point of the activity. At times trekkers miss out even seeing the chimpanzees.
Our clients kept voicing their disappointment with the activity, which caused us not to recommend it. We went on a Chimpanzee Habituation Experience and found that it was as our clients had stated. If you still want to experience the habituation, please remember that we warned you.
Over 90% of our clients chose the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience in the past. Today we recommend that they trek the chimpanzee twice. They will see chimpanzees on a morning and afternoon trek. Yes, it costs more, but we believe it is money spent wisely.
Once the present situation changes through Uganda Wildlife Authority’s actions, the activity will have our full endorsement again. We want satisfied, not dissatisfied, clients.
Other Habituation Experiences in Uganda:
Gorilla Habituation Experience in Rushaga – Bwindi Impenetrable Forest:
Golden Monkey Habituation Experience – Mgahinga Gorilla Park:
