By Isingoma John, Ultimate Media

I had been told that any holiday or tour taken at Kibale Forest National Park however short or long is bound to be an experience of a lifetime.

So, during my Christmas holiday, I decided to visit the forest part, found in Kamwenge district, western Uganda. The easiest way to reach there is to board vehicles to Fort-Portal, where you will get other vehicles going to Kamwenge.

Chimpanzee in Kibale forest

Around 22 kilometers on the bumpy marrum road, you can’t fail to notice you are in Kibaale forest as evidenced from the stretch of trees and thicket on both sides of the road. At the end of the forest covering over 8 miles on this road is where you find the national park headquarters.

Kibale forest is a tropical rain forest covering a total of 795 square kilometers, having parts in Kyenjojo, Kabarole, Kamwenge and Kasese districts of western Uganda.

The forest is endowed with 13 identified species of primates, nine of which are day primates and four nocturnal. The forest has 20% of the world’s primates making it an obvious tour target by visitors who have an interest in primates.

According to Aston Byaruhanga, a tour guide at Kanyanchu river camp, Kibale forest has over 250 tree species identified and the identification process is ongoing. Byaruhanga says that some species are medicinal and help treat the park’s surrounding communities and animal communities in the forest.

Some of the exciting park activities you can undertake in Kibale forest national park include chimpanzee tracking, chimpanzee habituation experience and the guided nature walk. But you need some cash on you to be able to experience these gifts of nature first hand. If you are a Ugandan, you are required to pay 30,000 shillings (about US$ 15). East African residents (people from Kenya and Tanzania) pay US$ 30 and non-residents pay US$ 50 for chimpanzee tracking.

I wanted to get a Chimpanzee habituation experience but I found out that it is a little bit expensive ranging from 60,000 to 180,000 shillings and takes up to six days depending on the clients’ interests and ability to pay. Chimpanzee habituation is intended to show visitors how chimpanzees are tamed to allow visitors to view them at short distance.

At Kanyanchu river camp one of the many camping sites in the forest, there is a well-stocked restaurant, which is run by Bigodi Women’s group. The restaurant has all sorts of drinks, both local and foreign. Sodas and mineral water go for 1000shillings each for a 500ML bottle while beer is sold at 2000 shillings.

For accommodation, Kanyanchu River camp provides bandas (small houses made out of wood and grass thatched). A double banda goes at 30,000shillings while a banda with single twin beds also goes for 30,000 shillings.

The camp even has sky bandas, which have been constructed on tree braches for those who do not want to sleep on the ground. But you have to part with 60,000 shillings (about US$ 30) per night.

Patrick Tushabe the warden of Kibale forest national park says that the goal of building a sky banda is to enable the occupants to emulate the primates in the forest and sleep as close to them as possible.

The sky banda is camouflaged to dupe animals in such a way that they think it’s their natural environment. “This gives visitors who sleep in sky bandas a chance to watch animals at close range hence the value for money,” Tushabe says.

The nature walk

I chose going for a nature walk since I wanted a general attraction tour. It takes less time and it is a cheaper activity of all park activities. I also wanted to use the probability that general nature walk has to even lead to viewing other things which are in themselves an activity to pay for.

Armed with a pair of binoculars, water, first aid kit, watch, mobile phones and a campus Ruth Imalingat and I hit the road for a nature walk. Imalingat was my tour guide for the nature walk.

The walk was to last for half a day, which is three hours. Anything beyond three hours is counted as full day and the fee is doubled.

I had to first pay 5000shillings as fees for the nature walk and 2500shillings for entrance at 50% discount as Christmas package.

Monkey in forest

First to meet on our two and half hours nature walk were monkeys. Imalingat got a clue of the monkeys 50 meters away through the smell they left behind as they moved.

“Can you smell some urine, that is monkeys’ urine? So they must be around,” Imalingat predicted.

After a few minutes, we met the monkeys. We managed to see Black and white monkeys, red tailed monkey and white nosed monkeys all providing an exciting attraction that continues to make Kibaale forest National Park the natural wonder it is. The monkeys move around undisturbed by our presence and behave as if they are tamed like chimpanzees.

“We get many visitors in a week for nature walk, which is why these monkeys are used to people. Habituating monkeys is expensive, we had started it but abandoned it due to it being expensive,” Imalingat revealed.

The monkeys’ lack of fear for humans gave me an opportunity to admire them as I watch their beautiful far and refreshing noises as well as feeding behaviors. Imalingat told me that the monkeys mostly feed on fruits and this dictates that they live in fruiting trees.

“When we are looking for such primates, we try fruiting trees which are especially found near swamps,” Imalingat intimated.

Imalingat was very picky with the trees, birds and animals found in the forestr and what is unique about them. She would stop and explain to me the names and importance of almost everything in the forest.

Among these was a wild lemon, which Imalingat claimed, works as local viagra. “The roots of that tree are used to treat importance. They are dug out, washed, pounded and later crushed to get powder which is added in coffee to energize men who have sexual problems,” Imalingat prescribed.

Imalingat says unlike in the past, today the people surrounding protected areas are allowed to access and sustainably use the forest. This is intended to make the people appreciate the importance of the protected areas such that they respect them.

I was intrigued to learn that there is Adam and Eve living in this Kibaale forest. They are in form of a giant tree with a penis like growth on it and a hole below the penis representing a vagina. The tree is a very interesting tour attraction in the Kibale Forest National Park that when I asked my tour guide to take me to the most popular wonders in the forest, she promised to show me “naked Adam and Eve”.

“This tree is loved by everyone who comes here because in the whole world, this is the only tree so far identified to have human sexual organs,” Imalingat said.

You will also be surprised at the level of the jungle law practiced in the forest reserve. While the naked Adam and eve tree is a big tourist attraction, you may not see it because of the huge poisonous fungus on its side, which is killing it. And according to park rules, no one is supposed to interfere with the ecological system of the forest. It is then that I realized my time was already up and I was disappointed I couldn’t discover more of the wonders in this natural forest reserve and park.