Top Africa Primate Tracking Tours – Adventures of a Lifetime

Searching for the top Africa primate tracking tours to have great adventures of a lifetime, here Acacia safaris limited brings you a clear list of Africa Primate Tracking tour sites.

Africa is the birthplace of safari and primates are a lead attraction and such a memorable way of exploring the jungles. Primates in Africa are tracked in their natural habitats giving an insight into what the tropical forests and what they inhabit are.

Popularly trekked primates in Africa are the mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, and golden monkeys. These primates especially the chimpanzees and mountain gorillas share a great percentage of DNA with human beings.

Having an experience of a primate trek offers adventures of a lifetime as you share habitat, learn and get to know the primates in the wild. Here are the top Africa Primate tracking tours with destinations and recommended itineraries;

Chimpanzee trekking in Africa

Africa has four subspecies of chimpanzees which are Western, Central, Eastern, and Nigerian. They are classified as great apes sharing about 98%DNA.

Chimpanzees are already disappearing in 4 African countries and those remaining are native to the forests and savannah. Our top chimpanzee trekking destinations are Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania.

Chimpanzee trekking in Uganda: There are several destinations in Uganda that are wild habitats to chimpanzees.

The chimpanzee trekking spots or places to trek in Uganda include Kibale Forest National Park, Budongo Forest, Kyambura Gorge, and Kalinzu Forest.

Kibale Forest hosts the highest total population of chimpanzees. The park has over a thousand chimpanzees and is still home to over 13 primate species, that’s why it’s dubbed the primate capital of the world.

Kibale Forest National Park is very accessible for chimpanzee trekking and a 4 days chimpanzee trekking safari is a good itinerary combined with a wildlife tour.

Budongo forest is the closest spot from Kampala-Uganda’s capital for tourists to trek chimpanzees. The forest is part of the Murchison Falls Conservation Area.

There are 2 habituated chimpanzee families that can be trekked by those interested in the activity.  You can choose to have a trip to the forest just for chimp trekking or take a 4 days safari to Murchison Falls National Park.

Kyambura Gorge is the only destination in Uganda where you will have to visit the chimps below sea level. The chimpanzees live in a gorge that is about 100m deep at its deepest spot.

Kalinzu Central Forest Reserve is situated in southwestern Uganda in the district of Bushenyi. The forest is close to the Maramagambo forest of Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Top Africa Primate Tracking Tours

Chimpanzees

Chimpanzee trekking in Tanzania: Mahale Mountains National Park is home to one of Africa’s most studied chimpanzee populations. Around 1000 chimpanzees roam around the isolated and lush rainforest of Mahale.

Gombe streams National Park in western Tanzania was made famous due to the pioneering work of Jane Goodall who founded a behavioral research program in the 1960s and is still running.

Chimpanzee trekking in Rwanda: Chimpanzee tracking in Rwanda is undertaken only at Nyungwe National Park.

When taking up the chimpanzee trekking experience in Rwanda, the activity starts from three reception centers known as Uwinka, Kitabi, and Gisakura respectively.

The advantage of trekking chimpanzees in Rwanda is that the park is close to the capital of Kigali with about 4 and half hours’ drive.

Mountain Gorilla Trekking Africa

Mountain Gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) is a subspecies of the eastern gorilla found in the tropical forests of East and Central Africa. Mountain gorillas can only be seen in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The only way of seeing these gentle giants is by undertaking the Uganda gorilla trekking safaris, gorilla trekking tour Rwanda or Congo gorilla trekking safari.

In Uganda mountain gorillas are found in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park. In Rwanda mountain gorillas are found in Volcanoes National Park and in Congo within the Virunga National Park.

There are very few wildlife safari activities as exceptional and memorable as gorilla trekking. Gorilla trekking takes you on an arduous journey typically walking on foot along with other trekkers through Africa’s dense rainforests.

Searching for endangered apes is such an amazing experience that takes an unpredictable amount of time usually lasting between 2 to 6 hours. Anything less or more is possible.

This time is the time spent during the trek to, a maximum of 1 hour with the mountain gorillas and the time spent trekking from the forest. Meeting the gorillas and sharing their habitat is such a unique activity to undertake.

Top Africa Primate Tracking Tours

A mountain gorilla mother and baby

Golden Monkey Tracking in Africa

Golden monkeys are found in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in southwestern Uganda, Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, and Congo. The golden monkeys are restricted within the highland forest especially near bamboo.

Golden monkey trekking isn’t as exhausting as gorilla tracking since the golden monkeys do not build new nests each day and therefore their movement is easily traceable.

Their beauty with the golden and black patches is intriguing among primates and their playful nature offers such a great experience.

The golden monkey experiential is the best way of having a greater insight into the lifestyle of the monkeys. You spend more time with the golden monkeys and learn their behavior before being fully habituated.

Golden Monkey – Top Africa Primate Tracking Tours

All primates in Africa that are open for primate tracking go through a habituation process to familiarize themselves with humans before they are opened up to tourism.

The habituated troops are available for tracking and the semi-habituated groups are available for habituation experiences.

Beyond Africa primate tracking safaris, you can also enjoy wildlife tours during Tanzania tours, Uganda safaris, Kenya safaris, Rwanda wildlife tours, and many more safari destinations.