Kyambura Gorge Chimpanzee Tracking

Kyambura Game Reserve or Chambura Game Reserve, which borders to the west of Kyambura Gorge, is part of the Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) in Uganda. It is home to a variety of Africa safari wildlife, including the only primates in the Queen Elizabeth National Park. The area is an important water source for many animals and is surrounded by African savanna, but is generally noted for its high concentration of primate life located in the gorge.

Kyambura Game Reserve was formed to serve as a buffer zone to the Queen Elizabeth National Park. Located on north-eastern side of QENP, approximately 30 km from QENP Headquarters, Kyambura Gorge spans a distance of 11 km and links to the Kazinga Channel, which forms the northern boundary of the reserve. Village and plantations lie to the south. The reserve’s mean altitude is 1100 m.a.s.l. The total area of the reserve is 156 sq. km.

Kyambura is the only place in QENP where habituated chimpanzees and other types of primates including red-tailed monkey, black-and-white colobus, baboons and vervet monkeys are seen. The park is also known for its variety of avian species including various falcons, the blue-headed bee-eater and the African finfoot.

Chimpanzee Tracking

Amongst Kyambura Gorge wildlife are 27 chimpanzees, who have become known as the “Lost Chimpanzees”. These chimps have been isolated and completely cut off from the rest of the vast jungle in Queen Elizabeth National Park, as a result of deforestation and the expansion of local communities. This isolation has left them on the brink of extinction. NGO’s like Volcanoes Safaris and UWA are working tirelessly to safeguard not only these chimpanzees, but the entire Kyambura Gorge ecosystem. Chimpanzee Tracking is one of the activities in the research put to help finance the protection of the reserve and its inhabitants.

A guided chimpanzee tracking permit in Kyambura Gorge costs $50 per person but sighting of the chimps is not guaranteed like in Kibale Forest. Though you can enjoy a nature within the forest reserve and meet many other creatures.