Kibale chimpanzee trekking

Kibale holds the densest population of primates in East Africa and the best-habituated chimpanzee groups in Uganda. It is also, from here, a half-hour drive.

The morning trek leaves Kanyanchu at eight. You walk in a small group with a ranger, and when the chimps are found you get an hour with them — feeding, grooming, calling across the canopy in a way that carries for a kilometre.

Thirteen primate species live in this forest, so the walk in is rarely quiet: red colobus, grey-cheeked mangabey, L'Hoest's monkey. Add the Bigodi wetland sanctuary next door and the morning turns into a full day of birds and swamp walkways.

Because we're thirty minutes away, you leave Fort Portal after a proper breakfast rather than at four in the morning from somewhere else.