Kitojo Guest Cottages are located just 30 minutes from Kibale Forest National Park. Kitojo Guest Cottages is one of the best budget accommodation options in Kibale Forest National Park. Kitojo Guest Cottages were formerly known as Kitojo Tourists Home but the name and management were changed later.
The cottages derive the name from Kitojo hill in Kibale, a place with commanding spectacular views of local farmlands, country side and the Mountains of Moon. The rooms are beautifully set with comfortable beds, free WIFI, and hot running water with a porch overlooking the countryside.
The onsite restaurant serves both local and international cuisines and breakfast includes fresh baked bread from the lodge. The staff are very friendly and attentive, which makes your stay a memorable one. Laundry services are also available.
Kitojo Guest Cottages organizes village walks for their visitors. You can visit a local family and interact with them about their ways of lives, participate in the day to day activities of the local people and perhaps buy some crafts from the village to take home for remembrance.
Chimpanzee Trekking
Kibale Forest National Park is the best place for trekking chimpanzees in Uganda, boasting with over 1500 chimpanzees out of the 4950 chimpanzees in Uganda. The activity normally takes 2-5 hours depending on the location and movement of the chimpanzees and pace of the group.
When you locate the chimpanzees, you are given an hour to observe and take photos. Always endeavor to follow trekking rules and regulations during this exercise.
Besides chimpanzees, you might also see other wildlife and primates like L’Hoest monkeys, sitatunga antelopes, red tailed monkey, vervet monkey, grey cheeked mangabey, mongoose, bush pigs, red colobus monkey and olive baboons to mention a few.
Chimpanzee Habituation
Chimpanzee habituation is the process of making chimpanzees get used to human presence before tourists can regularly visit them. Tourists interested in habituation join the park rangers in their daily job of habituation and you get to spend more hours with chimpanzees while habituating, unlike the normal trekking exercise where you spend only an hour with chimpanzees.
Birding
Kibale Forest National Park is endowed with over 178 species of birds; some of which are endemic to this area. Some of the examples of birds include the great blue turacco, hairy breasted barbet, yellow billed barbet, brown backed scrub robin, western nicator, superb sun bird, white breasted nigrofinch, white shrike flycatcher, white spotted fluff tail, brown throated wattle eye, grey winged robin chat, brown crowned Tchagra and black crowned waxbill among the rest.
How to get there
Kibale Forest National Park can be reached within a 3-4 hours drive from Kampala via Mbarara. The park is located 26 kilometers south of Fort Portal, the nearest town. The best time to visit the park is from December through February and June through August when the trails are dry, making it easy to track chimpanzees. The wet season is also good as food is abundant so chimpanzees’ don’t move a lot.
