Area served Uganda
Products Chimpanzees
How to get there: Speedboat travel from the dock in Entebbe to Ngamba Island is approximately 45-50 minutes; travel by traditional motorized canoe takes approximately 90 minutes and by air it’s approximately 20 minutes from Entebbe Airport or Kajjansi Air strip.
What to do there: sunset Cruises, Fishing, Game Drive, Boat Cruise, Bird Watching, Chimpanzee tracking, Nature Walks/ Hiking.
Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary, is an island sanctuary present in Uganda, dedicated to the care of orphaned chimpanzees, those have been rescued by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Many of the chimpanzees were rescued from thieves and are doubtful to survive re-establishment of the wild.
Chimpanzee Sanctuary, or ‘Chimp Island’, is home to over 40 orphaned or rescued chimpanzees who are just unable to return to the wildlife. Humans are confined to one of the 40 hectares while the chimps wander freely through the rest, emerging from the forest twice a day for feeding at 11am and 2.30pm.
While it can’t compare to the experience of seeing chimps in the wild, especially due to the large electrified fence that separates chimp from human, it still makes for a worthwhile excursion to observe the animals’ remarkable behaviour. Guides here are very informative, and there are individual profiles for each chimpanzee, detailing both their separate personalities and history. There are also big monitor lizards in residence and abundant birdlife.
This island is a project of the Chimpanzee Sanctuary & Wildlife Conservation Trust, which arranges bookings for day trips and accommodation.
It consists of approx. 100 acres, of which 95 acres is forested and separated from the human camp by an electric fence. The northern part of the island is generally flat, rising gently to an altitude of approx. 3800 feet above sea level to the south. The island is largely forested with gaps of grassland covering approximately 10% of the island.
A trail system was cut just prior to the chimpanzees’ arrival in October 1998. Trails span from east to west and north to south creating 50 x 50m blocks. Ngamba Island provides an excellent secondary forest habitat which is for the chimpanzees and other wildlife species including fruit bats, spiders, fish eagles, otters, and monitor lizards.
