The Primates In The Park

One recent morning, deep inside the forests of Uganda, our travel writer Ramdas Iyer came face to face with some very impatient chimpanzees.

- Ramdas Iyer

HE SPAT OUT THE SEEDS he was chewing and rushed past me, almost brushing my shoulder. I was startled and scared stiff.

The chimpanzee under observation had stored some fruit and seeds behind me and decided to hastily claim them before I could react. This intimate contact with one of mankind’s closest natural relatives was possible only because I had signed up to study, from dawn to dusk in the forests of Uganda, these amazing animals who share 98.7% of their DNA with humans.

I am at Kibale National Park, which contains the largest population of chimpanzees in Uganda, making it one of the few remaining strongholds.

Located in southern Uganda, it is a moist evergreen rainforest, about 800sqkm in size and at elevations of 1,000-1,600 meters. It is a mere 50 kilometers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Chimpanzees are found in 21 African countries, from the west coast to the east coast, living mostly in the rainforests. Their overall population is estimated at 300,000.

According to the Kibale National Park’s website, over 4,950 are recorded living in Uganda and about 1,500 of these are in the park.