Weather
Weather in Kibale National Park is not static as it is a tropical rainforest, meaning it could rain any time of the day though it has its specific weather and climate patterns. Kibale national park weather is greatly affected by the major climate factor of location. Kibale national park is located in the southwestern part of Uganda on coordinates 00’30’’N and 30’24’’ E, near the equator. The proximity of kibale national park to the equator is the major factor that affects the weather of the national park.
Kibale national park is almost 330km away from Kampala the capital city of Uganda, via fort portal road. Kibale national park is where you find one of the most loveable and most lustrous tropical forests in Uganda which harbors the biggest population of primates on the African continent. Kibale is dominated with a moist evergreen rain forest covering an area of about 766sq.km
Altitude is another way affects the weather of Kibale national park. The forest is located in the western albertine rift valley area. The highest elevation Kibale national park is about 1600m or 5200ft above sea level, whereas the lowest elevation is at 1100m or 3600ft above sea level. The lowest elevation for Kibale National Park is in the rift valley floor.
Kibale national park is the remaining protected area in east Africa to contain both the lowland and montane forests. In the entire African continent, Kibale national park sustains the last significant widespread out area covering of pre-montane forest. The forests are, possibly, the reason as to why Kibale national park is fully inhabited by primate about 13species, with the most significant being the chimpanzees. Most of the tourists that visit Kibale national park mainly go for chimpanzee trekking and chimpanzee habituation.
Being a tropical rain forest, and its proximity to the equator, Kibale national park has a slight variation in its daily weather and climate over time. Kibale national park is mainly temperate and moist in most areas. The proximity to the equator makes Kibale national park have almost common temperatures throughout the year.
Dry season weather
During the day, the temperatures in Kibale national park are always above 27 °C. However, the nights in Kibale national park are always cooled down to about 15°C. The part of Kibale national park in the south is on a lower altitude of the rift valley floor, it experiences warmer temperatures compared to other parts of kibale national park.
This is Africa, so there is no definite dry season in Kibale national park; therefore, you have to be always prepared for a shower or drizzle any time. However, the months of December through February are drier than the rest of the year. June and July are also very dry months and experience a relatively dry and warmer weather throughout the year. Despite the dry weather in this season, you have to be on alert for a drizzle or a shower any time.
The dry season is always the best season for chimpanzee trekking in Kibale national park. The forest trails happen to be very passable for nature walks and other forest activities. However, the dry season being the peak tourism season in Uganda, there is some crowd in the national park, Kibale inclusive. Also, the prices for safaris are slightly hiked to match the visitor flowing into the country.
Wet season
Kibale national park, just like the other parts of Uganda, experiences two rainfall seasons. The first wet season is experienced in March to May and the other in august through November. During the wet season, you are advised to carry everything to keep through the rainy times. The wet season also makes most of the park activities really challenging, for example, chimpanzee trekking, Bigodi Swamp Walks.
March and April through May are the wettest months in Kibale national park; April is the peak rainfall season. August, September, October, and November receive heavy rainfall too, but the highest in this peak is received in October. During this season, the roads are only easily passable using a 4WD vehicle. The temperatures during the day in the wet season, however, stay warm about 27 °C and 15 °C in the night at average.
This is also the low tourism season not only in Kibale national park but also in other national parks in Uganda. The wet season makes the roads so slippery and the trekking trails in Kibale national park become almost impassable. Therefore, it is challenging to do chimp trekking in Kibale national park during the wet season. However, the wet season is a low-cost season for almost all safaris to Kibale national park and other places in Uganda.
