Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve

Toro-Semliki was gazetted in 1926, which makes it one of the oldest protected areas in Uganda, covering savanna and riverine forest on the floor of the Albertine Rift between Lake Albert and the Rwenzori foothills. A long-running research project on the Semliki chimpanzees studies a community living in unusually dry savanna woodland rather than rainforest, which is of interest for what it suggests about early hominins in similar country.

What you actually see

• The savanna chimpanzees - a research community living in dry woodland rather than forest.
• The Rift floor setting - savanna between Lake Albert and the Rwenzori foothills.
• The 1926 gazettement - one of the oldest protected areas in the country.
• The Lake Albert shore - the reserve running down to the lake.

When to go

June to August and December to February are the dry seasons. Chimpanzee tracking here is far less reliable than at Kibale. The Rift floor is very hot through the middle of the day.

Honest expectations

The chimpanzees are only partly habituated and sightings are uncommon. Facilities in the reserve are basic. Game numbers were badly reduced in past decades and have recovered only partly.

Nearby

Semuliki is north, and Fort Portal is northeast.