Chimpanzee Monitoring Project

Volcanoes Safaris Partnership Trust (VSPT) launched the Kyambura Chimpanzee Monitoring Project, based at the VSPT Research Centre, Kyambura Gorge Lodge, in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda.

In partnership with the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), the project will establish the first permanent, science-based monitoring programme for the isolated group of chimpanzees in Kyambura Gorge.

The programme builds on the Kyambura Gorge Ecotourism Project, a series of connected community and conservation initiatives that have been working to safeguard the Kyambura Gorge ecosystem since 2009.

VSPT trainees Andrew Kato and Athens Niwahereza, both from villages bordering Kyambura Gorge, alongside UWA rangers, are leading the fieldwork. Dr. Alexander Braczkowski is Scientific Director. The project’s advisors bring world-class expertise: Professor Richard Wrangham (Harvard University), Dr. Emily Otali (Kibale Chimpanzee Project), Nicole Simmons (chimpanzee researcher) and James Byamukama (Executive Director, Jane Goodall Institute Uganda).

The team will hike in the gorge to locate chimpanzee parties, record GPS coordinates, photograph individuals for identification, and log community size and composition. Long-term monitoring will document feeding and social behaviour and assess potential human-wildlife conflict.