The Forest Trails
A variety of walks, ranging from fifteen minutes to several hours in length can be done at Mpanga forest
The forest links well to the rural areas surrounding it providing good opportunities to walk through traditional Ugandan villages and farming areas. Some trails are way marked for the independent visitor. Local guides are also on hand for visitors wishing to learn more about the forest or to travel to more remote parts of the forest.
The Base Line Trail
A three kilometer straight, wide trail which passes straight across Mpanga and ends at the edge of a papyrus swamp (Nakyetema) on the west side of the forest. There’s no need to watch your feet just put your head in the trees and enjoy fabulous views into the forest canopy. This undulating walk over gentle rises and across two streams offers some of the most impressive trees in the forest and is also an excellent place to view clouds of butterflies, which congregate in the sunny clearings along the trail. This trail can be used for mountain biking by looking back through local villages and dirt tracks.
The Butterfly Loop
A one kilometer winding jungle trail for visitors wanting a short adventure and willing to occasionally clamber over logs and duck under dense tangles of vegetation. It takes approximately 25 minutes and you venture pass native rainforest trees as well as a few newcomers to the forest, look out for a puzzling tree to the local primate population. Bush babies and leopard tracks have been on this loop.
The Hornbill Trail
A five-kilometer loop passing deep into the heart of the forest. Like the butterfly loop it offers adventurous terrain along streamsides and across gentle hills. Watch out for the ‘tree root arch’ half way along the trail. The trail takes approximately 3 hours but can be combined with short cuts to the Base Line trail if tired. Enjoy fantastic root structures and buttresses, fungi, butterflies, monkeys and birds along this trail. Also watch out for rather timid snakes including a sleepy python.