Nyungwe Forest National Park is a biodiversity spectacle, spanning 1,015sq kilometers of land protecting the oldest and largest montane rainforest in Africa. Nyungwe Forest is home to over 85 mammal species, 310 bird species, 1,050 plant, 120 butterfly and 38 reptile species.
Nyungwe Forest is located south of Lake Kivu on the border with Burundi – where it is contiguous with Kibira National Park, the park was founded in 2005 as a way of protecting one of the oldest forest ecosystems on the African continent.
Nyungwe Forest National Park is well-known for its habituated chimpanzees, the park is home to 13 primate species including 500 chimpanzees, up to 400 black and white colobus monkeys, making one of the Africa parks with the highest concentration of black and white colobus monkeys. Primates in Nyungwe Forest include chimpanzees, L’Hoest monkey, Angola colobus monkey, Grey-cheeked Mangabey, Silver monkey, Hamlyn’s monkey, Vervet monkey, Olive Baboon, and Red-tailed monkey among others.
Here are the top safari activities to do in Nyungwe Forest National Park
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The Canopy Walk
Nyungwe Forest Canopy Walk is an exhilarating experience and one of the top activities to do on a Rwanda Safari in Nyungwe Forest National Park, suspended above a ravine in the lush montane rainforest of Nyungwe providing an exhilarating perspective on the ancient treetops and wildlife.
The 160m long and 70m high Suspension Bridge is accessible as part of a guided tour along the Igishigishigi trail.
The Canopy Walkway is accessed from the Igishigishigi trail, one of the many hiking trails in Nyungwe Forest National Park. The Canopy Walk tour involves hiking along the Igishigishigi trail 2.1km long, with the canopy walkway creating a sort of bridge or shortcut along this looping trail.
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Chimpanzee Trekking
Nyungwe Forest National Park is home to 25% of Africa’s total primate species including over 500 chimpanzees making it a popular destination for chimpanzee trekking, Nyungwe Forest’s chimpanzee population is only second to that of Uganda’s Kibale Forest National Park.
Chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe Forest offer visitors a chance to visit one of the habituation chimpanzee families open for tourism all year, the habituated chimpanzee groups in Nyungwe has over 60 habituated chimpanzee communities and Cyamudongo woodland, which has approximately 30 habituated chimpanzee communities.
Chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe Forest National Park begins at 5:00 am, with briefing at the park headquarters. Nyungwe Forest is divided into three regions where chimpanzee trekking begins that is Kitabi, Gisakura and Uwinka. These regions serve as the park headquarters, during the briefing you are divided into groups of 8 people and assigned to different park ranger guides who will accompany them on chimpanzee trekking in the forest.
Trekking through the forests of Nyungwe Forest looking for chimpanzee take tourists between 2-6 hours depending on the movement of the chimpanzees and where they spent their previous night. Chimpanzees are known to move from one location to another, from one to tree to another as they look for food. Visitors are only permitted to spend one hour with the group of chimpanzees, you are permitted to take pictures as they leave their nests, feed and interact with each other.
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Birding
With over 322 different bird species, Nyungwe Forest National Park is one of the best birding sites in Rwanda. The park is one of the seven Important Birding Areas (IBAs) and is home to a vast array of woods and rare species, allowing avid bird watcher to experience one-in-a-lifetime encounters.
Bird species to lookout for during birding in Nyungwe Forest include Regal Sunbird, Spur-winged Goose, Red-throated Alethe, African Black Duck, Yellow-eyed Black Flycatcher, Great Blue Turaco, Yellow-billed Duck, Barred long-tailed cuckoo, White-tailed Flycatcher, Kungwe Apalis, Red-collared Babbler, Ruwenzori Apalis, Mountain sooty Boubou, Albertine Owlet, Neumann’s Warbler, Ruwenzori Batis, Handsome Francolin, Stripe-breasted Tit, Shelley’s Crimson wing, Ruwenzori Nightjar, Dusky Crimson Wing and Archer’s Robin-chat among others.
There are several trails in Nyungwe Forest upon which you can hike to see the birds, the more trails you hike the more birds you are likely to see. Due to the forested terrain of the park, it may be hard to easily find certain species.
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Hiking Expeditions
If you are fun of getting close to nature and find pleasure in hiking, Nyungwe Forest National Park is a great destination to visit. There are 13 different hiking trains running through the forest along which you can walk for 1 to 8 hours viewing a multitude of plant, tree, birds, primates and butterfly species of all shorts.
The Igishigishigi Trail is the shortest trail along which you can also find the canopy walk, another adrenaline charged experience. The longest trail at Nyungwe Forest National Park in the other hand is the Bigugu Trail upon which a hike can take up to 8 hours.
- Colobus Monkey Trekking
Nyungwe Forest is home to 13 primate species including the Rwenzori Colubus Monkeys, some of the endemic monkey species to the region. There are several trails running through the park used on this experience, a hike along one of the 13 hiking trails in Nyungwe offers you a chance to see several primates including Grey-Cheeked Mangabeys, L’Hoest Monkeys, Owl Faced Monkeys, Blue-Monkeys and Mona Monkeys among other.