Nyungwe forest national park is located in the Southwestern region of Rwanda and it is considered the smallest national park in the country compared to all the parks covering a total surface area of about 300 square kilometers. Hence, Nyungwe National park was established as a national park in 2004 and it shares boarders with other countries like; the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. Most tourists on their safari in Rwanda find it easy to visit the Park because it is situated just about 50 kilometers from the Kigali, which is famously known as the capital city of Rwanda. More so, this National park stands at an elevated area between 160meters to 2950 meters above the sea level.
Nyungwe National park is ranked to be among the best destinations one could ever choose to visit while planning to go on an adventurous safari in Rwanda because it has many attractions, which lead to large numbers of people to travel from all over different parts of the world hence improving on the tourism industry of the country. This National park is surrounded by swamps, bamboo forests, savannah grasslands, and montane forests, which act as good natural habitats to large numbers of wildlife species. therefore, tourists exploring within this National park are always blessed with great opportunities to have a successful adventurous tour due to the fact that they get chances to sight see at many wildlife species because it is a home to over 75 mammal species such as; leopards, bush bucks, elephants among others, 15 reptiles, 12 amphibian species, 120 butterflies, 1068 plant species, 140 orchids, and 13 primate species such as; white and black colobus monkeys, chimpanzees, golden monkeys and many others. However, there are many more attractions within this park that tourists can get to see like; it harbours around 300 bird species such as; white tailed blue flycatcher, purple-breasted sunbirds, Rwenzori Turaco and many others.
Things to do in Nyungwe National park.
Canopy Walk.
The Canopy walkway is one of the interesting activities to do while exploring through Nyugwe National park and therefore, this Nyungwe forest canopy walkway always begins from the Visitors center which is found in Uwinka and it takes about 2 good hours of viewing the points along the walkways whereby the capture scenic views of the forest, and overlook at different primate species, beautiful bird species and many others. This canopy walkway has different has different trails that tourists can be able to use however, it is noted that each of them is named according to the type of the tree species that are found within there such as; the Igishigishigi trail which means fern trees and is considered to be the main hiking trail in Nyungwe forest, the Karamba trail, the Umugote trail, the Umuvoye trail which means Mahogany trees, the Isumo trail. More so, the Canopy walkway is divided into three walking sections whereby the longest stretch is about 90 meters, another stretch is about 45 meters, and lastly the shortest stretch is about 25 meters.
Monkey Trekking.
Nyungwe national park is a good destination for monkey trekking activities after the chimpanzee trekking because is a home to over 300 monkey species. More so, monkey trekking activities is an exceptional activity whereby tourists enjoy spending time with monkey species, which happen to be playful species that are lively primate species, which usually jump from one tree to another. Therefore, Nyungwe National park has primate species like; black and white colobus monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, blue monkeys, l’hoest monkeys, vervet monkeys and many others.
Chimpanzee Trekking.
Chimpanzee trekking is the most popular activity that attracts many tourists withinNyungwe forest national park. In addition, during this activity, tourist tend to move into the forests to trek the chimpanzees within their natural habitats. More so, chimpanzee trekking always begins from the reception centre which is known as; Uwinka, Kitabi, Gisakura where they are encouraged to arrive at 5:00am and they are always given short briefings where they are always told about the rules and regulations to follow during the trekking and they are later being put in groups with a maximum number of 8 people depending on which habituated gorilla group they are going to trek and this national park is a home to over 60 habituated gorillas groups that are always available to be trekked.
More so, chimpanzee trekking within Nyungwe National park always goes for about 2 to 3 hours or longer depending on where the chimpanzee are located and after the species have been tracked in their natural habitats, tourists are always given about one hour to spend with the species and during this period of time, individuals always get to chances to learn and observe the chimpanzees behaviours and characters such as; how they play up in the trees, watch how they feed and breast feed their young ones and during this time, individuals usually use their phones and cameras to record videos and take pictures of the species however, they are always encouraged to disable the use of the flashlights in order to avoid any harm.
More so, apart from the mentioned above, there are many more other interesting activities that tourists can engage in while exploring in the park such as; guided nature walks, hiking, bird watching, Gisakura tea plantation tour and many others.
Therefore, feel free to contact our trusted tour operators in case of any more information about activities done in Nyungwe National park and Book with our tours and travel companies who offer the best tour packages while on your safari in Rwanda.
