Probably the best-preserved forest in Africa is Nyungwe Forest. According to some, it is Rwanda’s most significant biodiversity location. After all, it is home to more than 1000 different types of wildlife. The park offers stunning views of the Congo and the Virunga Mountains and boasts extraordinary and spectacular scenery. Nyungwe represents the pinnacle of nature. It is verdant and exquisitely green, frequently accompanied by refreshing mists in the early morning and late evening.
This comprehensive guide to visiting Nyungwe National Park will offer you valuable insights on what to anticipate and how to make the most of your primates encounter during your amazing journey through this enchanted park. Being one of the oldest and last remaining tracts of largely preserved montane rain forests in Africa, Nyungwe National Park is well known as Rwanda’s second most popular safari destination. With its striking biodiversity and unique features, the park offers visitors experiences that are truly exhilarating.
Nyungwe Forest National Park is a huge, unspoiled tropical rainforest with a dense, high canopy located in the southwest corner of Rwanda. In an effort to expand tourism outside the Volcanoes National Park, home to the country’s mountain gorillas, Nyungwe became a National Park in 2004. Given its amazing biodiversity, Nyungwe is unquestionably deserving of this designation.
Chimpanzee Trekking
Similar to gorilla trekking, chimpanzee trekking begins in the morning and is carried out in groups of no more than eight (8) persons. The chimps in Nyungwe Forest are habituated, or accustomed to humans, and they are still doing so. An enormous number of tourists visit the Nyungwe Forest National Park each year, hoping to get up close and personal with the closest living relative of humans—chimpanzees—and watch them play. Without having to travel far, the park is an excellent place to combine a chimpanzee trekking adventure with your gorilla trip in the Volcanoes National Park.
Colobus Monkey Tracking
Nyungwe Forest is home to 13 different kinds of primates, including the golden monkeys, which have been reported to be spotted there only very infrequently. Along with other species like the Ruwenzori colobus Monkey and the grey-cheeked Mangabey, Nyungwe Forest is also well-known for its abundance of colobus monkeys. Large groups of colobus monkeys, numbering up to 300, are also common sightings. Along the way, you could come across a few other monkeys as you follow these entertaining groups of colobus monkeys. The L’Hoest’s monkey, the Owl-faced monkeys, the Mona monkey, and the blue monkeys are a few such examples.
Nyungwe Forest Canopy Walk
This canopy walk is the third in all of Africa and the first in all of East Africa’s treetop forests. If your purpose for visiting Rwanda is to embark on a mountain gorilla hike, you can extend your stay by a few days, including a safari in Nyungwe Forest, and take advantage of the canopy walk. Some visitors may find the 50 metres above the ground on this canopy walk to be disorienting. You’ll witness the monkeys scuttling through the treetops, soaring birds overhead and below, and a breathtaking panorama of the vast Nyungwe forest. It’s a truly breathtaking sight. This 90-meter canopy trek is quite lengthy.
While Nyungwe is accessible year-round, the ideal time to visit Nyungwe National Park depends on the various activities available to tourists. For example, the most popular activity, chimpanzee trekking, is best done during the dry season when there are few to no raindrops and easy-to-follow hiking trails. Even during the wet season, though, because of the abundance of fruits in the forests, chimps are easier to find and trek during.