Nyungwe Forest National Park: Budget Chimpanzee Trekking in Rwanda
Nyungwe Forest National Park is located in Rwanda offering Chimpanzee tracking tours to all travelers. Nyungwe Forest National Park Rwanda is your Best safari.
Nyungwe Forest National Park is located in the south west of Rwanda and consists of a thick reserved tropical green rain forest, a raised dense canopy and was founded as a National Park in 2004 due to its beautiful vast biodiversity that includes giant mahoganies, fauna, ebonies, tree ferns, orchids and other epiphytes on various branches.
There are many different species of birds that inhabit the forest and enjoy their habitat wholly due to their consistent movement from one destination to another in search for food, fruits, nuts, ants, insects etc. Reaching this destination requires one a 4-5 hours drive from Kigali along wandering roads where you can stop over at some points to visit tourist destinations like the Nyanza King’s palace and the National Museum of Rwanda.
The park’s location is suitable due to the fact that it gets more than 2000 mm of rain per year that helps in filling the the rivers like the Nile which flows along the the Eastern and western regions of Congo. Many different activities can be carried out at Nyungwe Forest National Park and these include Chimpanzee tracking, canopy walking, Birding, Golden Monkey tracking etc.
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Things To Do in Nyungwe Forest National Park Rwanda
Chimpanzee tracking
Chimpanzee tracking at Nyungwe Forest National Park is a very common activity taken on by tourists worldwide due to the unique exciting encounters and experiences it offers to them while on holiday vacation in Rwanda the country that is safe and very clean/ tidy 24/7.
The tracking process involves moving through thick forest vegetation to see/ spot the rare primates enjoying their habitat through eating leaves, resting in the branches of trees, playing and hunting etc. The tracking permit costs $90 per person and one can take all the time they want with the primates due to the fact that there is no limit.
These are not fully habituated hence are shy when approached by humans although are always curios and excited when approached by humans. In order to spot these primates very well, visitors are advised to visit Nyungwe forest National Park during the wet season since during this period there is plenty of food for them to feed which reduces their constant relocations from one destination to another like in the dry season.
Canopy Walks
Canopy walks at Nyungwe Forest National Park are an exceptional experience for every one to involve in while at Nyungwe National Park due to the fact that they will make you feel excited and the same time scared since you will be walking above very gigantic trees of the forest.
The canopy is raised very high up along the top of Nyungwe’s gigantic trees crossing from one side of the forest to another with a very sharp valley beneath with rocks that are usually struck by lightening when it is promising to rain. While transferring to the park every one should involve in this to taste the other side of nature that will leave them very satisfied and excited. Don’t miss out on this activity while in Rwanda.
Bird Watching
Birding watching in Rwanda occurs in a variety of places like Volcanoes National Park in the Albertine Rift an area with dense forest vegetation and mountains that inhabit more than 700 species i.e the shoe bill stork, rare acacia and papyrus species like the Red-faced Barbet, Bennett’s Woodpecker, Papyrus Gonolek, White-headed, Black and familiar Chats, Carruther’s and Tabora Cisticolas, White-winged and Broad-tailed, Warblers and Miombo Wren-Warblers, Handsome Francolin, Rwenzori Turaco, Mountain Sooty Boubou, Rwenzori Batis, Yellow-eyed Black Flycatcher, Archer’s Robin-chat, Rwenzori Hill Babbler, Grauer’s Rush, Neumann’s and Grauer’s Warbles, Masked Mountain Apalis, Stripe-breasted Tit and Strange Weaver, a full range of Rwenzori double-collared, purple-throated, blue-headed and regal Sunbirds.
The other bird species spotted here are the White-bellied robin-chat, Doherty’s and Lagden’s bush-shrikes, White-tailed Blue Flycatcher, Great Blue Turaco, Barred long-tailed cuckoo and White-bellied crested flycatcher. After sunset birds like the Rwenzori Nightjar and the Albertine Owl as well as the Congo Bay-owl can be seen. Around the Nyarutarama Lake near the Golf Course in Kigali you will spot the African Reed Warbler, Great Sedge Warbler, Winding Cisticola, Common Waxbill, Grey-backed Fiscal, Tropical Boubou, Red-rumped, Mosque swallows, African Spoonbill, Yellow-billed Stork, Great White Pelican, Common Moorhens, Grosbeak Weaver, Grey Heron, Yellow-backed (Black-headed) Weavers, and the Pied Kingfisher.
At Gisakura Guest house and the RDB Tourism & Conservation Campsite at Uwinka birds like the Red-throated Alethe, Archer’s Robin-chat, Kivu Ground Thrush, Collared Apalis, and Shelley’s and Dusky Crimsonwing can be spotted as well as the White-bellied robin-chat, Doherty’s and Lagden’s bush-shrikes, White-tailed Blue Flycatcher, Great Blue Turaco, Barred long-tailed cuckoo and White-bellied crested flycatcher. At night you will spot the Rwenzori Nightjar, Albertine Owlet as well as the Congo Bay-owl.
Monkey Tracking
Nyungwe Forest National park also offers remarkable Monkey Tracking Adventures as travelers interested can transfer from one part of the forest to another searching and watching the various Monkeys types. These inhabit the forest vegetation making tracking them an exceptional experience.
You will spot them jump and play within the trees in groups of 8 and the monkeys you will spot include; l’hoest monkeys, colobus monkeys, red tailed monkeys, velvet monkeys etc.