Chimpanzee trekking in Rwanda
Chimpanzee trekking in Rwanda is only carried out in one national park which is well known as Nyungwe-forest national park. Chimpanzee trekking is one of the most popular primate trekked in Rwanda basing on Rwanda safari. The Nyungwe national park is located about 5-6hours drive from Kigali city, in south west of Rwanda as a country. The park is well known for its 13 primate’s species and including a big population of chimpanzees- man’s closest relatives.
It is said that there are more than 500 chimps protected in nyungwe national park thus offering one of the best chances to see chimps in their natural homes. Other chimps in Rwanda are found in the Gishwati.
– Mukura National park but there is no chimpanzee trekking done there at the moment. The all journey of chimpanzee trekking starts from mainly three gates of nyungwe- forest national park which include; kitabu, uwinka( the main entrance) Gisakura where the tourists the tourists can meet the park rangers as early as 4:30 am in the morning for briefing about the chimpanzee tracking on want is needed to carry out the tracking.
Tourists are given one hour to spend with the chimpanzee and another extra time to observe the chimpanzee and come close to the nature environment of nyungwe- forest national park. And this makes the tourist to discover more about the chimpanzee and believe on its DNA being 99% of human being.
The chimpanzees make new home (nest) in different places every day. They don’t have the permanent homes in the forest. The chimps make new homes on where they have finished their day and decide to have a rest anyway since they move so fast.
Some of the tips to know if one is interested in going for the chimpanzee trekking in Rwanda as these are as follows;
- One should be over 16 years of age and above
- You should have the hiking shoes or boots, pants, long sleeved shirts and can also rain coats and jacket.
- You must also carry at least two liters of drinking water and some snacks since tracking take a day to finish.
When it comes to accommodations, Rwanda and Nyungwe- forest national park offers some of the best facilities accommodation ranging from budget, mid-range and luxury accommodations which include Gisakura Guest house, Nyungwe top view hill hotel, Nyungwe forest lodge, inzozi beach hotel and many others.
Beside Rwanda, chimpanzee trekking can also be done in various parts of east Africa mention kibale forest national park. Kahuze in Congo, budongo forest and kyambura Gorge all in Uganda and mahale mountain national park in Tanzania.
How to get there
The chimpanzee group found near uwinka reception can be visited and need a park guide, whom you must pick at around 4:30 am. The group is quite difficult to trek than other groups and this reception has over 40 individual in the group.
The same as the other group of cyamudongo the fragmented forest from Nyungwe forest – national park. The group here is the most advisable group to trek as they are habituated. The chimpanzee trekking in nyungwe forest national park always starts at 4:30 and you take off from Gisakura reception center for and some few minutes. The client is in reception and bring him back at the end of the visit. To get to Cyamudongo forest, a 4×4 safari car is must because the road is not tarmacked. It is full of stones and if you are in a small car great cgance you have to get stuck.
Getting to nyungwe by road is the most commonly used type of transport by most travelers visiting the park.
Other activities in nyungwe- forest national park
Activities in nyungwe forest national park, are the venture in which travelers engage to spice up the safari as they adventure nature and wildlife. Nyungwe- forest national park is one of the old national parks that have protected golden monkeys in Rwanda and east Africa at large which is located in south-west of Rwanda and it’s a bout 5-6 hour drive from the city to the park.
There are many other activities in nyungwe- forest national park to attract many tourists from different parts of the world to come and see these activities which include; birdwatching, canopy walk, nature trail hiking, tropical waterfall, primates trekking and camping
Birdwatching
Birding is one of the activities in nyungwe-forest national park which is an untouched rainforest and is a home of over 300 bird species and surprisingly 29 of them are endemic in Albertine rift including; kungwe Apalis, Grauer’s warbler and shelley crimson wing. Professional birders require to have memorable checklist of birds while birding in this forest.
Canopy walk
The canopy walk which is part of the trail igishigishigi trail is a high suspension bridge with views over the valley and surrounding forest. This is the activity which is famous for domestic tourism and it’s the second dine by the tourists in Nyungwe- forest national park after chimpanzee trekking. It was established in 2010 for the purpose of boosting domestic and international tourism. The canopy walkway is a lifetime experience with a breathtaking view of the nyungwe forest view from the top. The activity of canopy walkway starts at around 8am and lasts at around 4pm.
Nature trail hiking
The hiking trail in the park takes about 4hours to 3 hour to hike. There are 13 kilometers of well-constructed hiking trails that are found in this park including Congo Nile divide as the longest one, imbaraga as the difficult one and igishigishigi train as the shortest one.
Tropical waterfalls
The visit to the tropical waterfall is one of the amazing activities in nyungwe national park. There are plenty of waterfall with in the nyungwe national park but most famous and biggest tropical waterfall found in the park.
Chimpanzee trekking
Nyungwe has a large population of chimpanzee and this is the moat done activity in the park compared to other activities in nyungwe national park. There is no season for chimpanzee trekking because it can be done thought the year.
