Safari to Nyungwe

a high-altitude not-so-very-sweaty tropical forest

At 1020 square kilometres and rising to 2950m above sea level, Nyungwe Forest National Park is a substantial and very important conservation area.

Located in the remote southwest corner of Rwanda, Nyungwe is a wonderful mountainous area covered by virgin rainforest and impenetrable valleys, the source of the Nile and home to a vast range of wildlife, notably including chimpanzees.

The area contains probably the best preserved montane rainforest in Central Africa, as well as associated bamboo forests, grasslands, swamps and bogs. The forest has a magical Lord of the Rings atmosphere, with towering mahogany, ebony and fern trees, draped in orchids and epiphytes, with brightly coloured birds and butterflies at every turn.

The bio-diversity and endemism here is spectacular. Perhaps most impressive is the fact that thirteen different primates are represented.

Amongst these is a population of around 400 chimpanzees, two troups of which are habituated to human contact. It is encounters with these chimps which draws most visitors to the area.

The forest also hosts black and white colobus monkeys, also known as the Ruwenzori colobus. One of the semi-habituated troops has over 200 individuals, making it probably the best location in Africa for seeing these beautiful creatures.

Nyungwe Forest National Park was established in 2004, but remains very little-visited, despite the fact that it combines very well with the much more popular mountain gorilla areas of Virunga Mountains.

It is perhaps worth mentioning that everyone we have encountered in this area is so extremely positive about tourism and it appears that all the money generated goes back into conservation. So it would be great to see the present trickle of visitors grow over the next few years.

The Nyungwe area tends to feature relatively rarely in trips, with the vast majority of visitors satisfying their primate urge with the gorillas of the Virunga Mountains. In truth, the chimpanzee experience is very different and touring around the country is a delight.

The usual stay duration is 3-4 nights.

Seasonality

The best time of year to visit the Nyungwe Forest is during the May-Sep and Dec-Feb winter dry seasons, when the lower rainfall should make trekking conditions easier.

The climate in Nyungwe follows the same basic pattern as most other reserves in East Africa, but with the high altitudes ensuring greater rainfall and lower temperatures year round.

Temperatures during the day average around 20C/68F year round, dropping to around 10C/50F at night, so at least a good jacket is likely to be needed.

Getting around

Considering the small size of Rwanda, getting around is surprisingly difficult. The main problem is that there are no scheduled light aircraft services between the key locations, meaning that connections almost always have to be done by private road transfers. There are options to travel by helicopter instead, but this can get very expensive.

Nyungwe lies in the extreme southwest corner of the country, as far as it is possible to get from the other key locations of Virunga Mountains (northwest) and Akagera (northeast). The capital Kigali lies in the middle.

The area is almost always combined with the mountain gorilla areas of Virunga Mountains, from where it is a road journey of either one long day or two shorter days with an overnight in the Lake Kivu area. The drive back to Kigali is about a half day, with options to break the journey at the important Genocide Museum in Butare. The drive to Akagera is largely on the same route, but takes a full day. These are all interesting drives through scenic terrain and, for the most part, the roads are pretty good.

We always include all connecting transport in your trip unless you specifically ask us not to.

Where to stay

There is only one high quality accommodation option in this area, the upmarket and pricey Nyungwe House.

After that the quality falls away dramatically, with the locally owned Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel coming in a distant second.

For lower cost options we have to look to the very basic ORTPN Resthouse (Gisakura Guesthouse), which is perhaps best suited to budget backpackers and is difficult for us to recommend with confidence.

We expect that any new lodge developments will be at the very top end of the market, since Rwanda has very little capacity and is therefore obliged to follow a high-cost low-volume approach to tourism if it is to fulfil its conservation ambitions.

a long but scenic drive to connect with the gorilla areas