What Is Unique About Nyungwe National Park? Nyungwe national park is unique because it is considered one of the oldest rainforests in Africa and it is one of the game parks, which has been existence for several years since 1903 when the German colonial government announced this game park as a reserve, and a colonial crown land of the Nyungwe. This national park is located in the southwestern region of Rwanda sharing borders with Burundi, covering a total surface area of about 1,019 square kilometers.
Nyungwe forest national park was officially established during 2005 and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is under the management of Rwanda development board, which is known to be a government agency proagramme that is responsible for protecting and conserving all the national parks in the country. More so, this national park is situated within the district of Rusizi and this region is renowned to also be a home to Africa’s greatest river on the east side of the Nile and within the west side of Congo. Nyungwe national park lies within the western rift valley, which stretches from Lake Albert to the Lake Tanganyika.
Nyungwe national park is also famously known for its endemic of fauna and flora and there are about 1,068 plant species to see especially when walking through trails in the park. In addition, this game park is known to be a home to over 200 tree species, which also act as good habitats to the birds and other animals. Furthermore, Nyungwe national park is dominated and surrounded by stunning landscapes, which include; swamps, marshes, bamboo thickets, heath and many other open woodlands.
Wildlife in Nyungwe Forest national park.
Nyungwe forest national park is famously known and commonly visited because it is ranked as the only destination to visit in Rwanda when on your chimpanzee trekking safari because it hosts a large population of chimpanzees. However, it is noticed that there around two chimpanzee groups that are always available to trek and the first group is made of about 30 chimpanzees, which can be easily tracked within cyamudongo forest area whereby the larger group has around 60 chimpanzees. And apart from the chimpanzees, this national park is a home to over 1000 animal species, therefore tourists exploring within different areas of the park always get opportunities to sight see wildlife species like; duikers, golden cats, bush bucks, impalas, klipspringer, buffalos, elephants, bush pigs, giant forest hog, blotched serval, carnival genent, mongoose, black fronted duiker, western tree hyrax, felis, congo clawless, klipspringer and there over 85 mammal species to see and many others.
In Nyungwe, forest national park hosts around 13 primate species, which include; L’hoest monkeys that are endemic to the Albertine rift, black and white colobus monkeys among others. more so, this national park is considered to be a birders paradise because it harbours around 300 bird species which are always available for touirists to see, however bird lovers are encouraged to carry along binoculars in order to capture clear views of the beautiful birds.
Activities to do while in Nyungwe National park.
Nyungwe forest national park offers its visitors with unique activities, which they can engage in during their free time where they get to create remarkable memories and enjoy new experiences while on their safari. And some of these activities include; chimpanzee trekking which is considered to be the main activity commonly done within this game park, however the trekkers are always encouraged to purchase their trekking permits in advance that are charged at a cost of about $250 for the foreign nonresidents, $75 for foreign residents and the East African residents are required to pay a charge of about $25.
More so, tourists can opt to engage into other interesting activities like; guided nature walks and becomes more exciting because this game park has over 130 kilometer constructed trails where individuals can walk through as they enjoy and get close to the natural beauty and the fresh air whereby they are being accompanied with park guides whose role is lead them through and ensure that they are safe. Tourists can choose to go for bird watching, wildlife viewing, canopy walks, monkey tracking, waterfall hiking and camping among others.
Contact our trusted tour operators for more information about what is so unique and special about Nyungwe Forest national park and then book with our tours and travel companies such as; Explore Tours Rwanda who offer the best tour packages while on your safari in Rwanda.
