Rwanda · East Africa
Nyungwe Forest.
Nyungwe is one of the oldest montane rainforests in Africa and Rwanda's chimpanzee and canopy-walk destination.
It is a genuinely different habitat from the volcanoes — dense, ancient and enormously rich in birds and primates, with thirteen primate species including chimpanzee and large troops of Angolan colobus.
The canopy walkway is the best-known activity, and the forest is increasingly paired with the gorillas as a second half rather than a footnote.
How do you get to Nyungwe Forest?
By road from Kigali, a drive of five to six hours through the south of the country, or by scheduled flight to Kamembe airport near Rusizi on Lake Kivu, which is closer to the park's western side.
How big is Nyungwe National Park?
About 1,019 square kilometres of montane rainforest in south-west Rwanda, bordering Kibira National Park in Burundi. It became a national park in 2004 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023.
What is the Nyungwe canopy walkway?
A suspension walkway strung between the trees on the Igishigishigi trail, high above the forest floor over a steep valley. It gives a view of the forest canopy and its birds and monkeys that no ground-level trail can.
What primates live in Nyungwe?
Thirteen species, including chimpanzee, large troops of Angolan colobus, L'Hoest's monkey and grey-cheeked mangabey. Chimpanzee trekking is by permit, and the forest also has more than 300 bird species.
How long should you spend in Nyungwe?
Two or three nights, enough for a chimpanzee trek, the canopy walk and one of the longer trails. It is usually combined with the gorillas in Volcanoes National Park, often with a night on Lake Kivu between them.
What is there to see in Nyungwe Forest?
What does Nyungwe Forest pair well with?
- Volcanoes National ParkVolcanoes is the Rwandan side of the Virunga massif and the most accessible mountain gorilla trekking in the world.
- Kigali and Lake KivuKigali is the calmest capital in the region, and Lake Kivu gives Rwanda a genuine lakeside pause.
- Kibale and the crater lakes, UgandaKibale has the densest chimpanzee population in Africa, and the crater-lake country around it is some of the prettiest in Uganda.
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Elsewhere in Rwanda
- AkageraAkagera is Rwanda's savannah park in the east, restocked with lion and rhino and now a genuine Big Five destination.
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