Nyungwe national park is known for its ultimate primate safaris because it is a home to over 1000 chimpanzees and a number of monkey species. However, there are other activities that can be carried out in the park making it the ultimate tourism destination and it is also among the top10 tourist destinations in east Africa that should not be missed out on visiting because of a number of reasons. For any tourist interested in visiting Nyungwe national park, here is a travel guide they should follow to have an amazing time in Rwanda.
ACTIVITIES TO DO IN NYUNGWE NATIONAL PARK
Chimpanzee trekking
Chimpanzee trekking is one of the most rewarding activities in volcanoes national park that tourists can participate in for rewarding experiences during their Rwanda Safaris. The park is a home to over 1000 chimpanzees where you can find two habituated chimpanzee troops for tourists to participate in chimpanzee trekking. Tourists can track the habituated chimpanzee troops where one is found in Cyamudongo forest of the park and the other habituated troop in Nyungwe forest where you will get to spend one hour with the habituated chimpanzee troop.
Spending time with the chimpanzee will ensure that you have an amazing time during the activity while you get to understand more about the chimpanzees by observing their behaviour for instance their feeding patterns you will get to see how they feed on fruits, they can also be seen eating small insects like caterpillars, termites, edible leaves, you will also get the opportunity to see their grooming patterns, how the adults in each troop grooming the young ones this will offer rewarding experiences. Because you will also get to see a number of other attractions like the different primate species like the vervet monkey, mona monkey, black and white colobus monkey, silver monkey, Dent’s Monkey, bird species like Chapin’s flycatcher, Rwenzori Batis, strange weaver, red throated alethe, the blue turaco, Ross’s turaco for rewarding experiences.
Birding
Nyungwe national park is characterised by a number of trees which form the Nyungwe Forest which makes Nyungwe Forest the ideal birders destination because of the fact that the park is a home to 400 bird species and tourists will get to see over 100 species daily when they visit the park and participate in birding in the park. It should be noted that in the park, you will get to see 25 Albertine rift endemic species, 11 species of the Congo Biome among other bird species. For a tourist interested in birding in volcanoes National Park, you will get to see different bird species like; Rockefellers’ sun bird, Chapin’s flycatcher, Rwenzori Batis, strange weaver, red throated alethe, the blue turaco, Ross’s turaco, coqui Francolin, long tailed cisticola, bubbling cisticola, Miombo wren warbler, Chubb’s cisticola among other the bird species which will make the activity quite memorable these can be seen during the hikes along the different trails in the park like the igishigishigi trail, Irebero trail and the Karamba birding trail for amazing experiences in the park.
HIKING
Another interesting activity in Nyungwe National Park is hiking the different trails in order to see a number of rewarding views and attractions in the park. There are a number of trails hidden within the dense vegetation in the park that tourists can hike for rewarding experiences in the park. Some of the rewarding trails in the park include; Bigugu trail which can lead you to different attractions like the bush bucks, olive baboons, chimpanzees, vervet monkey, olive baboon, dent’s monkey, red tailed monkeys, you will also get to see the exceptional views lake kivu among other attractions.
Other trails include the karamba birding trail where you will see a number of bird species like long tailed cisticola, bubbling cisticola, Miombo wren warbler, Chubb’s cisticola, Kamiranzovu trail which will lead you to the Kamiranzovu swamp where a number of elephants drowned, you will also get to see a number of water birds along the trail like; African King fisher red faced barbet, sooty falcon, Cabanis; bunting, crested barbet, slate-coloured boubou, souza’s shrike, striped pipit denham’s bustard among other attractions in the park.
Other trails in the park include; Muzimu trail, Ngabwe trail, Umugote trail, igishigishigi trail where you will get to see the canopy walk way where you will get to see a number of primate species in the park, numerous bird species among other attractions for memorable Rwanda safaris.
Cultural encounters
Cultural encounters are other interesting activities in Nyungwe national park that you can engage in for memorable Rwanda Safaris. There are two villages that tourists can choose to visit namely Kitabi village and the Banda Cultural village which tourists can visit for memorable safaris in Nyungwe National Park. at the villages, you will be taught more about the culture of the Rwandans through crafts whereby tourists will be taught how to make crafts like jewellery, baskets, table mats, door mats, you will be taught how to make local dishes, you will also be entertained with a number of folk songs, plays among other interesting features.
BEST TIME TO VISIT NYUNGWE NATIONAL PARK
While planning for your trip to Rwanda, you should always consider the activities you’re going to participate and the best time to participate in them. This is because of the need to have a smooth Rwanda tour without any inconvenience from the weather conditions in the time of travel.
Rwanda is characterised by two seasons the dry and wet seasons whereby the wet season is characterised by the two wet seasons these are from the months of Mid February to the month of mid May the second wet season is from the month of mid September to the month of December. The dry seasons are from the months of June to the month mid September and from December to February which will either influence or favour your participation in the different activities in Nyungwe National Park.
The best time to visit Nyungwe National Park is dependent on the activities you want to participate in. For anyone interested in carrying out chimpanzee trekking, they should visit the park during the dry season in order to ease your movement in the park. During the dry season, the hiking trails in Nyungwe national park are easy to climb as compared to the wet season when they tend to be slippery.
However, during the rainy season food is readily available for the primate, this makes their movements limited compared to the dry season when they have to move from one place to another looking for food. Therefore, the rainy season is a perfect time for a tourist to participate Nyungwe National park for chimpanzee trekking because the primates will be easily located.
Birding in Rwanda is one of the fastest growing tourism activities in the country that has attracted tourists from the different countries across the world because Rwanda has over 1000 bird species that can be seen in different destinations and among the different destinations. Nyungwe National park stands out because it is the ideal birder’s paradise with over 300 bird species that can seen when you participate in the rewarding activity.
Birding in Nyungwe National park should be carried out during the short rains from mid September to December when the forest is full of life, availability of food, when plants have flowered which is the source of food to the bird and for this you will be able to see a number of bird species.
There are a number of activities that can be carried out in the park for you to have an amazing experience during your wildlife safaris in Nyungwe National park. The best time to visit Nyungwe National Park is all year through out because the different activities can be carried out in the different weather seasons. Therefore the best time is dependent on what the tourist is going to do in the park.
For tourists from outside countries, they should have the necessary travel documents to access Rwanda and failure for having the documents, they will not be allowed to enter the country. Therefore you should read the Rwanda visa and entry requirements in order for you to have the opportunity of accessing the park.
