We visited Nyungwe National Park on a day trip from Kamembe, but in retrospect, we really should have stayed longer. The forest is absolutely stunning – said to be one of the oldest rainforests in Africa and a true hotspot for biodiversity. It was the most beautiful forest we saw on our trip, with ancient, moss-covered trees, steep and rugged terrain, and several viewpoints overlooking the “broccoli-topped” hills and valleys.

The park is home to a remarkable variety of wildlife, including 13 different primate species. We only saw two – the Colobus and the L’Hoest’s monkeys – but even that was a treat.

This is definitely a park for those who enjoy being active. There are many things to do, such as chimpanzee and Colobus trekking. We didn’t try any of these since we had already done chimp trekking earlier on our trip. However, we met people who had, and while they described a long trek before finding the chimps, many said the Colobus trekking was very rewarding. You can also join a night walk. The ranger told us, that they are introducing gorillas in the park and that they will offer gorilla trekking in a few years.

There is an impressive network of trails – around 130 km in total – offering hikes of different lengths and difficulty levels. Keep in mind that the park lies between 1,600 and 2,900 meters above sea level, with the Visitor Center located at around 2,400 m.

From the Uwinka Visitor Center, they’ve …

Now that Rwanda appears to have confirmed that it intends to nominate Nyungwe Forest NP (possibly at the 2024 WHC? A decision is to be made by the Rwandan government some time this year. See here. ) it seems worth having a review of the T List site. As I am (currently) the only recorded visitor among this Web site’s “Community”, I guess the “honour” falls to me.

Our visit was a long time ago - Sept 2006. Nyungwe had only been made a National Park in 2005. Like most other travellers we visited Rwanda primarily for gorilla trekking (My diary notes that we each paid £227 for each of 2 treks per person. They were then priced in Rwandan Francs. Current cost is $1500, i.e £1140 per trek). As do todays visitors, we then had to decide what else to see in the Country. We chose a round trip from Kigali out to Nyungwe in the far south West and then up the Albertine Rift alongside (and on) Lake Kivu to Goma in DRC and Volcanoes NP for Gorilla trekking. We also had a final add on to the East of the country in Akagera NP on the frontier with Tanzania – this provides a more “classic” East African safari experience as, unlike Nyungwe’s forested mountains, it consists of open savannah and swamps.

The basic Kigali return round trip, taking in Nyungwe before continuing to Volcanoes NP, will provide a good picture of Rwanda. On the …