Rwanda

Nyungwe National Park

WHS Score 2.76
rate
Votes 6 Average 3.42
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Votes for Nyungwe National Park

2.5

  • Philipp Leu

3.0

  • GZ
  • Szucs Tamas

4.0

  • Kurt Lauer
  • Solivagant
  • Zoë Sheng

Nyungwe National Park comprises three areas that are exceptionally rich in flora and fauna, notably vascular plants and primates.

The main vegetation consists of montane rainforest, but bamboo forests, savannas and high-altitude swamps are also found here. Almost 1,500 vascular plant species have been recorded. Primates include Chimpanzee, Angolan Colobus, L’Hoest’s Monkey, Blue Monkey, Owl-faced Monkey, and Golden Monkey. The three locations are separated by tea plantations and settlements.

Community Perspective: Solivagant is the only one who has reported on a visit so far. In 2006 he came to Nyungwe’s forested mountains mainly to see primates (the significant bird numbers are much harder to find). The Colobus were of special interest…

Site Info

Official Information
Full Name
Nyungwe National Park (ID: 1697)
Country
Rwanda
Status
Inscribed 2023 Site history
History of Nyungwe National Park
2023: Advisory Body overruled
IUCN had advised Referral because of lack of an up-to-date management plan
2023: Inscribed
Inscribed
WHS Type
Natural
Criteria
  • x
Links
UNESCO
whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
Related Resources

Community Information

  • Community Category
  • Wildlife habitat: Fauna
  • Secular structure: Factories and industry
Travel Information
No travel information
Recent Connections
View all (14) .
Connections of Nyungwe National Park
Ecology
  • Rainforests
    "The nominated component part of Nyungwe Natural Forest consists of montane rainforests" (AB ev)
  • Over 300 bird species
    351 (AB ev)
  • Peat
    "the Kamiranzovu swamp with nearly 1,300 ha of peat bog. This is reported to be the largest peat bog in Africa preserving pollen archives of at least 200,000 to 300,000 years." (AB ev)
  • Chimpanzee habitat
    "Chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, EN, ... are habituated and serve as tourist attractions." (AB ev)
  • Critically endangered fauna species
    Upland Horseshoe Bat, (Rhinolophus hillorum, CR) (AB ev)
  • Notable for Bats
    Crit X: "The Critically Endangered Hills Horseshoe Bat is endemic to the nominated property."
  • Pangolin
    The endangered White-Bellied Pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis, EN)
World Heritage Process
Human Activity
WHS on Other Lists
News

No news.

Community Reviews

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First published: 02/04/22.

Solivagant

Nyungwe National Park

Nyungwe National Park (Inscribed)

Nyungwe National Park by Solivagant

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 …

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