Trekking the mountain gorillas in their natural habitat is unforgettable and on top of all wildlife experiences awaiting visitors to Rwanda.
Wildlife enthusiasts however, will be amazed at the variety of 151 species to be found in Rwanda and the country’s superb modern infrastructure makes it easy for visitors to hire a car on a safari access and explore its rich wildlife national parks.
In fact, visitors with so much interest will be helped deciding which part of Rwanda to go to first. We recommend a few places where particular wildlife species can be spotted inspiring you to visit the land of a thousand hills.
Volcanoes National Park characterizes the beautiful landscape of 3 its dormant volcanoes which form Rwanda’s section of Virunga mountain ranges.
Volcanoes National Park enjoys a tourist friendly tropical climate due to its tropical forests, large bamboo belts and afro-alpine vegetation. This wide variety of wildlife habitats are home to 39 mammals and 178 species of birds providing opportunities for wildlife viewing including adventures like golden monkey tacking and bird watching.
The joy of visiting volcanoes national park however, is to go for gorilla trekking in the morning, spend one hour with gorillas on a guided trek followed by an afternoon Rwandan traditional cultural experience at Iby’Iwacu cultural village.
Visitors can also look forward to book hiking excursions and trails offer truly breathtaking glance of swamp craters, Virunga massifs and Albertine rift valley. There are three volcanoes, Mt. Bisoke, Mt. Sabinyo and Mt. Karisimbi, the highest peak at 4,507 meters above sea level.
No other place in Rwanda offers such a bounty of big mammal viewing opportunity as Akagera National park. You never take more than 2 hours drive from kigali city to Kiyonza, the only entrance gate to the park.
In the past black rhinos and lions were abundant in the park but later poached to extinction. Akagera’s big five status is being restored by joint partnership of African parks and Rwandan development board.
Even though rhinos are under way to be brought back, more than 20 lions now roam the park’s pristine habitats as well as resident mammals such as elephants, buffalo, zebras, giraffes, 15 species of antelopes, spotted hyena, leopard making wildlife viewing a favorite activity for visitors like it used to be in the past. There are 500 species of birds including the most sought after shoebill stork, papyrus goneclock and the african fish eagle.
Akagera has diverse habitats that make it special place to visit. On the eastern side is the meandering Akagera River from which the park was named. Down the center are several swamp fringed lakes with Lake Ihema being the largest protected wetland amidst rolling savannah plains make Akagera one of the most picturesque parks to go for wildlife and nature photo safari.
visitors can do a lot of activities such as game drives for wildlife viewing, boat trips and sport fishing, nature walks as well as bird watching.
The untouched beautiful tropical rainforests- a real gem of nature in Rwanda.
In many African countries overexploitation of natural resources has led to devastation of natural forest habitats. Fortunately, many of Rwanda’s ancient equatorial rain forests have been preserved and today around 20 % of the country’s forests are protected.
Nyungwe forest national park in south east is one of the ancient afro-montane rainforests that visitors can explore at several locations while on a safari. One of these is the Uwinka tourist center, which is 3 hours drive from Kigali city and 1 hour drive from Lake Kivu.
Uwinka has a network of nature walks and hiking trails from which tourists can explore the forest to discover its diverse wildlife. There’s a population of about 500 chimpanzees. Strong and fit visitors willing to brave the jungle will undertake chimpanzee tracking and be rewarded to see how man’s closet cousins feed and groom each other.
Native to the park are the 13 species of primates. Swinging through the tree tops, are the black and white colobus monkeys in a troop of 400 which are rare to see in any other part of east Africa. On a nature walk, look out for other primates such as the L’Hoest monkey, owl-faced monkey; grey cheeked mangabay, red tailed monkey, blue monkey, and nocturnal species like bush baby as well as several species of squirrels.
What could be more delightful than an aerial view of the Nyungwe forest while you’re on a canopy walk? A better way is to book a canopy walk tour.
Walking between 60 to 90 meters above the forest ground on suspended bridges is fantastic way to spot primates sunning themselves in canopies as well as view butterflies and birds collecting nectar from flowers giant orchids. There are also chances to spot reptiles like lizards and many insects as well as bats in tree trunks.
A delight definitely not be missed is bird watching. At least 280 species of birds are recorded. From the common species like bee-eaters, tinker birds, kingfishers to the Albertine rift endemics like Archer’s robin chat, strange weaver and warblers, Nyungwe is an Important Birding Area
There are trails to the interior of the forest where intriguing views of waterfalls such as Kamiranzovu are refreshing.
Whichever way visitors choose, Nyungwe forest offers endless opportunities for viewing wildlife as well as cultural encounters. Few luxury lodges are available in the park. However, on the edge of the park are several camping sites and cultural villages such as Banda and Katabi provide overnight home stay accommodation as well as local foods, hand-crafts; Rwandan dance, music and drams compliment nature while channeling money into the rural communities living around the park.
Recently Rwanda turned Giswati-Mukura forest reserve into a national park. Giswati, covering an area of 3,427 hectares including 992 hectares of buffer zone forest reserve is located in northwest of Rwanda near Lake Kivu and Volcanoes National Park.
Rwanda now has a total of 4 national parks which has created more opportunities for wildlife viewing as well as local tourism development. With investment in tourist accommodation as well organizing safaris and tours, the forest is home to primates such as black and white colobus monkey, L’Hoest monkey, baboons, blue monkey and scattered population of eastern chimpanzee. Others mammals that have been spotted include red river hog, tree hyrax, duiker, bushbucks.