Nyungwe National Park is one of Rwanda's great natural treasures: more than a thousand square kilometres of ancient mountain rainforest, an ocean of green climbing the slopes of the country's south-west. It is one of the oldest and best-preserved Afromontane forests in Africa, a world of giant trees, ferns, orchids, bamboo and mist, where water springs up everywhere: rivers that feed both the Congo and the Nile basins rise here.
Its wildlife is its greatest treasure: thirteen primate species, including chimpanzees (which you can track on foot on an unforgettable trek) and the huge troops of Rwenzori black-and-white colobus, which can number in the hundreds. Add to that more than 300 bird species, many of them endemic to the Albertine Rift, and the famous Uwinka canopy walk, which crosses the void 70 metres above the treetops.
This guide takes a practical look at Nyungwe: how to go chimpanzee and colobus trekking, how to visit the canopy walk, which hikes and waterfalls to choose, how much the official permits cost, where to stay and how to get there. A forest for walking slowly, looking up and letting yourself be wrapped in one of the richest and most ancient ecosystems on the African continent.
Nyungwe is a mountain forest that survived the ice ages and sheltered countless species for tens of thousands of years, which explains its extremely high biodiversity and many endemic species. Inhabited and used by local communities for centuries, it was declared a forest reserve in the colonial era and upgraded to a national park in 2004 to halt deforestation. In 2023 UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site for its outstanding natural value. Today it is managed by the Rwanda Development Board and African Parks.
Read the full history ↓One of the oldest mountain forests in Africa: chimpanzees, dozens of primates, a suspended walkway through the treetops and a sea of tea plantations.
Read the history of The south-west and Nyungwe Forest →A local guide tells you in half an hour what no sign at the site will ever explain. We look ours up on Civitatis: guided in Spanish and booked online with no fuss. They have 7 activities in Kigali. And there are free tours here: you book without paying and tip the guide whatever you think at the end, so trying one costs you nothing. Have a look below: tap any of them to see them all.
They depart from Kigali, 111 km away. If you book from this link we earn a commission and you pay no more.
No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Nyungwe is an extremely old forest, one of the few in Africa that survived the great climate swings of the last ice age. Elsewhere on the continent, the rainforest shrank back during the cold, dry glacial periods. These mountains of the Albertine Rift stayed humid and warm enough for the forest to hold on. That is why scientists call it a Pleistocene 'refuge': an ark that kept species alive for tens of thousands of years.
That very long continuity explains its exceptional biodiversity and its very high number of endemic species. Nyungwe is home to more than 1,100 plant species, around 85 mammal species and over 300 bird species, many of them found only in the Albertine Rift. It also has a huge variety of amphibians, butterflies and orchids. Thirteen primate species, including chimpanzees and the colobus supertroops, live in its more than a thousand square kilometres of montane rainforest.
The forest also plays a vital role in the water cycle: rivers rise on its slopes that feed both the Congo basin and the Nile basin. Some expeditions have even identified one of Nyungwe's springs as one of the most remote sources of the Nile, the longest river in the world.
For centuries, Nyungwe forest marked the south-western edge of the Kingdom of Rwanda and of the lands of its neighbouring peoples. The farming and herding communities living on its edges used it in traditional ways. They gathered medicinal plants, honey, wood and bamboo, hunted, and cleared small patches of land. The Batwa, hunter-gatherers considered the region's first inhabitants, had an especially close bond with the forest.
The forest was also a place of refuge, ritual and legend. Its name and the names of places within it, such as Kamiranzovu, 'the one that swallows elephants', recall a time when herds of forest elephants and other large animals lived here. Hunting and human pressure have since wiped them out of the area.
Over time, population growth in Rwanda, one of the most densely populated countries in Africa, ate away at the forest's edges. Farming, logging, fires and small-scale mining shrank its area. The process sped up in the 20th century and threatened to break this unique ecosystem into fragments.
Formal protection of Nyungwe began in the colonial era. In 1933, under Belgian administration, the forest was declared a forest reserve, a first attempt to curb its exploitation. Even so, the reserve lost a great deal of forest during much of the 20th century. The chaos surrounding the 1994 genocide and its aftermath added to the pressure on the area, with fires and land occupation.
In the early 21st century, post-war Rwanda made nature tourism and conservation a driver of development. In 2004 the government made Nyungwe a National Park, covering some 1,019 km². It also backed professional management, anti-poaching work and the restoration of degraded areas. Chimpanzee communities were habituated to visitors and tourist facilities were built, which turned the park into a top-tier destination.
In 2010 the spectacular Uwinka canopy walk opened, the first of its kind in East Africa, letting visitors walk 70 metres above the treetops. In 2020 the Rwanda Development Board signed an agreement with the NGO African Parks to manage the park over the long term, strengthening its protection and sustainable development.
International recognition came in September 2023, when UNESCO added Nyungwe National Park to the World Heritage List for its outstanding natural value. It is one of Africa's oldest and most biodiverse montane forests, home to threatened species. It is also a key conservation site in the Albertine Rift, one of the most species-rich places on the continent.
Today Nyungwe combines conservation with high-value, low-impact tourism, the model Rwanda has chosen. Chimpanzee trekking, the canopy walk, colobus walks, waterfalls and birdwatching draw travellers from all over the world. The income is reinvested in protecting the forest and in developing neighbouring communities. Many of those communities grow tea on the edges of the park, as in Gisakura.
The big challenge is still balancing Rwanda's huge population pressure with protecting this natural treasure. Nyungwe's recent history, from threatened reserve to national park and World Heritage Site, also stands for Rwanda's commitment to nature as part of its rebuilding and its future.
