Nyungwe Forest National Park is found in the south western part of Rwanda in the southern province, the park is adjacent Lake Kivu and the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi on the borders in its south. The park is also located around Cyangugu town and is about 225km form Kigali and it’s a 4-5hours drive, the park can be reached via the road and by Air. Chimpanzee tracking is one of the best replacement or option that can be taken up by visitors who are on affordable tours in Rwanda and combine this with the visit to Akagera or Volcanoes National Park and much cultural sites in Rwanda.
Chimpanzee tracking is somehow different from gorilla tracking and this is because chimpanzees move on high speed jumping from tree to tree, as gorillas are somehow silent while in their groups, chimps are the opposite. They make noise from morning to evening and therefore they can be easily tracked hence limiting on the tracking time, these have got no limiting tracking time and this is one of the reasons as to why tourists prefer chimp tracking.
These are given the greatest attention within the park compared to the other primates within the park, tracking within the park starts from the available three reception centers of Kitabi, Gisakura and the Uwinka. Tourists meet here the guides or park rangers at around 4:30am and by 5am; the journey starts deeply into the forest. One of the best advantage with tracking chimps from Nyungwe forest national park is that the park’s trekkers wake up very early in the morning to search them and in turn they communicate with the guides who lead the groups, this is because they keep on nesting in different places every day.
Getting in touch with the chimps from Nyungwe is one of the best experience forever, this is because visitors are given one full hour of enjoying the human like features these primates exhibit, these makes them to have almost 98% DNA composition to those of a true human being. The way these chimps spend their lives indeed surprises every person who come to visit them in their natural territory.
Chimps in Nyungwe forest national park offers an extra doze to the trekkers since they move in large groups, over 60 individuals share the group and this is one of the habituated group in the park. This enables every person to enjoy the primates from every corner of the park, in the process of chimpanzee tracking, one cannot escape seeing the black faced vervet monkeys and other more nice to see primates.
Chimps always gets more excited where they look around and see the people surrounding them, this makes trekking a better activity for every person on the trek, visitors follow the established paths in searching for them. Chimpanzee tracking permits costs USD 100 and in Nyungwe forest national park, for every day, there are 64 permits available for the visitors per day and prior booking is preferred. Going for chimpanzee tracking is much more economical due to the cheap permits compared to the other largest apes that’s gorillas
Since these primates are more susceptible to human diseases like flue and any other transferable disease, visitors are required to first get vaccinations and also to declare any disease they have contracted before their trek. Trekking gadgets are also a requirement since the place is stormy and too cool most especially in wet seasons. In regards to accommodation, visitors may decide to take up camping and the lodges are also available including Nyungwe Forest Lodge, Gisakura Guest House and Nyungwe Top View Hotel.
