Primate Tracking in Nyungwe Forest National Park

Primate Tracking in Nyungwe Forest National Park

Primate Tracking in Nyungwe Forest National Park : Rwanda is famous for its gorillas in Volcanoes National Park, but the nation also has chimps and a variety of monkeys – colobus, golden, L’Hoest, owl faced, Dent’s, blue, and vervet – as well as olive baboons and the nocturnal potto and bush babies.

Chimpanzees may be found in the Nyungwe National Park and, to a lesser extent, in the Gishwati Forest. Chimpanzees are sociable creatures that live in large groups and wander about every day, searching for food and occasionally hunting smaller mammals. Each night, they construct new nests in the trees.

It is typical to hear chimps before seeing them, with their vocalizations echoing through the forest as they call to one other in a bonding rite.

Primate Tracking is the most popular activity in Nyungwe Forest National Park. There are about 1000 people in the national park, with approximately 60 habituated persons in Nyungwe forest alone and 30 habituated individuals in Cyamudongo forest, which is next to Nyungwe forest.

Primate Tracking in Rwanda’s Nyungwe forest national park begins early in the morning, at 5:30 a.m. and ends at 2 p.m. Visitors who want to undertake monkey tracking in Nyungwe National Park are first briefed by the park’s head ranger. Visitors are then divided into hiking groups of no more than six people.

The terrain, which passes through dense foliage, can be steep, slippery, and muddy. A certain degree of fitness is required, as well as appropriate footwear. Permits can be purchased online, in person at an RDB office, or through a tour operator.

Colobus monkeys constitute a distinct super group in Nyungwe forest and are easily identified by their black and white colouring and long hair – a wildlife photographer’s delight. In Nyungwe, you may also see owl-faced monkeys with beak-like noses, Dent’s monkeys, blue monkeys, and vervets.

L’Hoest monkeys are located in Nyungwe and Gishwati Forests and are unique to the Albertine Rift. They have a black coat and a white beard, and they dwell in tiny groups controlled by females with a single male.

When going primate tracking , tourists should have a packed lunch and drinking water to keep them energised during the trip. Following a lecture on the regulations and expectations for chimp trekking, guests are divided into groups of eight and then meet the park guides as they proceed into the forest for trekking. Primate tracking can take between 2 and 6 hours, depending on the position of the chimps, as they tend to wander from one site to another in quest of food.

Visitors spend one hour with the chimp families in their natural environment, documenting the moments, taking photographs, watching the chimps play with each other in the trees, watching them feed, mothers breastfeeding and nursing young ones, and so on.

Primate tracking in Rwanda is an exciting activity because chimps are joyful, lively, noisy, mobile, and playful in comparison to mountain gorillas, which are peaceful. On your chimp trekking adventure, you will see chimps playing and jumping up in the trees, moving long distances in search of food, fighting with each other, and many other things.

During your primate tracking safari in Nyungwe forest national park, you will be able to see a variety of primates such as chimpanzees, l’Hoest monkeys, vervet monkeys, red tailed monkeys, Rwenzori black and white colobus and various bird species such as yellow eyed black flycatcher, Rwenzori batis, Rwenzori apalis, purple breasted sunbird and others, making your chimp trekking safari enjoyable and rewarding.

How to Book for Primate Tracking in Nyungwe Forest National Park.

A primate tracking permit in Nyungwe Forest National Park may be obtained directly from the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), a tourist organisation in Rwanda, by contacting them by email or phone calls. A primate tracking permit in Nyungwe Forest National Park may also be obtained by contacting a reputable tour operator like Explore Rwanda Tours, who will book the permit on your behalf. Contacting us is the best choice since we will spare you the trouble of booking a chimp trekking permit.

When you use a trusted tour operator company like Explore Rwanda Tours, you will contact us with the dates, month, and year you want to trek the chimps, and we will check the availability of the permits. Once they are available, you will be asked to make a deposit on the chimp trekking permit and send scanned passport details that will be used to obtain a permit. We will acquire a chimp trekking permit for you and give you scanned copies of the permit as confirmation once the funds have been received.

A chimp trekking permit in Nyungwe Forest National Park, on the other hand, should be obtained well in advance of the trekking date to prevent disappointment, since they are limited and competitive, and so sell out rapidly.

Best Time for Primate Tracking in Nyungwe Forest National Park.

Primate Tracking in Nyungwe Forest National Park is possible at any time of year, but the ideal time is during the wet/rainy season, also known as the low season, which runs from March to May and October to November. The rainy season is good for chimpanzee trekking because there will be enough of fruits and food for the chimps, limiting their movements and allowing them to be readily discovered during trekking. The wet season is also ideal for bird watching in Nyungwe forest national park.

During the dry season, also known as the peak season, which lasts from June to September and December to February, there is less rainfall in the forest, which causes chimps to go deeper into the forest in search of food, making trekking more difficult. The dry season, on the other hand, is ideal for canopy and wildlife hikes in Nyungwe Forest National Park.