Community tours in Nyungwe forest national park
Community tours in Nyungwe forest national park give tourists an opportunity to mix and interact with local people that do live around the national park. The communities do live around the national park and this makes it easy for tourists to take a visit to these people and get to learn how these local people live their day to day life
A community visit around Nyungwe forest national park is what tourists normally do after successful park activities on their safaris. Some of the activities done before the community visits in Nyungwe forest national park include chimpanzee trekking, monkey trekking, birding, canopy walk, and nature walks among others.
The most visited community in Nyungwe forest national park is banda village which is situated in the heart of Nyungwe forest national park in the southwestern part of Rwanda. The village is one of the best to visit with smiling local people and traditional dancers. Tourists going to banda village will access it by road transport or hiking from Uwinka.
Nyungwe forest national park is also surrounded by different towns such as Cyangugu which is located at the edged of Lake Kivu in the south along Butare road. A visit to Cyangugu village gives you an opportunity to explore the largest city of Rusizi district of the western province of Rwanda. A visit to Cyangugu village gives tourists an opportunity to visit different shops and support them.
In Cyangugu town, you find the Mashesha hot springs which have boiling water oozing from the earth’s crust. A visit to Mashesha hot springs is done at a fee and the money collected from tourists is used by the local people to improve their area and their lives too. Tourists have a community visit to Cyangugu that can extend to lake kive where they can do any of the activities at the lake such as boat cruises, birding, or enjoying a cool breeze.
Tourists in Nyungwe forest national park can visit another village called Bisesero which is located around eth areas of Nyungwe. The village has a historical background of the Bisesero village genocide and the village is where the genocide memorial was constructed. other places to have community visits in Nyungwe forest national park include Rusizi district and Butare village. The most village visited in Rwanda is Ibyi’Iwacu cultural village and this is located around the areas of volcanoes national park which is famous for the gorilla tourism in Rwanda.
Activities to do community tours in Nyungwe forest national park
Chimpanzee trekking: This is another activity done in Nyungwe forest national park and it’s done on 2 fully habituated chimpanzee families that are in Nyungwe forest and Cyamudongo forest. The chimpanzee trekking activity in Nyungwe forest national park is done by tourists that have a valid chimpanzee trekking permit and are 15 ages and above. The activity starts with a briefing before trekkers are led by armed ranger guides into the jungle to search these apes. On meeting them 1 hour is given to trekkers to watch chimpanzees do daily activities as they learn about their habits at the same time taking photos.
Birding: Apart from community visits, birding is another activity in Nyungwe forest national park. It is a guided activity led by armed rangers and rangers who know about birds in the park. The rangers take birders to different birding spots and some of the birds commonly seen include grauer’s swamp warbler, dusky crimsonwing, regal sunbird, Albertine owlet, archer’s robin cat, buff-throated apalis, blue-headed sunbird, handsome spurfowl, Rwenzori apalis, yellow-eyed black flycatcher, dwarf honeyguide, handsome francolin, neumann’s warbler, purple-breasted sunbird, mountain masked apalis, Kivu ground thrush, red collared babbler, red-throated alethe, Rwenzori batis, yellow-eyed black flycatcher, red-faced woodland warbler, strange weaver, Rwenzori turaco, strip-breasted tit, and shelley’s crimsonwing among others.
Monkey trekking: Monkey trekking is another activity in Nyungwe forest national park other than community visits. The monkey trekking activity s done to enable tourists to spot most of the primates of the park in their natural habitat. The monkey trekking activity enables tourists to spot grey checked mangabeys, l’hoests monkeys, olive baboons, blue monkeys, crowned monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, dent’s mona monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, vervet monkeys, and owl-faced monkeys.
Nature walks: The nature walks in Nyungwe forest national park are done to enable tourists to explore the park on foot but with a help of a guide. The nature walks are done in different trails of the park and during the activity, you are able to spot different park primates, mammals, birds, and different bird species.
Best time to visit Nyungwe forest national park for community tours
Nyungwe forest national park can be visited at any time of the year for community visits but there are months that are better than the rest since the activity is combined with other park activities. The rainy months are the best for a visit to the park and they occur from June to September and December to February. During these months, there is little or no rainfall and this favors most of the activities done in and around the park because the trekking and hiking trails in the park are dry, the vegetation is thin and the roads leading to the park are passable.
Tourists most especially budget travelers can visit the park even in the rainy season of March to May and October to November to enjoy huge discounts on accommodation facilities. During such months, there is plenty of rainfall which makes the trekking trails muddy and slippery, the vegetation is tall with unclear views of park primates and the roads leading to the park are impassable.
Accommodation in Nyungwe forest national park
Several accommodations are around Nyungwe forest national park and they do range from budget to mid-range to luxury options such as One & Only Nyungwe House, Nyungwe Top View Hotel, Gisakura Guest House, Gisakura Family Hostel, E.R.A Gisakura Visitor Guesthouse, Emeraude Kivu Resort, Peace Guesthouse, Hotel du Lac, Rusizi Progress Hotel, Golden Monkey Hotels, Comoran Lodge, and Delta Resort Hotel among others.
