Rwanda is located in the heart of Africa; Rwanda is one of the most popular tourist destinations in East Africa, lively towns, scenic wilderness, and remarkably hospitable people. A unique and largely undiscovered venue, Rwanda also offers incredible biodiversity, beautiful mountains, some of the oldest and most valuable rainforests on the planet, 5 volcanoes, 23 lakes, several waterfalls, and 3 stunning national parks namely Volcanoes National Park, Nyungwe National Park, and Akagera National Park.
Volcanoes National Park
Mountain gorilla tracking is a unique wildlife experience in the Virunga; these vast animals weigh three times the weight as well as the average man. Gorillas are visited on a daily basis than any other wild animal, and they are fascinating animals to the extent that some try to interact with their visitors, often approaching them and sometimes touch visitors as they pass by.
Visitors can spend a maximum of 1 hour with a designated Gorilla family, the increase in the price of Gorilla trekking permits in Rwanda was meant to reduce the number of people who trek mountain gorilla in Rwanda, hence promoting gorilla tourism in Rwanda indirectly.
The advantage of tracking Giant Apes in Rwanda – the vegetation of Volcanoes National Park is comprised of Bamboo trees which make visibility and photography mountain gorilla better.
Chimpanzee trekking and Canopy walkway
Nyungwe National Park hosts a wide diversity of amazing animal species, making it one of the prime conservation areas in Africa. The largest remaining tract of montane rainforest in East Africa, Nyungwe extends for 1,015 kilometers squared over the mountainous southwest of Rwanda, forming a contiguous forest block with Burundi’s 370km2 Kibira National Park. The park is the most important catchment area in Rwanda supplying water to 70% of the country, and its central ridge divides Africa’s two largest drainage systems, the Nile and the Congo, a spring on the slopes of the 2,950m Mount Bigugu is now regarded to be the most remote source of the world’s longest river.
Nyungwe Forest National Park is the only park in Rwanda where you can trek habituated Chimpanzees, approximately 500 chimpanzees are residents at the Park. Rwanda is also known as the land of a thousand hills, one of the most diverse destinations in Africa, offering untouched wilderness, incredibly friendly people.
The canopy walk is also the first treetop forest canopy walk in East Africa and the third in all Africa. Visitors to Nyungwe National Park can experience the rainforest from a new perspective: the Canopy Walkway. Hanging 60 meters above the forest floor between giant trees and towers, East Africa's only Canopy Walkway provides a stunning view of the park's amazing wildlife and nature. This walk is also an activity not to be missed in Rwanda.
Kigali Genocide Memorial
The burial site of over 250,000 people killed in 100 days in 1994 genocide, more than 800,000 people died in Rwanda. Visitors can this place and more information about this devastating massacre at the Kigali Genocide Memorial. The memorial center is not just a mass grave and exhibition center but it is also an important contribution to the recent history of Rwanda and the entire world that no one can afford to forget.
Wildlife Experience
In Rwanda, Akagera National Park is the only park where you can encounter wild animals in their natural habitat. Today Akagera is emphatically worth visiting, for one thing, it ranks among the most scenic of Africa’s savannah park, with its forest-fringed lakes, tall mountains and constantly changing vegetation. Akagera also still retains a genuinely off the beaten track character, the only park in Africa where you can drive for hours without seeing another vehicle. As for the coveted Big five, buffalo are plentiful and easily seen, elephants are quite common, leopards are also common at Akagera National Park
Lake Kivu
Lake Kivu is the sixth largest lake in Africa and the sixteenth deepest lake in the whole world, an East African great lake located at the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo for 90km, the 2700km2 Lake Kivu is one of a string that submerges much of the Albertine Rift floor as it runs southwards from Sudan to Zambia with a drainage basin of 4900km2. It is divided into one main basin, two small basins and two bays – Main Basin, Isungu Basin, Kalehe Basin, Bukavu bay, Kabuno bay.
Birding in Rwanda
Nyungwe National Park and Akagera National Park are the most important birding sites, Nyungwe is arguably the best bird watching site in Rwanda, 310 bird species recorded of which the majority are forest specialists. This includes 27 Albertine Rift Endemic and 3 bird species not recorded elsewhere on the Eastern side of the Albertine Rift namely the red-collared babbler, Rockefeller’s sunbird, and owlet.
Depending on your level of expertise, you could see more than 200 bird species 2 to 3 days in the forest and these birds include Ruwenzori turaco, yellow-eyed black flycatcher, red collared mountain babbler, Ruwenzori nightjar, handsome francolin, red-faced woodland warbler, collared Apalis, purple breasted sunbird, strange weaver, Kivu ground thrush, dwarf honeyguide, Rockefeller’s sunbird, blue-headed sunbird, paradise flycatcher, great blue turaco, red-breasted sparrow hawk, white-headed wood-hoopoe, mountain masked Apalis, regal sunbird, Ruwenzori batis, stripe breasted tit, village indigo bird, cinnamon-breasted bee-eater, black and white manikins, black-crowned waxbills, African harrier hawk, martial eagle, European honey buzzard among others.
Akagera National Park is Rwanda’s second most important birding site after Nyungwe National Park, both parks complement to each other to such an extent that very few species recorded in Rwanda aren’t found in one or the other. Akagera National Park is rich in savannah and water birds of East Africa namely black-headed gonolek, red-faced barbet, white headed-chat, Ross’s turaco, conical grey hornbill, papyrus genolek, and the Majestic Shoebill stork. For more information about Safaris in Rwanda kindly contact Adyeri Creations Limited so we can tailor your remarkable wildlife and primates experience in Rwanda.
