Nyungwe is the largest montane forest in Africa covering an area of roughly 1600 to 2000 square kilometers. It is an ultimate destination for primate lovers. Chimpanzee trekking takes place at Cyamudongo forest a small patch of forest located to the east of Nyungwe forest which has chimpanzees that roam the area and offer the best viewing chance.

Cyamudongo forest is part of Nyungwe National Park though physically detached from the larger and main forest. Nyungwe forest has about 500 Chimpanzees but there are only two habituated groups and the rest roam wildly and are hard to find due to the thick rugged terrain.

The habituated chimpanzee group in the main Nyungwe forest is bigger with about 60 chimpanzees, but given the magnitude of the forest and terrain it sometimes offers lesser chances of seeing the chimpanzees, while the chimpanzee group in Cyamudongo forest that has a lesser number of about 30 chimpanzees offers the most successful sightings given the small size that can be covered. Chimpanzees here engage in playful and human-like character thus experience varies. Chimpanzees here can be seen high up in trees before the come down for food. Carrying binoculars while tracking is an added advantage.

The distance from Kigali to Nyungwe Forest National Park is approximately 218.2 kilometers and that takes between 5 and 6 hours of driving considering the 40 to 60 kilometers speed limit.

Planning a Chimpanzee Trek

Trekking chimpanzees can be done the whole year, although the terrain is strenuous in the rainy season. The dry season months between December to February and June to mid-September are the best to trek. Tourists should be at least 15years old and above to trek.

You are advised to secure permits before your trip. Cost of the permit is 90 USD for foreign nonresidents and 60 USD for foreign residents of Rwanda and East Africa (Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Burundi).

How chimpanzee trekking is done in Nyungwe National Park

A community of chimpanzees goes through what is called a habituation process to enable them interact with humans hence it‟s safe to trek chimpanzees. Chimpanzee habituation is the practice where skilled personnel make constant visits to wild chimpanzees whose first response is to run off or show aggression, till a time when the chimpanzees become conscious that the visiting humans are not a threat.

At this point the chimpanzees start to accept human presence. The habituation of chimpanzees takes some years till when the skilled personnel can confirm the chimpanzees will not feel endangered and are not be a threat when these personnel come along with other visitors, that is, tourists.

The chimpanzees can put up with tourists only if they see the recognizable faces of people they have been seeing before and during the habituation. Chimpanzee trekking is led by park guides well-known to the chimpanzees. The park will always assess the chances of seeing the chimpanzees before going out to trek.

The chimpanzee trekking tours in Nyungwe National Park set off from Gisakura ranger station. Tourists are expected to report at Gisakura station by 4.30am to meet the park guides for briefing and by 5am are transferring to the starting point of the trek into the park. There is only one session to track chimpanzees in Nyungwe which is the early morning session.

The chimpanzees make new homes (nests) in a different place every day. They have no permanent address in the forest. They will make new nests where they will have ended the day. So the time taken to find them is unpredictable, also since the chimpanzees are quickly on the move once they wake up. There are park trackers who go ahead of the trekking tourist group to find the chimpanzees before they leave their nests, or track them down shortly after they left their nests.

The trackers then communicate to the guides of the tourists on the location so the guides will work out the easiest route to find the chimpanzees that are already on the move. On average it may take about 2 -3 hours of trekking to find the chimpanzees.

After finding the chimpanzees in Nyungwe National Park, tourists are permitted only one hour to be the with the community of the chimpanzees maintaining a minimum distance of about 7m, and with any conversation kept to a whisper. And it is a breathtaking chance to watch them intimately as they go about their lives.

As you watch the actions and features from the individual chimpanzees, the classes in the community and their leadership structure you will understand why they are called man‟s closest relatives and share up to 98.7% DNA with man. A group or community of chimpanzees can cover large territory and the individual chimpanzees or smaller units of the community can become rather secluded from each other, to tell each other of their locations, every now and then the chimpanzees communicate by way of vociferous screams, loud pant hoots and deafening slapping of the tree barks and buttresses.

The chimpanzee trekking experience is pretty different because the chimpanzees are more active, keep running, swinging around in the forest canopies than the meek and gentle giant gorillas.

Each trekking group has a maximum of eight people, accompanied by a guide and an armed park ranger

What to know when trekking

• A walking stick or pole is available at the start of the trek as the treks are uneven and sometimes slippery. Strong shoes, thick gloves, clothes like long trousers and sleeved tops in neutral colors are also essential. If possible carry a waterproof jacket as there may be occasional downpours. Lodges near the trekking trails usually have trekking equipment you can hire out.

• A camera for memories and binoculars for when the chimpanzees are up in the tree are considerably beneficial to have on your trek. Taking photographs of chimpanzees can be both rewarding and challenging, since they may be way up in the trees and tend to move quite fast. Bear in mind, too, that the light can be poor in the rainforest and that use of flash is not permitted. It is damp; you might need to protect your camera against heavy rain.

• Carry some packed snacks for energy renewal and plenty of water for hydration.

• Porters are available to carry your backpacks and offer a hand during tricky parts of the walk for a small fee of around US$10. Hiring a porter is a supportive way to give back directly to the local economy and talking to them en route can increase your understanding both of local life and of your trek. There English is not as good as for the guides.

• Average fitness is okay, but good fitness will make the experience more enjoyable

• Carry some form of insect repellent and some sunscreen.

Other activities at Nyungwe Forest

• • Canopy forest walk is an iconic activity at the park and you cannot afford to miss it while in Rwanda. It takes about 2-3 hours and it can be added to your chimpanzee tour in the afternoon after the chimpanzee trek. The canopy walk tour includes a trek on the Igishigishigi trail and the walk over a 160 meter bridge (canopy walkway) that suspends over a deep forested valley 74 meters from ground, and presents unbelievable views across the forest and eye-level sightings of monkeys and birds in the canopy that would not be easy to see from ground.
• • Monkey tracking: Colobus monkeys lives near the edge of the forest and therefore are easily found without much trekking like with the chimpanzee trek. These monkeys are also habituated. This activity is also easy to add to the chimpanzee trekking since it is a short activity.
• • Hiking trails in Nyungwe forest: Nyungwe forest has the waterfalls trail which leads to the striking isumo waterfalls after going through a patch of the forest with cosmic view points and bumping into an array of wildlife including several species of monkeys. Nature walks and hikes are longer and need almost half a day extra added to the chimpanzee trip.
• • Community and cultural experience; After trekking you can be taken to the community to see how people here live day to day, there cultures and traditions, farms, art and crafts and you will be entertained by the Rwanda traditional dance.
• • Tea Estate visit; the scenery after the opaque forest is covered by continuous green tea plantations. The factory and teas estate at Nyungwe offers tourists a chance to experience tea growing and processing. s are taken through the different stages of growth of tea, harvesting and then processing to final product. The traveler participates in the harvesting of tea and at the end takes a refined product of his harvest after observing the process.