Category: Rwanda Tours

One & Only Nyungwe House is set on a dramatic mountainous edge of the Nyungwe Forest, the charismatic Nyungwe House is a dreamy forest retreat. Guided excursions take you through one of Africa’s oldest rain forests to source old primate species and rare birds amidst a primeval setting of indigenous orchids, bamboo and giant bracken ferns. The Nyungwe forest is believed to have remained lush-green even through the Ice Age which explains much of its sustained biodiversity.

Engage with Rwandan culture at the estate’s working tea plantation discovering East African stories and crafts. Back at the lodge, enjoy every creature comfort and hospitality from gourmet local cuisine, Rwandan coffee for breakfast and luxury treatments at the One & Only Spa.

23 luxury rooms and suites housed in 5 villa structures, All rooms feature balconies with views of Nyungwe Forest, All rooms feature an open fireplace with fragrant eucalyptus wood, Natural linen and textiles crafted by the Rwandan people, Authentic local and world cuisine in a variety of settings, Fresh ingredients from the chef’s own garden, Gourmet picnics packed to take on hikes, Outdoor yoga pavilion overlooking mountain vistas,  Holistic therapy treatments at the One & Only spa, Cultural initiatives and interactions with Rwandan customs as well as An idyllic infinity pool with bar lounge.

Nyungwe House situated in a tea plantation close to the Nyungwe forest. This lodge was the first ever 5-star accommodation establishment in the region. It has some of the best facilities in Rwanda and very good service.

Nyungwe House has luxury facilities such as a gym and a swimming pool, and overlooks the forest canopy so you are guaranteed some good views of the scenery in the area. It has comfortable luxury rooms, one of them even has a Jacuzzi.

Board basis is full board and it includes meals. You can either dine outdoors, or in the restaurant, or in your room. There is access to WIFI, and telephone services, so you can communicate to people back home. There are also sate-lite TVs in the rooms to keep you in touch with the rest of the world.

Guests at the lodge have the opportunity to go chimpanzee tracking, go on guided walking through Nyungwe forest, and enjoy the canopy walk and bird watching in Nyungwe forest national Park.

Nyungwe House

Set right beside an ancient rain forest alongside a working tea plantation lies the One & Only Nyungwe House. You will be totally immersed within the area’s wildlife and incredibly warm culture. Dining amongst the wilderness with delicious nibbles available, settled beside the warmth of a burning fire, this is the perfect secluded oasis to enjoy the sights and sounds of the African bush.

Literally taste the rain forest with freshly prepared food grown right on the doorstep. Step out of your luxuriously designed room set in a completely private area and enjoy a totally romantic experience.

Indulge in a number of fantastic activities such as mountain biking, nature trekking or just sit back, relax and enjoy the surrounding area, it is what you want it to be.

Welcome to Nyungwe Forest National Park and here are several lodges and camps to stay on your Rwanda safari in this park. Among the lodges to stay include the Gisakura guest house is a small and friendly functional guest house accommodation facility which is located 2 kilometers away from Nyungwe Forest National Park, in a close proximity to the Gisakura tea estate on the road from Cyangugu.

The property is a comfortable and affordable place to stay for Nyungwe Forest National Park’s travelers. The property’s location is ideal for Nyungwe canopy walks, birders to this birder’s dream location and for travelers wishing to track chimpanzees and the rare Colobus monkeys in Nyungwe forest.

Gisakura Guest House offers guests the opportunity to visit chimpanzees of Nyungwe Forest National Park, different walking trails, the top canopy walkway, the unique bird species of the Central African Highlands, a variety of more than 120 orchid species, and endemic tree species. A Colobus troop living on the Gisakura Tea Estate and a group of vervet monkeys occasionally pass through the grounds, making for interesting wildlife viewing on the premises.

A number of nearby relic forest patches offer small rambles, good birding and the chance to encounter forest monkeys. A fair variety of birds are present in the small patch of forest in front of the Gisakura Guest House and many other trails in Park. Many of the birds in Nyungwe forest are endemic to the area thus making bird-watching a unique experience.

ONE & ONLY NYUNGWE HOUSE

In Southwest Rwanda, just south of Lake Kivu on the Burundi border, One & Only Nyungwe House is nestled amongst the rich tea-plantations of Gisakura, on the edge of the iconic Nyungwe Forest National Park. The resort was originally developed in conjunction with the Rwandan Government in 2010. In 2017, it came under the management of One & Only, and after an extensive renovation and upgrade of facilities, it has become the incomparable rain forest oasis you see today. The accommodations at the property include;

Nyungwe room

Sink into the comfort of your secluded forest haven, with sumptuous amenities, a crackling fireplace, and vibrant art inspired by the natural beauty of Rwanda. Private furnished balconies open up to the lush flora, perfect for spotting wildlife roaming free. The Nyungwe room accommodates two individuals at ago and the bed type is King/Twin.

Nestled amongst the flora of Nyungwe mountainous landscape, Nyungwe Rooms are an ideal haven for couples and friends. Warm interiors are brought to life by an ambient, crackling fireplace, and touches of vivid art, inspired by Rwandan tradition. A replenished mini-bar is yours to enjoy, along with tea and coffee making facilities.

State-of-the-art technology brings a modern edge to your rustic environment, with air conditioning, an LCD television, and a dedicated in-room I-Pad that reveals everything you need to know on resort. A spacious en-suite bathroom features twin vanities, a wilderness-view shower, and indulgent stand-alone bath. Outdoors, your private deck is an awe-inspiring place to soak up the sights and sounds of the forest.

Two-bedroom forest suite

Reconnect with family and friends in a spacious two-bedroom suite, graced with every creature comfort. Celebrate around a beautifully crafted dining table; warm yourselves by the crackling fire; or unwind on a private deck, completely immersed in nature. The two-bedroom forest suite accommodates 4 individuals at ago and the bed type is King and Twin bed.

Blending seamlessly into the lush, mountainous landscape, families and friends can retreat to a spacious haven, with every creature comfort at their fingertips. A chic, lodge-inspired aesthetic weaves through two sumptuous bedrooms, each with a fireplace and picturesque private deck. An elegant living and dining room offers the perfect place to relax and share a chilled drink from the replenished mini-bar.

State-of-the-art technology brings a modern edge to the environment, with air conditioning, an LCD television, and a dedicated in-room I-Pad that reveals everything you need to know on resort. Two spacious, en-suite bathrooms feature twin vanities, wilderness-view showers, and indulgent stand-alone baths.

NYUNGWE TOP VIEW HOTEL

Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel is conveniently nestled on top of one of the hills of Nyungwe forest area; the largest single forest block in East Africa and the biggest water reservoir for Rwanda. It is situated just five minutes’ drive off a main road, on top of a steep hill with views across numerous tea plantations; it has easily the most beautiful views in the Nyungwe forest area. With its proximity to the headquarters of Nyungwe Forest National Park, it is a good base for trekkers to see the chimpanzees and exploring the forest.

The main areas at the hotel are housed in a large, two-tiered ‘rondavel’ with a phenomenally high roof. Although a rondavel is usually a traditionally built round house, this building offers a rather more modern take on the theme. The ground floor, where you will find the reception, is sparsely furnished with a few modern angular sofas and walls adorned with traditional Rwandan murals. Circular wicker lights hang from the ceiling and dark tiled stairs lead up to a mezzanine balcony.

It is on this second level that you will find the dining area, with tables and chairs set on a rather out-of-place black-tiled floor, and a sweeping veranda with wooden tables and chairs. The views from here are stunning and on clear days you can even get views of Lake Kivu and the volcanoes of the Congo beyond. There is also a bar on this level made almost entirely from bottle tops, giving it a bright, very kitsch look. Glass doors at the front of the rondavel open onto a beautifully kept lawn, and this is surrounded by a low hedge.

The hotel comprises of 12 red-brick cottages ranged in two rows, one on each side of the rondavel, along two sides of the lawn. Every cottage houses a bedroom, a small lounge area at the front, with terracotta-tiled floors, a sofa, chair and coffee table, and a fireplace.

Although the furniture is different in every cottage, it is angular and modern throughout. The bedrooms are quite sparse, furnished only with a double, twin or triple bed, a chest of drawers and hanging space for clothes, but they have plenty of space and are really clean.

African patterned throws cover the beds and there is traditional Rwandan “Imigorigo” artwork on the walls. There are no fans or air conditioned but the team here will put hot-water bottles in your beds on cooler nights. The tiled bathrooms each have a sink, toilet and shower and some also have baths, with towels and toiletries provided.

Nyungwe Nziza Eco Lodge

Nyungwe Nziza Eco-lodge is nestled in Kitabi providing accommodation with free Wi-Fi and barbecue facilities. Some units have a seating area and a terrace. A continental breakfast is available each morning at the property. There is an in-house restaurant which serves Local, African and Pizza cuisine. If you would like to discover the area, cycling is possible in the surroundings and a bicycle rental service can be arranged. The facility is a very comfortable hotel and a camping with “De Luxe” tents and portable tents, an” a la carte” restaurant, and a handcraft shop, an open-air bar, a fire place, cars for hire, transfer from Kigali Airport or Kigali City and to the Nyungwe Forest National Park.

The Nyungwe forest’s view from the rooms is amazing. The property comprises of an Eco – lodge with three houses and six rooms, three deluxe tents, a restaurant, a coffee shop, a bar and an outdoor fireplace. There are also portable tents and a big space for clients’ own tents.

KITABI ECO – CENTRE

Kitabi Eco-Center is located just 2 kilometers from the Eastern entrance to Nyungwe Forest National Park. It sits atop Mount Kitabi, offering one of the most spectacular and panoramic views in all of Rwanda: neat, terraced farms perched on endless hills; light green tea plantations that frequent this region; the dark green trees of Nyungwe Forest; and a seemingly endless sky. Neither words nor pictures can do it justice you have to be here to experience it!

The property combines camping, a restaurant, gardens, and Eco tourism activities with an ecologically-friendly mindset. There is even a replica of the King’s Palace here that you can explore, and if you want, to stay overnight! The property has a variety of accommodation options for you:

Camping

Guests can spend the night camping under the stars in the property’s modern tents. The property comprises of some 2 person and 4 person tents for rent, but not an endless supply. If you have your own tents and camping equipment, please bring along. The property’s staff can set the tent up for you before you arrive or you can come and pick out your campsite, and then the staff team will set it up for you.

King’s Palace

Come enjoy a truly amazing, unique experience, available nowhere else in Rwanda! Live like a King or Queen in the property’s King’s Palace replica. Your experience will include a one night (or more!) stay in a Queen bed with warm furnishings. You will also receive a personalized tour on the history of the King’s Palace and other local traditions from the manager or local guides; your own fire at night inside the palace; and breakfast the next morning in the comfort of the palace grounds (optional). The property’s team can also add mattresses for larger groups. This is perfect for a family of 3 or more with young children who want to stay together.

Prince’s Palace

Sleep like a Prince or Princess for a night (or more) in one of the property’s two Prince’s Palaces. Stay in a comfortable Double Bed inside one of the two Prince’s Palaces. Each can accommodate 2 people and the staff can arrange for a small clay oven fire to keep you extra warm.

Welcome to Rwanda and enjoy chimpanzee tours in Rwanda, Nyungwe Forest National Park with the Nature Adventure Africa Safaris one of the best tour companies in East and Central Africa.

You will order for your tours in Rwanda when you are still in your home country and here you will be talking with the company’s consultant who will tell you what it needs for you to have a chimpanzee tour in Nyungwe Forest National Park and you will also be asked to pay at least 30% of the price of your tour in order to confirm your tour and for the company to be aware of it.

On your arrival at Kigali Airport, meet the company’s professional safari guide who will transfer you to Kigali city. If you arrive early, you will first have some detours in Kigali city to visit Gisozi Genocide memorial museum, Local Art & raft shops, Fruit market and so on. And then after the short detours, you will be taken to any of the hotels or lodges that would have been booked for you and on these they include Kigali Serena Hotel, Manor Hotel or Step Town Hotel and so on.

You will stay there for the night and in the morning, you will wake up early in the morning and have a breakfast and after your breakfast, you will enjoy a scenic journey to Nyungwe Forest National Park. On your way to the park, you will also have a chance to visit the old King’s Palace in Nyanza. Lunch en-route, proceed to the Park. You will have your dinner on one of the nearby lodges that will have been booked for you and these lodges include Nyungwe Forest Lodge a Luxury lodge, Nyungwe Hill Top View Hotel, a Deluxe lodge or Gisakura Guest House, a Budget lodge.

Early morning breakfast of the next day; proceed to the park headquarters for briefing. You will enter into the forest to search for the exciting chimps alongside other primate species such as Columbus monkeys, forest birds among others. Return to your lodge for Lunch and relax in the afternoon or have community walk to the nearby communities or Canopy walk for clear birding and canopies. Dinner and overnight will also be offered as on the previous day.

On the following day, breakfast with your packed lunch move for a full day forest guided walk within Nyungwe Forest National Park. On this long walk, you will visit the Kamiranzovu waterfalls where you will enjoy the picnic lunch. On this walk expect to see a lot of bird species and also primates like monkeys among others.

NB: During chimpanzee tracking, you will be 1km away from the chimpanzee to prevent the easy spread of diseases from humans to chimpanzees however chimpanzees are too friendly to humans. Chimpanzee tracking and other activities you will perform in the park, you will be accompanied by well trained and professional park rangers.

After your chimpanzee tour to Nyungwe Forest National Park in Rwanda, you will return back to your lodge for dinner and overnight.

In the morning, you will then clean yourself and have breakfast after which you will return back to Kigali together with the company’s tour operator. You will first have lunch from Kigali and then you will be taken to Kigali International Airport for your flight back home.

Therefore, use the Nature Adventure Africa Safaris for any of your tour all over East and Central Africa for the best services.

 

 

Nyungwe Forest National Park was gazetted in 2014 and it covers a total land area of 970km² and it is located in the south-western parts of the Republic of Rwanda, this park borders Democratic Republic of Congo and it is separated by the Congo Nile. The park is covered by montane forests, bamboo and swamps including some grassland areas.  Nyungwe Forest National Park is composed of 13 Species of Primate, the 1068 plant Species, 310 bird Species plus 85 mammal Species, 38 reptile Species along with 32 amphibian species.

Due to the fact that Rwanda is a land of a thousand hills, Nyungwe forest is ranked among the top largest Tropical montane forest in central and east Africa with an annual rainfall of 2000mm, this makes Nyungwe a one stop center for those who always come to Rwanda for gorilla trekking tours in Volcanoes national park. The park is a nice one and therefore tourists enjoy the different activities at their maximum since it’s not congested, there are different things to see and do within the park.

Birding, out of 300 bird species fund here in Nyungwe, 27 of them are said to be endemic to the park and are found within the Albertine region including Grauer’s Warbler which is found around Kamiranzonvou swamp in Nyungwe, Rwenzori Turacos are also seen over the trees praising the conducive environment through their sounds and soul healing voices purple breasted and the blue headed sun bird can also be spotted here and many more birds hence being a home for birders hide.

Hiking, within Nyungwe forest national park, there are over 13 trails that are free for hiking and all these total up to 130km within the forest and the tea plantations around the park, through this activity, you will discover much more tree species and the different wildlife that is found here including, birds, primates, plants, flowers, butterflies and the trees. You will see how impressive is the landscape which is full of rolling hills and valleys as you experience no sunshine due to the shade provided by the tree canopies.

Chimpanzee Tracking, this is the main national park in Rwanda where chimpanzee tracking is done, before you think of entering the forest, think of your safety first since you are encouraged to move along with your  gears including day pack where you have a couple of liters of water, have long trousers, the long sleeved shirt, rain jacket, the hiking boots and the hat. The activity starts early in the morning in order to catch up with the chimps that constantly build nests in different areas as a result of a long day of searching for food. No worries while with the chimps since they are used to people as they are habituated though maximum respect to the rules and regulations governing trekking is vital since chimps can charge as well as human beings.

Monkey Tracking, you cannot leave Nyungwe minus engaging in monkey tracking, the park has got around 13 primate species including the various types of monkeys such as the Grey Cheeked Mangabeys, Rwenzori Colobus Monkeys, L’Hoest’s Monkey, Owl Faced Monkeys, Mona Monkeys plus other monkeys, prepare your camera as you will take many photos as you may wish as monkeys converge in groups of over 50 individuals

Forest Canopy walk, this is a unique one and it is considered to be the first canopy in east Africa, the canopy is said to be 200m long and 60metres above the forest hence enabling you to have a nice stunning view of the park, tea plantations, monkeys and birds. You need to be steady enough to take up this activity, the beautiful scenery and the green environment good for viewing under the misty day. You cannot miss out Mount Bigugu found inside the park.

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.