Rwanda Gorilla SafariMost European travellers arrive in Rwanda with one thing on the itinerary: mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park. Then they fly home three days later. It is one of the most common planning mistakes we see from London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt — because four hours south-west of Kigali sits Nyungwe Forest National Park, one of the oldest rainforests in Africa and, for many of our guests, the most atmospheric place they visit in East Africa.
Nyungwe covers roughly 1,000 square kilometres of montane rainforest along Rwanda’s south-western border with Burundi. It survived the last Ice Age largely intact, which is why its biodiversity is so extraordinary: well over a thousand recorded plant species, more than 300 birds, and thirteen species of primate.
It was gazetted as a national park in 2004, has been managed in partnership with African Parks since 2020, and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2023. For British travellers used to the open savannah image of safari, Nyungwe is a different proposition entirely — cool, green, dripping, and loud with birdsong rather than dust and acacia.
Nyungwe’s signature experience is East Africa’s only suspended canopy walkway. The bridge runs roughly 160 metres across a forest ravine at about 60 metres above the ground, reached via the Igishigishigi Trail through giant tree ferns. It takes two to three hours in total including the approach and return.
It is genuinely exposed and it does sway, so if anyone in your group has a real fear of heights, plan for them to walk the lower trail instead. Everyone else gets a view over unbroken rainforest canopy that very few visitors to Africa ever see.
Nyungwe holds a chimpanzee population of several hundred, with habituated groups in the main forest block and in the adjoining Cyamudongo forest. Tracking starts early — a 5am briefing is normal, because the chimps move at dawn — and you should be prepared for steep, slippery ground. Sightings are good but not guaranteed in the way gorilla trekking is; chimps travel fast and high.
The easier win is the Rwenzori colobus. Nyungwe has habituated troops that can run to several hundred animals moving through the canopy together, which is one of the great primate spectacles anywhere in Africa and far more reliably seen than the chimps. Add L’Hoest’s monkey, grey-cheeked mangabey, olive baboon and the rest, and thirteen primate species on one forest itinerary is realistic.
Birders should budget extra days. The Albertine Rift endemics here — Rwenzori turaco, red-collared babbler, handsome francolin among them — make Nyungwe one of the top birding forests on the continent.
At the time of writing, non-resident foreign visitors pay roughly US$40 for park entry, around US$60 for the canopy walkway and in the region of US$100–150 for chimpanzee tracking. In sterling that is broadly £30, £45 and £80–115 respectively, though the dollar–pound rate moves and Rwanda Development Board reviews its tariffs periodically — we confirm current pricing at the point of booking.
Set that against a Rwanda gorilla permit and the value is obvious. Adding two or three days in Nyungwe to a gorilla trip typically costs less than a single additional permit.
RwandAir flies direct from London Heathrow to Kigali, and KLM, Brussels Airlines, Qatar and Turkish all connect through their hubs from most European cities. Return fares from London generally sit in the £550–850 range depending on season and how early you book.
From Kigali it is a four to five hour drive south-west on good tarmac — genuinely scenic, through the terraced hills that give Rwanda its nickname. There is also an airstrip at Kamembe near Rusizi for those who would rather fly.
June to September is the long dry season and the most comfortable time for trails, with December to February a shorter drier window. That said, this is rainforest — expect rain in any month and pack for it.
Counter-intuitively, the wetter months of March to May often produce the better chimpanzee tracking, because fruiting trees at lower altitude keep the groups closer to the trailheads. If chimps are your priority rather than dry boots, the green season is worth considering, and lodge rates are lower.
The classic ten-day Rwanda circuit runs Kigali to Volcanoes for gorillas, south to Nyungwe for the forest, then east to Akagera for Big Five game viewing before flying home — a rainforest, a volcano chain and a savannah in a country smaller than Wales. Many of our European guests then cross into Uganda for Bwindi or Queen Elizabeth on the same trip.
Ready to plan your safari? Contact Nature Nest Safaris at book@naturenestsafaris.com or call +256 777 131 912.
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