3 Day Nyungwe Primates Tour

Kigali to Nyungwe, Cultural Stop, Lodge Check-In

You begin your trip in Kigali. Your driver meets you at your hotel in the morning and you start the drive south. The roads are paved and smooth, and the drive takes about six hours total. You see many hills along the way — people call Rwanda the land of a thousand hills, and you will easily see why.

After two hours, you stop in a town called Nyanza to visit the King's Palace, a large grass building shaped like a dome that shows how the old kings used to live. You see large cows with huge horns in the back, and men sing to the cows to keep them calm — a quiet and interesting stop that breaks up the long drive nicely. You then drive to Butare (Huye) for lunch, eating hot local food at a nice restaurant. After lunch, the road climbs into the mountains, the air gets much cooler and you start to see the thick green edge of the forest. You arrive at your chosen lodge in the late afternoon.

Chimp Trekking in Nyungwe, Afternoon Canopy Walk

This is the busiest day of your trip. You will walk through thick plants, climb steep trails and also walk on a high suspension bridge. You need good hiking boots and a rain jacket today, since the forest weather changes quickly — it can rain even when the sky looks clear.

Morning Chimpanzee Tracking

Your day begins at 4:30 am. It is still completely dark outside. You eat a quick breakfast at the lodge and drink hot coffee or tea to stay warm. Your driver takes you to the park office for a morning briefing, where rangers explain the rules of the forest and how to behave near the chimpanzees, including keeping a safe distance. Nyungwe has a large population of chimpanzees, and we often track a group in the Cyamudongo forest section — a smaller, isolated patch of forest where the chimpanzees cannot travel very far away, making them easier to locate. The drive from the main park office to Cyamudongo takes about one hour on a bumpy dirt road.

Once you reach the starting point, the walk begins. You follow the ranger into the thick woods while trackers walk ahead to find the animals, listening for pant-hoot calls and looking for fresh footprints and dropped fruit. The walk can take one to three hours, with a muddy and slippery forest floor. Trackers carry machetes to cut away thorny vines. When they find the group, you spend one hour with them, watching them eat, play and clean each other as they move quickly through the tall trees. After the hour ends, you walk back to the vehicle and return to your lodge for a hot lunch and a short rest.

Afternoon 70-Metre Canopy Walk

You leave the lodge again at 2 pm and drive to the Uwinka Visitor Centre, the starting point for the canopy walk. The walk takes about two hours to complete. You start by hiking down the 2.1 km Igishigishigi trail, which leads you directly to the suspended bridge. The canopy bridge is 160 metres long, split into three sections, with the highest section hanging 70 metres above the valley floor. The bridge has strong netting on both sides so you cannot fall out — you walk on metal grates and can see the ground far below your feet. The bridge swings slightly as you walk across it, and the wind blows constantly at that height, so you must hold onto the side cables. This activity is safe but not recommended for people afraid of heights.

From the bridge, you look down on the tops of massive trees, spotting rare birds flying below and perhaps blue monkeys or red-tailed monkeys in the branches. The view of the deep green valley is very beautiful. After crossing the bridge, you hike back up a steep trail to the visitor centre, and your driver takes you back to the lodge for dinner.

Nyungwe Trail Walk, Return to Kigali

Your final day in the forest is more relaxed. You can sleep a little longer today, enjoy a hot breakfast at the lodge, and drink local Rwandan tea while looking at the morning mist before one more activity ahead of the drive back to the city.

Morning Trail Walk

Nyungwe has many walking trails — we usually choose the Ndambarare waterfall trail or the Colobus monkey trail for this morning. The waterfall trail takes about three hours and leads you to a large water drop deep in the forest over a rocky trail, ending at a cold pool with spray you can feel from far away, and bright ferns and orchids along the route. If you choose the Colobus monkey trail instead, you look for black-and-white monkeys that live in very large groups — sometimes hundreds in a single tree, with bright white fur around their faces, long white tails and jet-black bodies, feeding on fresh leaves high in the trees. The ranger helps you identify different bird calls during this walk, a chance to appreciate the quiet parts of the forest.

Afternoon Drive Back to Kigali

You return to the lodge by late morning to pack your bags, check out and begin the drive back to Kigali on the same smooth roads. We stop again in Huye or Muhanga for lunch, where you can buy local crafts or coffee. Your driver will drop you off at your Kigali hotel in the late afternoon. If you have an evening flight, we will drive you straight to Kigali International Airport, timed so you arrive three hours before your flight leaves. This marks the end of your three-day forest trip.