Colobus Monkey Tracking in Nyungwe Forest National Park – Cost and Safari Guide
Nyungwe forest national park is a beautiful place to visit for nature lovers, the forest is ever green and it’s known to have survived the ice age about 2,500 years ago hence it has a great biodiversity of fauna and flora due to a mixture of mountain rainforests, bamboo, wetlands, swamps and savannahs covering over 1000 sq km.
Nyungwe Forest National Park is also a great catchment area because it’s found in the centre of two great drainage systems of rivers Congo and the mighty Nile. Once in Nyungwe you will hike to ridges dividing the two rivers.
The diverse ecosystems are a home to a diversity of species of fauna and flora. There are 13 species of primates including the chimpanzee, 275 species of birds, 38 species of reptiles and amphibians, over 1000 species of plants and 85 species of mammals including forest buffalos, giant forest hogs and bushbucks.
Although chimpanzees are the main tourist attractions, Nyungwe forest is a home to stronghold troops of 400 Colobus monkeys often times called Rwenzori Colobus. Rwandan development board has habituated some of the troops for tourists to track and see which consist of over 200 individuals thus nowhere else to encounter such troops of monkeys except in Rwanda.
Trekking to see Colobus monkeys costs $70 per person without park entrance fees. Visitors can only track these monkeys for one hour but also possible to visit them as many times as you want in a day.
What you need to know
Visitors need to wear long pants and tuck them into socks to prevent safari ants and stinging nettles.
Black and white Colobus monkeys are beautiful creatures to photograph, seeing baby Colobus monkeys is charismatic for primate lovers. Mature black and white Colobus monkeys are marked with black long white fur and tail while the immature are typically white.
While seeing Colobus monkeys, visitors can also encounter other species of primates such as blue monkeys, red tailed monkeys, baboons, mona monkey, grey cheeked mangabay and chimps among others.
Visitors have a range of option accommodation near and within the park for overnight stays for instance Gisakura and Nyungwe forest lodge. Visitors need to transfer very early to Uwinka the park headquarters because Colobus monkey tracking starts at 08:00 am in the morning.
After guides briefing, visitors are escorted by armed rangers into the forest to search for the black and white Colobus monkeys. Along the way enchanting bird calls, cool fresh mist from the forest and flowering plants with good scent make the experience more exciting.
Colobus monkeys stay in trees most of their time and your guides have knowledge of their feeding habits as well as scenic spots where many usually dwell during daylight.
Nyungwe in reality is a primate country and destination for nature lovers due to the rich forest biodiversity and primate species.
To get to Nyungwe in the southwestern corner of Rwanda, you will need a 4WD vehicle to travel for 4-5 hours covering about 225 km of road from Kigali city. The journey passes through several towns with amazing stopovers such as the Nyanza king’s palace and the national museum which display Rwanda’s culture.
Nyungwe can also be accessed from Cyangugu town about 50 km and 90 km from the town of Butare.
Visitors can also get to Nyungwe by charter flights that fly from Kigali to kamembe air port which near Nyungwe forest lodges and from there you can arrange transport to the park’s headquarters uwinka within the shortest time.