Chimpanzee Tracking in Cyamudongo Forest Rwanda

Cyamudongo forest- one of the best places to track Chimpanzees while on your Safari in Rwanda. This was originally part of the popular Nyungwe forest national park in Rwanda and so it was gazette to help put emphasize on the value of conservation in the region. This forest is pretty small in size, located in southwest of Rwanda and close to border of Congo but blessed with variety of attraction like the various tree species, lots of primate species including chimpanzees, so many birds, butterflies, and small animals.

There are various tourist activities that you can engage in if you choose to visit this forest. Visiting this forest will add more value to your trip to Nyungwe national park. While in Cyamudongo forest, you can go for;

Bird watching

Is one of the amazing activities that you can be done in this area although it’s better to be done at the same time with another activity like Chimpanzee trekking. There are various bird species living in this forest, for example the 4 guinea-Congo forest based species, there are 2 out of the 24 Albertine rift species known and also 33 out of the 74 Afro-tropical highland species known. You may see birds like the red-thighed sparrow hawk bird which is mainly see in this part of Rwanda, there are birds like the white tailed crested fly catcher, dwarf honey guide, among so many others.

Primates’ watching | Chimpanzee Tracking

Is yet another interesting and the major activity done here and it involves chimpanzees watching, these are the majority compared to other primates in the forest. Chimpanzee watching in this forest is way easier than it is anywhere else since the forest is very small. This fact makes it the best place for any tourists to watch humans’ closest cousins. The trek begins in the morning after briefing from the ranger, then you together with your guide enter the jungle to trek these amazing apes. The trek takes you through the thick gorge and you won’t have to walk for long before you meet them. You can also expect to see lots of other attractions during the trek like small animals, lots of monkey species like the Mona monkeys, the L’hoest, among others. There are so many birds therefore the bird lovers will be amazed by what they will see.

Nature Walks

The nature walk gives you the chance to see lots of animals, tree species, there are lots of butter flies in that forest. You can go hiking in the jungle, expect to have a lot of fun since you are doing at your own pace and you are searching for anything and everything that is found in the forest.

In addition to the nature walk, you can also visit the local communities of the Batwa people. These are the indigenous people of the area and they highly depended on the forest during the ancient days since that is where they got food like the bush meat, gathered fruits, medicines and also the building materials like the leaves and tree branches. Although they are slowly adopting the modern life style, they still have an amazing culture which you will only get to know about if you visit their communities. A visit to the Batwa community can be very revealing and so educative and also fun therefore worth all your time. This is one of the cultural activities that you cannot miss including them in your trip heading to any region where these people are found and these are places like in Mgahinga, Bwindi forest and also around the Ituri forest in Uganda.

Visiting the Cyamudongo forest is more like an additional activity that you can do during your Rwanda primate safari to Nyungwe forest national park. It’s a great bonus for chimpanzee watching after watching those in Nyungwe forest in Rwanda.

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