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These refer to a small offshoot of the park, not the park proper. |
From Kigali to the Uwinka the bus costs around 5000 RWF and takes over 5 hours. |
There is also a park office in Kitabi. |
There are no park fees as such but you must be accompanied by a guide on all of the walking trails. |
The costs vary depending on the length of the trail and what your immigration status in Rwanda is (Tourist, National, Resident or EAC Resident). |
If you are a tourist expect to pay around $40 - $60 per trail. |
Camping fees are pretty high ($50 if you don't do any other activities, (I think) $35 if you do) but the camp site is well situated in the jungle, there are European toilets and a cold shower. |
Other than the main road through the forest there are no (public) roads or vehicle tracks in the park, everything is on foot (see do). |
A whole host of different primate species, a few other mammals including leopard and duiker (which you're unlikely to see) and a phenomenal array of birds and plants. |
For the best experience, most tourists tend to combine chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe with a gorilla tour in the nearby Volcanoes National Park. |
There are a number of trails ranging from the very easy to the reasonably challenging. |
their strenuous guide is based on the assumption that you are not a regular walker. |
Any hiker would not find their very strenuous trails particularly challenging. |
Canopy Walk - In October 2010, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) launched canopy walk tourism in Nyungwe National Park as part of a strategy to diversify tourism attractions. |
Canopy tourism is also aimed at encouraging tourists to spend a longer time in Rwanda. |
The Canopy Walk is the only attraction of its kind in East Africa. |
This is the first ever hanging platform that allows tourists to view different animal species in Nyungwe Forest. |
The dizzying platform is above a steep and deep valley stretching across the massive forest. |
John Gara, CEO of the RDB, said the platform is 50 meters above ground level and 90 meters long. |
It allows tourists to view butterflies, birds and blue monkeys that dwell in the upper levels of the forest. |
The forest has 13 rare primate species, the world's largest ever recorded arboreal troop of black/white colobus monkeys, and nearly 300 species of birds and 154 types of orchids. |
There are also a couple of multi day trails such as the Nile-Congo divide trail (which is the only way of reaching the longest source of the Nile). |
These must be booked at least seven days in advance (they will not negotiate this). |
Chimpanzee tracking is available and there are two groups habituated to human contact. |
In principle, Colobus monkey tracking is also available but they may have moved too far away from the trail head to be tracked. |
Should they move back this may be possible again in the future. |
There is a small kiosk selling basics, but if you are camping bring whatever food you will need. |
Water, Soft drinks and Primus (beer) is available. |
There are guest houses on either side of the park on the main road. |
In Kitabi (on the Huye side) the guest house is situated in the school of wildlife management. |
Coming from Huye take the left turn marked 'tea factory' about 200m before the park entrance. |
There is then a right turn about 500m further on, this is the guest house. |
The reception is is l'Hoests monkey house. |
At the upper end is the Nyungwe Forest Lodge, which is a luxurious eco-lodge surrounded by tea fields and at the edge of Nyungwe Forest. |
There is camping at the Uwinka head quarters, it's a bit pricey (see fees and permits) but you do get a guy who lights your fire for you. |
This may sound a bit unnecessary but after a cold night (apparently it can get down to 0C here due to the altitude), waking up to a roaring fire is heaven!The NR10 highway passed through the park. |
It's easy to catch a bus to/from any locations along it. |
That means the park, and lodges near it, are well connected to Huye or Kigali. |
If you are heading the other direction, it's just as easy to get to Kibuye, where you can connect to Gisenyi or Ruhengeri. |
Just make sure to start early if you are going far because the buses are slow. |
Ruhengeri is a city in northern Rwanda's Musanze district. |
It is the port of call for tourists heading up the hills to Kinigi and Parc National des Volcans. |
There several bus companies who serve Kigali-Musanze direction every half hour for 1,750 rwf (September 2017). |
The journey takes 2 hours. |
Buy your ticket at the main bus station in Nyabugogo - each bus company has their own little office, look for the signs that say Kigali-Musanze. |
Don't buy your ticket in advance - go to the bus station and expect to leave in roughly 30 minutes (or less). |
There will always be spaces, and you can wait for the next departure if you want a better seat. |
Recommended bus companies: Virunga Express [1]; Kigali Bus Service |
Musanze is a small town, you can walk from one end to the other along the main road in 30-40 minutes. |
The best way to get around is foot or moto-taxi. |
Prices are negotiable with the moto drivers, but a typical ride across town is 300-400 rwf (July 2012. |
)Volcanoes National Park offers several attractions. |
Tickets must be booked in advance through tour companies or the Rwanda Tourism Board (ORTPN). |
The majority of revenue from tourism goes towards maintaining the park and conserving the wildlife. |
The remainder goes to the government and (around 10%) to local projects in the area to help local people benefit from the large revenue stream generated by the park. |
Visit Lakes Burera and Ruhondo. |
Visit the lava caves and tunnels. |
There are a number of guest houses. |
You find some of them along the main road. |
You find places for <10. |
000Southern Rwanda is a region of Rwanda. |
Virunga National Park is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. |
It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979, but was labelled a site in danger in 1994 due to political conflict and poaching. |
Virunga National Park is a 7800 square kilometer World Heritage Site that lies on the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it borders Uganda as well as Rwanda. |
It is the oldest national park in Africa and the second oldest in the world (after Yellowstone). |
It is named after the Virunga Mountain (volcanoes) range that lie in the south of the park. |
the park however is much larger and stretches all the way north to envelop Lake Edward as well as the Rwenzori Mountains. |
The history of the park is deeply affected by the country of which it is part. |
For much of its long history, Virunga National Park has struggled to survive through many of Congo's troubled times. |
Thanks to the dedication of certain politicians, conservationists, park rangers and wardens, the park not only has survived, but is currently experiencing a dramatic renewal. |
The park was founded in 1925 by King Albert I of Belgium and originally known as Albert National Park, the first national park on the continent of Africa. |
It was founded primarily to protect the gorillas living in the forests of the Virunga Mountains controlled by the Belgian Congo, but later expanded north to include the Rwindi Plains, Lake Edward and the Rwenzori Mountains in the far north. |
In the first 35 years, the boundary of the park took shape, poaching was kept to a minimum and sustainable tourism thrived due to the work of a large body of hand-picked Congolese rangers and dedicated wardens. |
Land remuneration and the use of park resources such as fishing and hunting by the local population became an on-going problem and attempts were made to solve these issues. |
When the Belgians granted Congo independence in 1960 the new state deteriorated rapidly, and so did the park. |
It was only in 1969 when President Mobutu began to take a personal interest in conservation, that the park was revived. |
In the process it was renamed Virunga National Park, and the first Congolese Wildlife Authority was established (now called ICCN). |
Virunga fared well for the better part of the 1970s. |
Foreign investment helped to improve the park's infrastructure and training facilities, and the park became a popular destination for tourists, receiving on average 6500 visitors a year. |
In 1979 UNESCO designated the park as a World Heritage Site. |
In the mid 1980s the Mobutu regime began to lose its hold on power and the country began a long slide into chaos. |
The park suffered terribly. |
Poaching depleted Virunga's large mammal populations, infrastructure was destroyed, and many rangers were killed. |
The Congolese Wildlife Authority slowly lost control of Virunga and UNESCO changed the World Heritage Site status to endangered. |
Over the twenty-five years that followed, the park staff endured an almost uninterrupted series of trials that included a refugee crisis from the Rwandan Genocide that contributed to the severe destruction of park forests, and armed militia penetration throughout the park. |
The Kivu War, the most recent of Congo's conflicts, centered exactly on the park, with rebel forces occupying the park headquarters and evicting the park's staff. |
By the end of 2008 it seemed as if Virunga was finished. |
The political situation in the DRC has changed exponentially since then. |
The park is back in the hands of the ICCN and enjoying the greatest resurgence of tourism and development in its history. |
International donors are investing in the development of the park's infrastructure at unprecedented levels. |
Virunga's management is efficient and transparent, and morale among the rangers is at an all time high. |
Tourism has increased from zero in 2008, to approximately 2000 in 2010 with numbers growing steadily. |
New tourist activities are being developed in the park, including the habituation of chimpanzees in the Tongo forest and a high-end lodge conveniently located near the center of the three main tourist attractions in the southern sector, north of Goma. |
Africa's first national park survived decades of chaos against all the odds, not because of circumstance but because of the dedication of the rangers and staff who believe in the value of saving Virunga National Park and its wildlife. |
The nightly glow from the lava lake within the Nyiragongo volcano can be seen from miles away |
Virunga National Park is unrivalled in its diversity of landscapes and ecosystems. |
The parks bounderies envelop low land tropical forest in the north; high alpine forest in the Rwenzori Mountains; riverine forest around the Semliki and Rutshuru rivers; swamplands around lake Edward, savannah north and south of the lake; montane forest on the hills of the Virunga volcanoes and old (and new) lava flow landscapes. |
The park boasts an astounding biodiversity due to the large variety of habitats it offers. |
In the southern sector the Mountain Gorillas attract most attention but the montane forests are also home to other primates such as Chimpanzees, Golden monkeys, Blue monkeys and black and white colobus. |
Forest Elephants and Buffalo are also found in this area as is the very shy Golden Cat. |
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