Nyungwe Forest: Africa’s Most Underrated Safari Destination

Deep in the highlands of southwest Rwanda, where the mist clings to ancient trees and the air tastes faintly of earth and rain, lies one of Africa’s last great secrets.

You have probably heard of the Serengeti. You know about Kruger, Amboseli, and the Okavango. But Nyungwe Forest — a sprawling, primordial rainforest straddling the Congo-Nile divide — remains largely off the radar of the world’s safari circuit. That, it turns out, is precisely its greatest gift.

A Forest Older Than Memory

Nyungwe is not just old. It is ancient in the way that makes you feel small. Covering roughly 1,019 square kilometres of montane rainforest, it is one of the oldest and best-preserved forests on the African continent, with parts believed to have survived the ice ages that stripped much of central Africa bare. While other forests came and went, Nyungwe endured — and in doing so, it became a living ark.

The forest occupies Rwanda’s southwestern highlands, rising from about 1,600 metres to over 2,950 metres above sea level. The altitude gives it a character unlike most African safari destinations. There is no savanna here, no ochre dust or big flat skies. Instead, Nyungwe is a world of layered green — canopy stacked upon canopy, waterfalls threading through gorges, and an almost constant cool mist that makes the whole place feel like something from another era.

It is also, crucially, still intact. Rwanda’s national commitment to conservation — underpinned by legislation, community buy-in, and international partnerships — has meant that Nyungwe has avoided the deforestation that has consumed so much of central Africa’s forested land. What you see here is not a managed fragment. It is the real thing.

Thirteen Primates and Counting

For wildlife enthusiasts, the headline number is thirteen. Nyungwe is home to thirteen species of primates — the highest concentration of any forest in East Africa. The cast includes chimpanzees, l’Hoest’s monkeys, grey-cheeked mangabeys, colobus monkeys, and the charismatic golden monkey, among others. In a single morning’s walk, it is entirely possible to encounter several of them.

The chimpanzees are perhaps the most sought-after. Nyungwe’s habituated chimp communities allow for guided trekking experiences where visitors can spend an hour in close proximity to these intensely intelligent animals. Unlike mountain gorilla encounters — which require a steep permit fee and are often over before they have truly begun — chimp trekking in Nyungwe feels immersive and unhurried. The forest dictates the pace.

The chimpanzees of Nyungwe are not the only primates worth seeking out. The Angolan colobus monkey is a stunning creature — jet black with dramatic white fringing — and Nyungwe hosts one of the largest colobus groups in Africa. Troops of several hundred individuals have been recorded here, moving through the canopy in extraordinary arboreal processions that stop even seasoned naturalists in their tracks.

The golden monkey, found across the Albertine Rift, adds a flash of warm copper to Nyungwe’s deep greens. Habituated troops can be tracked in certain parts of the park, offering encounters as memorable as anything you might find in better-publicised destinations.

Up in the Canopy: The Walkway That Changes Everything

If there is a single experience that crystallises Nyungwe’s extraordinary character, it is the canopy walkway. Suspended approximately 300 metres above the forest floor in the Igishigishigi area, the walkway stretches across a series of platforms connected by swaying steel and mesh bridges. It is not for the faint-hearted — but for those willing to step out above the canopy, the reward is staggering.

From this height, the forest reveals itself as a landscape. The rolling green expanse of Nyungwe stretches in every direction, broken occasionally by the silver thread of a stream or the distant shimmer of Lake Kivu to the west. In the morning, when cloud fills the valleys and only the treetops break the surface, standing on the walkway feels something like standing on an island above the clouds.

The canopy walkway is not just dramatic. It is ecologically illuminating. From below, the forest can feel dense and impenetrable. From above, you understand its structure — the emergent trees punching through the main canopy, the gaps where light floods in and triggers bursts of regeneration, the intricate architecture that supports everything from insects to primates to birds of prey. It is a different classroom altogether.

310 Species of Birds

Birders who discover Nyungwe tend to go slightly quiet with awe. The park is home to over 310 recorded bird species, of which more than 30 are endemic to the Albertine Rift — one of the world’s most important bird zones. The list includes the red-collared mountain babbler, Chapin’s flycatcher, the Rwenzori turaco, the strange weaver, and the striking Grauer’s rush warbler.

Unlike many birding destinations where species are difficult to locate and easily missed, Nyungwe’s relatively compact trail system and knowledgeable local guides mean that dedicated morning birding walks can yield extraordinary results. The forest’s altitude range creates multiple ecological niches, each with its own bird community, giving dedicated birders a diverse and ever-shifting suite of targets across a single visit.

Even for non-birders, the soundscape alone is worth the journey. At dawn, Nyungwe announces itself loudly — a layered chorus of calls, whistles, and resonant booms that rises with the mist and fills the cool highland air with something that feels genuinely alive.

Getting There, Getting In

Nyungwe is a roughly four-to-five-hour drive from Rwanda’s capital Kigali on well-maintained tarmac roads, passing through the tea-covered hills of the southern highlands. Several upmarket lodges — most notably the One&Only Nyungwe House, set amid tea plantations at the forest’s edge — offer accommodation that competes with any in East Africa. Budget and mid-range options exist too, including the forest-edge Nyungwe Top View Hill Hotel and the Rwanda Development Board’s own facilities within the park.

Access to the park requires an entry fee and, for chimpanzee trekking, an additional permit. Both are best booked in advance through the Rwanda Development Board. Guided walks are available at a range of levels, from gentle hour-long forest strolls to full-day hikes through terrain that will test experienced trekkers.

The best time to visit is during the dry seasons — June to September and December to February — when the forest trails are most manageable and wildlife activity is typically higher. That said, Nyungwe in the rain has its own moody, atmospheric appeal that many visitors find just as compelling.

Why It Remains Underrated

The honest answer is proximity and perception. Rwanda’s wildlife story has, for three decades, been dominated by mountain gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park to the north. The gorillas are magnificent — they deserve every word written about them — but they have cast a long shadow over everything else the country offers.

Nyungwe has also lacked the marketing infrastructure that pushes destinations to the top of global travel lists. It does not have the dramatic concentrations of megafauna that make Serengeti footage so immediately compelling. Its rewards require a slightly slower, more attentive mode of travel — one that notices the way light falls through a tree fern, or stops to watch a chimp strip bark from a branch, or simply stands still while a colobus troop passes overhead.

But that, for a growing number of travellers who are weary of crowds and looking for something that feels genuinely undiscovered, is precisely the point. Nyungwe is a destination that gives back in proportion to what you bring to it. Arrive with curiosity and patience, and it will astonish you.

A Final Word on What Is at Stake

Nyungwe is not just remarkable. It is also irreplaceable. The forest serves as a critical water catchment for millions of people across Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a carbon sink of regional importance, a biodiversity refuge of global significance, and a living laboratory for scientists studying everything from primate cognition to climate adaptation.

The pressures are real — encroachment at the edges, climate-driven shifts in rainfall patterns, the slow warming of the highlands. Rwanda’s conservation agencies are well aware of the stakes and have invested heavily in protecting and monitoring the forest. But global attention and the revenue that comes with tourism matter too.

Nyungwe does not need to become the Serengeti. It needs only to be known — and known well enough that the people who visit it understand what they are walking into and why it is worth protecting. Go quietly, go respectfully, and let the forest do the rest.