In 1903, during the colonial era, Nyungwe which was Colonial crown land was declared a forest reserve by the German colonial government. There was a period between 1958 and 1973 when the area reduced by due to fires, woodcutting, and poaching of animals, the sq. km coverage of the forest reduced by a whole 150 sq. km. But the elephant population was still quite large. In 1974, the last of the buffaloes were killed. Fast forward to 1984, some biodiversity studies conducted in the area by the Wildlife conservation society revealed a vast population of Colobus living in groups of up to 400 members! Tourist and research facilities were later set up in Uwinka, but most of these were destroyed during the genocide in 1994.

Then the restoration work began in 1995, in an environment that was still riddled with paranoia and uncertainty. But the work went on and in 2005 Nyungwe forest was declared a national park and officially a protected area. The designation of “National Park” is the highest protection level in Rwanda in terms of nature conservation. Nyungwe Forest National Park was established as a national park in 2004. This happened at a time when Rwanda was on the list of top ten tourist destinations according to Lonely Planet ratings. The country was also decidedly looking to expand its tourism sector and determined to grow tourist numbers at the time.

Clearly establishing Nyungwe was a good decision for Rwanda. The Park is an important water catchment for Rwanda and contains many natural resources that are quite useful to the Rwandan people. The beautiful green forest is also quite important to two of Africa’s great rivers. The rain that falls on the east side feeds the Nile and on the west runs to the Congo. The top things to see and do in Nyungwe forest in Rwanda which is also a land of thousand hills is also home too many natural wonders and the forest is one of them. This forest also covers an area of over 1000 sq kilometers and it’s even larger than it extends into Burundi where Kibira National park.

This national park is also the largest tropical afro Montane rainforest east or central Africa and rainforest it is and receives over 2000mm of rain each year and its Rwanda’s largest water catchment area and it’s home to 2/3rds of all Rwanda’s water.  The forest also feeds both the river Congo and the River Nile with water. When you arrive in Nyungwe forest, you come here on the winding roads through the huge tea fields and then there is Nyungwe forest national park, like developing its massiveness like a national Geographic Video and only better since you are here in that large forest with its endless Kamiranzovu swamp, the trails throughout, the forest canopy walk, which is the only one in East Africa, the chances for birding, the primate tracking and viewing and taking in the flowers like the orchids that are found here and the many butterflies that they attract.

Nyungwe is also not a compact park but large forest and the things to do and see here also take some planning as that your time on the safari is not wasted with drive times. You can also find over 300 different bird species, many butterflies, orchids, 75 mammals species including the 13 primates, and there have also been the sightings of the golden monkeys. Also, the park is with its uncountable of the natural wonders and is not missed if you are coming to Rwanda and it will be one of those items to mountain gorilla tracking in Rwanda.