Tracking the primates in Rwanda
Tracking the primates in Rwanda
Rwanda is home to chimpanzees as well a host of monkeys; colobus, golden, L’Hoest’s, owl faced, Dent’s, blue and vervet, alongside olive baboons as well as the nocturnal potto and bushbabies. There are 13 primate species in Nyungwe National Park and this represents like 20-25% of the total number of primates in Africa. This is a remarkable figure that in East Africa is compared only to Uganda’s Kibale Forest. Gishwati-Mukura National park is also home to Chimpanzees, L’Hoest’s monkeys, blue monkeys, golden monkeys, white and black colobus monkeys. Gishwati is home to a group of 20 chimpanzees which live alongside golden monkeys, L’Hoest’s and Blue Monkeys.
Tracking the primates in Rwanda is a perfect holiday activity for nature lovers and adventurers. Within Nyungwe National Park you cannot possibly run out of things to do. Located in south western Rwanda, just a 4-5 hour drive from Kigali the Rwanda capital, this park is quite simply the perfect tourist destination. Chimpanzee Trekking is the main park activity. These sociable creatures live in extended communities and move around every day, foraging for food or occasionally hunting smaller mammals. They build fresh nests in the trees each night. It is common to hear the chimpanzees before seeing them, with their vocalisations reverberating through the forest as they call to each other in a sort of bonding ritual. Tracking starts early, at 5.30am, and can last anything from an hour to several hours depending on where the chimps are, visitors spend a maximum of one hour with them once they are found.
Tracking the primates in Rwanda with Loyal Tours & Safaris gives you the best chances of sporting different types of monkeys as it takes you to the home of the most of the celebrated of these primates including the Rwenzori Colobus which is also a race of the wide spread Angola Colobus that is restricted to the Albertine Rift. This Rwenzori Colobus is acrobatic and arboreal leaf eater that is easily notable from any other type of primate found in Nyungwe just by contrasting black over all colours and snow white whiskers, the shoulders and the tail tip. Even though all the colobus monkeys are so sociable, the ones in Nyungwe are also unique since they move in troops of many animals. There is a semi habituated troop of over 400 and are residents in the forest around the campsite and the largest troop of the arboreal primates in Africa or elsewhere in the world. There are also the Chinese golden monkeys that move in groups of a similar number. Most of the monkeys in this park are Guenons, which is also a collective name for the taxonomically confusing cercopithecus genus.
Tracking the primates in Rwanda becomes much amazing when it comes to Chimpanzee Trekking which is challenging with these chimpanzees not so habituated and are always shy, also their human instincts are so strong and they show a lot of curiosity and the eagerness when the tourists are around. The chimps are moving constantly around and at high speeds, jumping from tree to tree making noise, thus chimpanzee tracking has no limit, keeping up with them is also the main challenge and the biggest determining factor of the amount of time that is spent with them. Of all the primates that are found in Nyungwe forest, it’s the chimpanzees that are the famous ones and core wildlife attractions in this national park.
Monkeys trekking gives you the opportunity to see the other types of monkeys found in Nyungwe forest such as; Silver monkeys, L’Hoest Monkey, Owl faced monkeys, golden monkeys, the red tailed monkey, crowned monkey, the Dent;s Mona Monkey, vervet monkey and the Olive baboon that is a savannah monkey and is infrequently seen along the road through Nyungwe, Grey cheeked mangabey is also an arboreal monkey of the forest. Colobus monkeys form a unique supergroup in Nyungwe and are easily recognisable with their black and white colouring and long hair, a dream for wildlife photographers. L’Hoest’s monkeys are endemic to Albertine Rift and can be found in Nyungwe and Gishwati Forest. They have a dark coat with a white beard and live in small groups dominated by females, with a single male.
Visit National Parks in Rwanda can be done anytime of the year. However for chimpanzee trekking, the wet season is the best to visit the park and the season runs from May to October. By this time chimps are easily located in the forest. Raining seasons are as follow; long rains; Rwanda receives long rains that between March up to May, during these months it rains persistently and the rain falls in heavy volumes.
At Loyal Tours & Safaris we do everything possible to offer memorable adventures to those wanting to explore the hottest and most unique primate’s safaris in Rwanda, thus BOOK NOW!
