Chimpanzee Habituation Experience in Gisovu Nyungwe Forest
Chimpanzee Habituation Experience in Gisovu Nyungwe Forest National Park. Visitors can now book this newest experience to spend more time with chimpanzees and trackers. Guests become trackers, collect field data, study chimpanzee behaviors, diet, and day range, locate chimpanzees s using trackers, and study chimpanzees poop. This is an in-depth experience with the Chimpanzees in their natural habitat. Book Now
This experiential activity is more elaborate (compared to chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe) and involves visitors visiting wilder chimpanzees that are still undergoing their habituation (training to make them used to human presence).
For many years, the extraordinary Chimpanzee Habituation Experience was done in Uganda (especially Kibale Forest National Park and Budongo Forest) and visitors who were interested in the adventure could only book primate safaris in Uganda but of recent, travelers to Rwanda can also get the chance to book and enjoy the adventure.
Nyungwe Forest, one of the most outstanding chimpanzee trekking destinations in Africa is home to over 400 chimpanzees and four renowned chimpanzee communities. Of these communities, three are fully habituated for trekking adventures while one is still undergoing habituation and thus available for this life-changing experience.
Being more elaborate, the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience allows visitors to study these Great Apes from the time they leave their nests in the morning, and go about their daily routines (feeding, resting, nursing infants, grooming each other, mating, playing, and others) while studying their diet, and overall behavior hence providing more details and accurate information which wouldn’t otherwise be attained during the normal chimpanzee trekking adventures. Interestingly, unlike the standard chimp treks, visitors have more than one hour with these Great Apes, which are surprisingly our closest relatives in the animal Kingdom.
Best time to enjoy the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience in Gisovu -Nyungwe Forest
The Chimpanzee Habituation Experience in Nyungwe Forest is available all year round, although seasons provide different experiences. During the dry months (July to September, December to February), the forest trails are drier, less muddy, and navigable hence making it possible for primate lovers to gain access to the deeper parts of the forest on foot. For the wet months (March to May, and October/November), there are daily showers that make forest trails muddy and slippery hence more difficult to navigate the forest while searching for the Great Apes.
What to pack/wear for the Chimpanzee Habituation Experience in Gisovu- Nyungwe Forest
Regarding what to pack for the chimpanzee Habituation Experience in Nyungwe Forest, you should not miss a rain jacket, a first aid kit, a pair of binoculars, a good camera, a backpack, enough drinking water, energy-giving snacks, and then make sure to wear cotton socks in your hiking boots, a long-sleeved shirt, lightweight and comfortable trousers/pants, gardening gloves, and an insect repellant.
More about Nyungwe National Park
Situated in the southwestern side of Rwanda and sprawling over 1000 square kilometers is Nyungwe Forest National Park, a biodiversity haven known for sheltering the largest area of Afromontane rainforest in the African Continent. This Park is contiguous with Burundi’s Kibira National Park to the South as well as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lake Kivu to the west. Being the country’s second-largest Protected isn’t all to this Park but is also rich with over 1050 plant species of which 250 are endemic to the Albertine Rift Valley. There are also 85 mammal species including 13 species of primates, over 320 bird species, 200 orchids, 120 butterfly species, and over 38 species of reptiles, among others.
Besides the Chimpanzee habituation Experience, Nyungwe Forest is also known for other interesting tourist activities that include the standard and more popular Chimpanzee trekking tours, guided forest walks/hiking (thanks to over 150 kilometers of hiking trails), bird watching, visiting tea plantation around the Park, community walks/tours which are done around the surrounding villages, Canopy walks, and the black and white colobus monkey tracking tours.
Where to stay around Nyungwe Forest
If you are looking for where to stay before and after your chimpanzee habituation Experience in Nyungwe Forest, look no further because there are many incredible accommodation options around the Protected Area. These include One & Only Nyungwe House, Nyungwe Top Hill View Hotel, Gisakura Family Hostel, and many others.
