Mount Bigugu Trail is one of the most challenging Hiking trail in Nyungwe forests. For visitors seeking to biggest and difficulty treks in Nyungwe, Mount Bigugu trails comes handy as their perfect choice that sees them hiking up to the highest peak of the park. For bird lovers, Mount Bigugu trail offers the best opportunity for birders to encounter unique and rare bird species in Nyungwe including Red-collared Mountain-babbler among others.
At the Summit of Mount Bigugu- Photo credit Nyungwe Trail Guide
This mount Bigugu trail also offer an exciting walk through an array of flora in Nyungwe. Ascend the summit in the dry season and you may be rewarded with three fiery blossoms to light your way to the top the large, conical, orange owers of the orchid, Disa robusta, red-orange owers of Red-hot Poker and the scarlet owers of the endemic Nyungwe Jewelweed. The latter two might look familiar as they’ve found their way into gardens across European and North America. Also special to Bigugu is the beautiful little Lobelia petiolata, which occurs only between elevations of 2,400 and 3,000 meters.
Visitors get to hike Mount Bigugu Trail from an elevation of 150m in the first half a Kilometer of the steep mountainside. Come in to encounter with the mossy old roadbed set in contours around the shallows prominences on the long shoulder of the mountain. This section of Mount Bigugu trail, being relatively flat and very pretty, provides some of the most pleasant three km of hiking in the park and is a welcome relief after the steep start.
Upon hiking to the summit, visitors are embraced with the most outstanding 360 degrees overview of the entire park from above. On a clear day, you can see the shimmer of Lake Kivu beckoning in the distance, the hills and islands of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the extension of Nyungwe’s forest in Kabira National Park in Burundi. If you’re lucky, you may even see the proud summits of Volcanoes National Park, home to the majestic mountain gorillas in Rwanda.
Nyungwe Forests is world over known for its high populations of Chimpanzees in Africa and visitors around the world flock the park for Chimpanzee tracking in Rwanda and for Canopy Walk. One & Nyungwe House is set right at the edge of the forest to provide visitors with superb accommodation and ensure that their visit is as comfortable and memorable.