Nyungwe National Park is located on the road between Huye (Butare) and Rusizi (Cyangugu). From Butare, it is a one and a half hour winding drive, including an impressive 54 km long forest crossing. The entrance (tourist site of Uwinka) is in the center of the forest, at an altitude of 2,460 m. Covering 1,019 km2, the Nyungwe forest, which sometimes looks like a huge broccoli, is admirable in many ways. In any case, our cousins the primates have found their paradise there: chimpanzees, silver monkeys, mangabeys, colobus monkeys... To see the chimpanzees and colobus monkeys, the appointment is made at 5 am, or even 4:30 am, at the park office, Uwinka or Gisakura, depending on the group, a fact to be taken into account if you do not have a motorized vehicle or if you are staying far away from the park entrance. It will be necessary to reserve in advance because the chimpanzee trek is only done in groups of 8 people maximum. The forest is home to two chimpanzee communities that welcome visitors (one in Cyamudongo and the other near Uwinka). Nyungwe is also home to over 322 species of birds, including 30 endemic species. Among them, the superb giant touraco of Ruwenzori, always in couple, and definitely solitary when the spouse dies. The vegetation also conceals a thousand treasures. There are 1,068 plant species, including more than 250 species of trees. They are used for everything: here, a tree with a hollow trunk that is used to make drums, there a bark that increases the alcohol content of banana beer, a little further on, the umusekera, whose leaves are smeared on the breasts of girls to find a husband (but the story does not say what the man must do to find a wife). Nearly 150 species of orchids have been recorded, to be seen especially in May and June. Many plants have curative virtues, against amoebae in particular, or to heal, such as the begonia. The guide may show you the umukipfu(Sericostachys scandens), which blooms every fifteen years. But its flowering, says the legend, announces great misfortunes! Let's be reassured: there was not the shadow of a flower on this plant at the last passage of the Petit Futé. In fact, no one knows when it last bloomed..Nyungwe National Park is full of beautiful hikes, a paradise for nature lovers, not to be missed. At least, unless you are sensitive to vertigo, the walk in the canopy, 50 m above the ground, 90 m long, is already an incredible sight, with a little note of adventure.

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Pictures and images Parc National De Nyungwe

Parc national de Nyungwe. Tetyana Dotsenko - Shutterstock.com
A l'entrée de la forêt de Nyungwe.. François JANNE DOTHEE
Cascade dans la forêt de Nyungwe. François JANNE D'OTHÉE
Colobus dans le Parc national de Nyungwe. Tetyana Dotsenko-Shutterstock.com

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