Gishwati Mukura National Park
Gishwati Mukura national park is a new national park that opened in 2015 in Rwanda. The main reason for the park’s establishment was to protect the country’s wildlife, especially the chimps, who live in the park. The park is the smallest park and is made up of Gishwati forest and Mukura forest. It is 34 square kilometres in size. Gishwati Mukura is one of the most famous national park on a Rwanda safari right now. It lets visitors see some species from the Albertine area. The park is in the northwest corner of the country of Rwanda.
Attractions in Gishwati Mukura National Park.
Primates.
On a Rwanda safari, Gishwati Mukura National Park is the most excellent destination to see primates. This is because the park hosts the greatest number of them. Due to the park’s dense forests, chimpanzees, which are the park’s main draw, live there. Other primates like white and black colobus monkeys, olive baboons, and others can also be seen in the park.
Animal species.
Gishwati Mukura national park is home to quite a few animal species, mostly primates like chimpanzees but also African Palm civet, serval cat, side striped jackal, Giant pouched rat, bush pig, black fronted duiker that can be seen in the forest and also the countless number of the big number of mammals like the buffalos which makes your safari to the park perfect.
Bird species.
Gishwati Mukura national park hosts the largest numbers of beautiful and colurful bird species that stay in the different tree species that boasts the large number of bird species to inhabit the area including Grey Crowned Crane, Regal Sunbird, Ruwenzori Batis, Dusky Crimson wing, Mountain Yellow Warblers and among many others, hence making the park to be wonderful birding haven.
Activities to do in Gishwati Mukura National Park.
Chimpanzee trekking.
The main safari activity in Gishwati Mukura National Park is chimpanzee trekking safari. This starts with a briefing at the park offices early in the morning about the rules and regulations to follow while chimpanzee trekking. After the briefing, you can split up into different groups led by well-trained guides who take you on different trekking trails deep in the jungles to find these primates that are similar to humans because they share 98% of our DNA.
The safari activity takes between 30 minutes and four hours, and when the visitors find the chimps, they have an hour to spend with them and watch how they behave, such as how they play, eat, and how the older ones take care of the younger ones and many other impressive ones.
Bird watching.
Gishwati Mukura National Park has a beautiful bird-watching safari destination. The park is known as a paradise for birders because it has over 150 different kinds of birds. Some of these birds are threatened, like the Rwenzori Blue Turaco, which lives in the Albertine Rift. Other bird species that can be seen in the park include Martial Eagle, Grey Crowned Crane, grasshopper buzzard, Regal Sunbird, Cardinal woodpecker, red-faced barbet, booted eagle, strange weaver, African hill babbler, Albertine boubou, Archer’s robin-chat, Blue-headed coucal, Blue-headed sunbird, Dusky crimsonwing, Grauer’s swamp warbler, Handsome francolin, Kivu ground thrush, Lühder’s bush-shrike, Mountain buzzard, Mountain masked apalis and among many others.
Guided nature walks and hiking.
Guided nature walks and hiking can be enjoyed at Gishwati Mukura National Park. These safari activities are done with the help of well-trained guides or armed ranger guides while taking different trekking trails like the waterfall trail, Umushwati trail, Matyazo trail, and others. They protect you from dangerous animal species while taking you on different hiking trails. In Gishwati Mukura national park, guided nature walks and hiking give guests the best chance to see Kazenenza waterfall and meet primates, mammals, and a huge number of bird species.
Cultural experiences.
When travelers go on safari to Gishwati Mukura national park, they can take culture tours with the people who live near the park. Here, tourists can get to know the locals by watching them go about their daily lives, listening to their stories, and watching traditional musicians perform. Also right here travelers can be capable to discover the way to make the art and crafts, preparing local food and many more, delighting in sighting the traditional healers who use the local herbs to cure multiple illnesses.
Biking.
In Gishwati Mukura national park, you can ride your bike along the Congo Nile trail, which will make your excursion the most exciting one ever on a safari in the park. The Congo Nile trail goes right by the park, giving visitors a chance to see animals like chimpanzees, monkeys, blue monkeys, olive baboons, and many different kinds of birds.
Best time to visit Gishwati Mukura National Park.
Gishwati Mukura National park can be explored at any time of the year. Though the dry season or peak season provides an opportunity to visit the park between June to September and December to February that’s when there can be less rainfall in the park. This makes chimpanzee trekking trails to be navigable not treacherous or muddy like in the rainy season, again that’s when the park’s greenery can be short and thin resulting in outstanding views of the wildlife that are in the park.
Even though tourists who visit Gishwati Mukura national park during the rainy season (March to May and October to November) like being able to explore the park on their own and find it easy to spot chimpanzees because they are spread out all over the park when there’s food, that’s also when they get big discounts on the accommodation.
Where to stay in Gishwati Mukura National Park.
Travellers who come to visit Gishwati Mukura National Park are offered and stipulated with different safari accommodations that are both convenient and cosy for the tourists that are divided into Budget, Mid-range and luxury accommodation for example like Gishwati Lodge, Emeraude Kivu resort, INZU lodge, Peace guest hotel, Uwinka campsite, Comoran Lodge and many others.
How to get to Gishwati-Mukura National Park.
There are different ways to get to Gishwati Mukura National Park, including by road and by air. That is, people can drive from Kigali, which is the capital of Rwanda, to the park. It takes about two hours to drive there. You can also get to the park by plane, which is the fastest way to get there. A chartered flight from Kigali to Gishwati Mukura National Park is the best way to get there.