How to book a Chimpanzee trekking permit for Giswhati-Mukura National park in Rwanda?  This is the latest and newest park to be added to Rwanda’s list of National parks with a number of ctivities. The park was created after two forests of Mukura forest and Gishwati Forest was combined or merged in the year 2015. Gishwati-Mukura national park covers an area of 34 square kilometers and this makes it the smallest national park in Rwanda and probably the listed visited national park in the country. The park is situated along the Albertine Rift and the ridge separating Congo and the Nile water catchment area.

Despite its small size, Gishwati-Mukura national park harbors various primate species, reptiles, bird species, and tree species making it so interesting for the visitors not to miss out on visiting this wonderful national park. The park is the home to the Eastern endangered chimpanzees and these chimpanzees have made this park famous despite its latest formation. These chimpanzees exist in the forest with L-Hoest monkeys, golden monkeys, and blue monkeys. A park from primates, the park has recorded over 233 bird species some of which can be only found in the Albertine Rift. The presence of such birds makes it a unique birding destination in Rwanda. It was a wise decision to gazette this area as the national park since most of the area was resettled and cleared by the people for livestock keeping and agriculture. The declaration of Gishwati-Mukura Forest as a National park since 2015 has seen the conservation efforts uplifted and make the ecosystem at its best.

How to book a Chimpanzee permit trekking in Gishwati-Mukura National Park-Rwanda

For any visitor to take part in chimpanzee tracking in Gishwati-Mukura in Rwanda, you must book and get a chimpanzee trekking permit early in advance from Rwanda Tourism Board. As long as you have made up your minds and you want to travel, then you will let us know of the dates you intent to travel and we shall check for the availability of the chimpanzee trekking permit on that particular date online with Rwanda Development Board after we shall get back to you and confirm the availability and we send you an invoice for you to make payment. Once you have paid, then we get a notification on our account that you have paid, then we shall book and secure you a chimpanzee permit in your names and other details and we shall share with you the scanned copies of the receipts and permits for your records and once this is done then you will just have to wait for the day for you to fly to Kigali-Rwanda and engage in the chimpanzee tracking in Gishwati-Mukura National Park.

How much is Chimpanzee Trekking in Gishwati-Mukura National Park-Rwanda

In Gishwati-Mukura National Park, chimpanzee trekking there is mainly for research purposes and at the moment there is no permit price that is set for this particular chimpanzee tracking in this park. Remember, that the chimpanzee trekking permit is exclusive of transport and accommodation costs as well as the guiding fee. You can contact us for more information on chimpanzee tracking in Rwanda we are ready to help on a 24/7 hour basis.

What is the best time for chimpanzee trekking in Gishwati-Mukura National Park-Rwanda?

Gishwati-Mukura National is open for visitation throughout the year and therefore you can visit the park for chimpanzee trekking but the dry season is the best season for gorilla trekking especially in February, May, June, July, August, Early September, and December. It is important to note that the rainy season is also best and increases food availability all over the park and this makes chimpanzees available to most parts of the park which makes visibility easy for visitors. But the rainy season makes the trails in the park slippery thus making hiking safaris and chimpanzee trekking safaris in the forest very difficult. And thus at African Adventure Vacation, we recommend that you should take chimpanzee trekking tours to Gishwati-Mukura during the dry season as this time the park is dry and the vegetation cover can be seen through as compared to the wet season.

Gishwati-Mukura National Park in Rwanda features chimpanzee tracking as the major activity carried out within the park. By doing this activity, you will be able to see the chimpanzee and other primates that find the forest as the home. Other primates you might see while doing chimpanzee trekking include blue monkeys, Golden monkeys, Baboons, and L’Hoest’s Monkeys. chimpanzee tracking starts early in the morning with the briefing of the visitors about what they ought to do and not do while in the forest looking for chimpanzees and after the briefing, they go to the forests and led by ranger guides to search for chimpanzees, you can as well see many bird species as you track chimpanzees.

Other Safari activities at Gishwati-Mukura National Park

Besides chimpanzee trekking in Giswhati-Mukura National park, there are a number of tourism activities one may under take. These include the following;

Guided Nature Walks at Gishwati-Mukura National Park

The management of Rwanda established trails in the park that enables visitors to explore the forested park. Guided nature walks enable visitors to see very many species including forest tree species, the nice-looking vegetation cover, species such as the chameleon, butterflies, insects, bird species, and other several primates. There are over sixty tree species that can be seen in the forest and these include Ferns, Macaranga, Eucalyptus, Bamboo, Dombeys Kilimand, Mahogany, Polyscias fulva among others.

Primate tracking at Gishwati-Mukura National Park

This is the major activity done in Gishwati-Mukura National Park. Visitors will see the rare primates including chimpanzees, baboons, golden monkeys, Blue monkeys, and L’Hoest’s Monkeys during the activity of chimpanzee tracking. chimpanzee tracking starts early in the morning with the briefing of the visitors about what they ought to do and not do while in the forest looking for chimpanzees and after the briefing, they go to the forests and led by ranger guides to search for chimpanzees, you can as well see many bird species as you track chimpanzees.

Bird watching safaris in Gishwati-Mukura National Park

Gishwati-Mukura National Park is one of the parks that offer amazing bird-watching safaris in Rwanda. There are over 232 bird species that inhabit Gishwati-Mukura National Park and these include among others Ruwenzori Batis, Regal Sunbird, Wood hoopoes, Red-throated Alethe, Mountain Yellow Warblers, Ruwenzori Turaco, Martial Eagle, Stripe-breasted Tit, the Grey Crowned Crane, Strange weavers among others.

Visiting tours to the Waterfall in Gishwati-Mukura National Park.

Visitors visiting Gishwati-Mukura National Park can also follow the waterfall hiking trail that provides one of the best adventures. The hiking trail will lead you to Kazeneza waterfall which is found in the middle of the forest to provide you with good looking views of the park and its associated features like primates and chimpanzees.

Biking and Cycling via the Congo Nile Trail in Gishwati-Mukura National Park

This is one of the wonderful trails that most visitors follow when visiting Gishwati-Mukura National Park. It provides the best experience with visitors cycling up to the shorelines of Lake Kivu via Nyungwe Forest National Park. Visitors can also decide to go and tour different communities adjacent the park and engage in different community-based activities such as beekeeping, plantation farming tours, enjoy the live cultural dance of the people, and have a glimpse at traditional herbalist who uses traditional medicines and herbs to treat fellow local community members and get cured.

How to get to Gishwati-Mukura National park

Gishwati-Mukura National park is located in Rwanda and visitors can access the park by flying to Kigali international airport and then drive for about two hours on the road from Kigali to the park, chartered flights can also be organized for those interested in air transport from Kigali international airport to Gishwati-Mukura National Park. Visitors can also get to Gishwati-Mukura National Park through Bwindi impenetrable forest National Park in Uganda which makes it possible to combine the safaris to Gishwat-Mukura National Park with gorilla tracking in Bwindi impenetrable forest National Park.

Where you can stay at Gishwati-Mukura National Park

Yes, there few accommodation facilities around Gishwati-Mukura National Park in Rwanda and this has been attributed to the fact that the park is the newest of all parks in Rwanda. However, the best accommodation lodge available is known as Gishwati Lodge. The lodge provides luxurious accommodation facilities and services for visitors and comes with around 6 perfect chalets each taking nit more than fifteen guests at once. This means that visitors interested in staying at this lodge must book it early in advance to avoid inconveniences. Giahwati-Mukura national park is close to Kivu and volcanoes national park and therefore we recommend that you can book an accommodation facility around these places as you do your chimpanzee tracking in Giswati-Mukura National Park.