Rwanda as a country has 4 national parks each having a unique ecosystem that is volcanoes national park

• Akagera national park
• Nyungwe forest national park
• Gishwati Mukuru national park

All these national parks display a striking ecological range from the volcanic highlands and montane forests to savannah plains and wetlands thus making Rwanda the most diverse destination for an african safari.

VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK

Volcanoes national park is situated in the northwest of Rwanda in Musanze village along the Virunga conservation area. with an area cover pf 160 square kilometres is characterised with bamboo forest, thickets, swamps, alpine forests, grasslands, five of the eight Virunga volcanic mountains that is mount Karisimbi, Muhabura, mount Bisoke, mount Gahinga and mount Sabyinyo.

Volcanoes national park is home to a number of wildlife species such as endangered mountain gorillas, golden monkeys, mammals like buffaloes, giant forest hogs, bushpigs and forest elephants and birds like bateleur, handsome francolin, Ruwenzori double collared sunbird and blue spotted wood dove and many more.

Gorilla trekking experience

Volcanoes national park is home to 11 habituated gorilla families that are trekked on a daily basis. The trekking within the volcanoes starts with the briefing about the rules and regulations of the activity at the park headquarters. After the tourists are grouped into 8 people and allocated a gorilla family. after, tourists start to hike in search of the gorillas and once they are located, tourists spend an hour with these gentle giants thus making the Rwanda safari a memorable one.

Besides gorilla trekking, tourists can take part in golden monkey tracking within the volcanoes and other primates. The golden monkey tracking adds depth to the Rwanda safari.

The legacy of Dian Fossey

Dian Fossey was a conservationist and a primatologist who made research about mountain gorillas in 1968. However, she was murdered in 1986 and its believed that it was those who opposed the protection of the mountain gorillas including poachers and hunters.

Before her death, Dian Fossey had published a book titled “Gorillas in the mist” and this was based on her study about the mountain gorillas at the research centre in Karisoke. The book was used in casting a film titled Gorillas in the mist in 1988.  Dian Fossey established a research centre at the foothills of mount Bisoke and named it Karisoke research centre in 1967 since the name was obtained from two mountains that is Karisimbi and mount bisoke.

During her stay, Dian Fossey always opposed poaching and she used to see a number of baby gorillas fight to death to protect themselves from poachers. This forced her to finance a number of patrols in order to destroy the idea of poachers and by 1980 the poachers were destroyed.

Dian Fossey has her favourite gorilla called Digit and this was killed during a hunting session. However later Dian Fossey was as well murdered and was buried next to her favourite gorilla digit. Therefore, while on a Rwanda safari, tourists hike to the grave of Dian Fossey in order to honour her legacy in fighting and conservation of the mountain gorillas.

AKAGERA NATIONAL PARK

Akagera national park is situated in the eastern part of Rwanda and its one of the biggest national parks in Rwanda. Akagera was a forest reserve with a rich biodiversity in flora and fauna species. Akagera was later made a national park in 1934 by the Belgian government and this was done to protect the remaining wildlife species that faced threat.

The akagera national park had faced extinction and the last rhino was last seen in 2007 and the lions as well. Originally the park was a home to over 300 lions and more than 50 black rhinos. However, in 2009 a joint management agreement was signed between an NGO called the african parks and the Rwanda development board in order to manage the park. later a successful relocation of lions in 2015 was made from south Africa and later in 2017, the park received 18 black eastern rhinos from south Africa

With the successful translocation, Akagera’s lost glory was restored and increased on the number of tourists who come for a wildlife safari. the national park is a home to the bigfive animal species that is lions, elephants, buffaloes, rhinos and leopards.

Tourists who visit akagera national park on their Rwanda safari take part in activities like;

• Game drives
• Boat safaris at lake ihema
• Bird watching
• Nature walks

Akagera national park offers a complete and most rewarding african safari within Rwanda.

NYUNGWE NATIONAL PARK

Nyungwe national park is the largest montane forest situated in the south western part of Rwanda at the border of Burundi, lake Kivu to the south and democratic republic of Congo in the east. Nyungwe national park is famous for chimpanzees making chimpanzee tracking the main activity carried out within the forest while on a Rwanda safari. the national park has an area cover of 970 square kilometres which comprised of rainforests, grasslands, bamboo, shrubs and many more.

Chimpanzee trekking

Nyungwe national park has only two habituated chimpanzee groups that is a small one of about 30 chimpanzees in Cyamudongo forest and a larger group of 60 chimpanzees. Therefore, while on a Rwanda safari, tourists get the opportunity to trek the chimpanzees which can last from 2 hours to 5 hours.

Besides chimpanzees, the forest is home to other primate species such as grey checked monkeys, olive baboons, Angola colobus monkeys and red tailed monkeys among others

Nyungwe canopy walk

The canopy walk is among the major activities in nyungwe forest national park. the canopy walkway is 60meters above from the ground and 100meters long. The canopy has 3 sections but the middle one id the one with the highest height. While in the middle, tourists cant see the ground. However, while on a canopy walk tourists get the opportunity to see primates such as red tailed monkeys, blue monkeys with an Aeriel view.

GISHWATI MUKURA NATIONAL PARK

Gishwati mukura is the newest national park in Africa and it was officially opened to the public on 1^st December 2020. The national park was formed by combining two national parks that is mukura and gishwati in order to protect the chimpanzees populations. Besides the chimpanzees the national park is home to the golden monkeys, blue monkeys and the L’hoests monkeys.

Before the formation of the two parks, they had faced extinction as a result of human encroachment after the genocide of 1994. The corridor that connected the two forests to nyungwe national park disappeared thus leaving the chimpanzees population and other wildlife isolated and 60% of the animals were lost by that time.

When the government went into partnership with the wilderness safari to restore what was lost, stop encroachment and sensitize the community about the importance and benefit of the park. therefore tourists on an african safari can visit the park and have an encounter with the primates thus making the Rwanda safari memorable.