Gishwati Mukura National Park
Gishwati Mukura National Park is rwanda’s newest national park and its was formally gazette in 2015 under the ambitious landscape restoration program with the main aim of restoring the eco system in the areas through redressing the balance, increasing the number of trees to improve soil fertility, stabilising slopes and regulating stream flow.
It is located in the western part of Rwanda and consists of two separate forests with Gishuti as the largest and mukura the small one that form the 34 square kilometer area of the park with the buffer zone.
Best time to visit Gishwati Mukura National Park
Being located in the eastern part of Africa, the game park is moderately cool which makes it possible to visit all year through. However chimpanzee tracking and birding can best be done in the wet season since the chimps tend to be drawn to the visitor’s trails and presence of some many migratory birds to the park than in the dry season but general wildlife hiking is best done in the dry season since the trail is not slippery.
Bio diversity
The main attraction in Gishwati Mukura National Park is the Africa chimpanzees and other primates like l’Hoest’s monkey, golden monkey and blue monkey that are endemic to the Albertine Rift. Other common animals include; tree hyrax and black-fronted duiker.
Gishwati Mukura National Park is also home to over 395 bird species with 232 species in Gishwati and 163 in mukura forest that which makes bird watching promising. It also has over 14 Albertine Rift endemics specials and forest specialists including Rwenzori turaco and red-throated alethe which makes its bird watching promising.
Located on the ridge that divides the Nile and congo water catchment areas, along the biodiverse albertine rift valley, the park is said to consist of 60 species of trees with indigenous hardwoods and bamboos that favour animal and bird life in the park.
Getting there
Gishwati-Mukura National park has a variety of roads that link it to other major towns like the newly surfaced 85km road from Kigali to the Gishwati forest side or 40km from Rubavu town. The park is best accessed using a 4×4 wheels vehicle that can take around 1-2 hours.
