Hey,
Just curious as to if there are chimpanzee treks/tours simialar to that of the Gorilla trek which operate in Rwanda? I have found it difficult to find info on chimps in Rwanda, in comparison to Uganda, which doesnt help because I plan on only going to Rwanda.
Also, is there chimp or gorilla orphanages in Rwanda which can be visited? or even a zoo which allow closer contact with the animals?
thanks
No orphanages or zoos with chimps in Rwanda, as far as I know.
The only place in Rwanda where wild chimps live, is in Nyungwe National Park in the south, between Gikongoro and Cyangugu. In Nyungwe there are many primate species. Famous is a group of hundreds of black and white colobus. Since a couple of months you can do a canopy walk there. There are also treks offered to look for chimps. I havent done it, but chimp watching is not as breathtaking as gorilla watching, because you can see the gorillas from very close distance, only a couple of meters. With chimps you need more luck.
http://www.rwandatourism.com/nyungwe/?PHPSESSID=1c2549ea08537ee118f6de26e4c57dd7
this is from the site of the agency Amahoro Tours:
Day 3 – Nyungwe National Park is the largest block of montane forest in East or Central Africa and is an incredibly rich area of biodiversity but the reason for your visit today is the primates. With 13 species resident you report early in the morning to the Park’s offices before heading off to trek chimpanzee. Overnight Nyungwe
Day 4 – Returning to the National Park today you have the opportunity to do a nature walk, visiting Kamiranzovu waterfall. The forest comprises amongst many things at least 200 tree species, over 280 bird species and more than 100 different types of colourful butterfly. A true feast of the senses for the nature lover. Overnight Nyungwe
Rwanda has got few chimpanzees compared to Uganda. Where as chimpanzees are present at kibale forest, ngamba island, Uganda wild life Education centre, UWEC and kyambura gorge in queen elizabeth Uganda, in Rwanda they can only be found in Nyungwe forest which is also a home to Black and White Colobus, Golden Monkeys and other wildlife.
I think Nyungwe is highly recommendable place to visit, however, seeing primates there is a hit and miss. Chimps are very few, and they can be so distant that it is impossible to to see them the day you want. During two days there we saw blue monkeys only but from a distance.
However, in Cyamudongo there are more chimps which are used to human beings. I understood it takes around 5-6 years of every day contact for the primates to get to used to humans. Cyamudongo is pretty close to Nyungwe, towards Chyangugu so feasible to visit the same time The chimps in Cyamudongo we saw pretty close, i think they were having fun at our expense..
We also did the canopy walk. Breathtaking scenery from there, I found it somewhat scaring, but little opportunity to observe nature around as I had expected.