Nyungwe House is refreshingly modern and the best choice for visiting Nyungwe Forest. The lodge is surrounded by tea fields and during the week the workers pick the delicate top tea leaves and carry the harvest to the factory.

The main house is centrally located and elevated on the hill and is surrounded in a semicircle by the individual rooms. The lodge offers a good restaurant, a tea lounge, a bar and a beautiful terrace. Here you can have a wonderful breakfast in the morning when the sun rises behind the forest and the first rays of sun fall on the lush green meadows.

The rooms are in single houses, four rooms per house. In addition there are three suites featuring two bedrooms each. All rooms have a fireplace, air conditioning, safe, tea/coffee station, hairdryer, telephone and WiFi. From your balcony you can see the green of the Nyungwe Forest and sometimes some curious monkeys appear.

There is also a separate heated swimming pool and spa with fitness room.

Established as a national park in 2004, Nyungwe Forest is Africa’s largest mountainous rain forest (970 km²). It is located on the western foothills of East Africa’s Albertine Rift, to which belongs the adjacently situated Mount Huye. The flanks of the Albertine Rift rise up to 3000 metres, traversing Rwanda from north to south.

With an annual rainfall of over 2000 mm, the evergreen Nyungwe Forest is a so-called cloud or fog forest. Nyungwe House is located close to Gisakura on the forest’s western edge.

The lodge can be reached by car from Kigali in approximately 6 hours. You actually cross Nyungwe Forest from East to West before reaching the lodge.

With 75 different species of mammals and hundreds of species of birds and plants, many of them endemic, Nyungwe Forest’s biodiversity is remarkable. Its mammal population includes chimpanzees and Ruwenzori colobus monkeys, which can be visited as part of an exciting trek.

There are two habituated chimpanzee groups in Nyungwe Forest. One lives near Uwinka in the middle of the forest, the other in a separate forest called Cyamudongo (pronounced Cha-mu-dongo). This forest can be reached from the Gisakura Reception Center in about an hour's drive and offers the best chance to see the chimpanzees.

Some Colobus monkeys live in a forest just behind the lodge, in Gisakura Forest. Since 2005 this small forest has also been part of the park. From the Reception Center you walk through tea plantations to the forest, which can be reached in about 20 minutes.

Chimpanzee trekking starts at a heavy 05 am. Further activities include colobus monkey trekking, various hikes that last between 1 and 7 hours, a canopy walk, several cultural activities and a visit to the Gisakura Tea Estates.

Chimpanzee trekking is only available to guests aged 15 or over.

The visits of the chimpanzees, the Colobus Monkeys and the walks within the park are always guided by a ranger and are subject to a fee. The permits are obtained by us in advance.

The lodge itself offers various additional activities for which you can register at the reception the evening before.

SwissAfrican Travel Service
Dammstrasse 27
8702 Zollikon
Zurich, Switzerland


Telephone: +41 (0)44 451 40 51