Discovering the Wildlife and Conservation of Rwanda

We are crouched among the towering hardwoods of the Nyungwe National Park forest in Rwanda’s south-west. Orange butterflies flutter and ricochet between us and the plants. On a gentle incline, through a gap in the vegetation, we watch a baby chimp twirling from a loose branch while her mother lies supine beneath her, kissing her youngster’s feet – a scene of silent tenderness that immobilizes us in fascination. It’s the payoff after an hour spent trying to keep up with their group, scrabbling through the forest slopes. The apes are now, finally, resting after their breakfast.

Our guide recounts the time he witnessed a group of them celebrating the birth of a newborn between the six-foot-high buttress roots of a tree. “The males stood in a line and they took turns to hold the baby and kiss it,” he smiles. The humanness of such behavior seems incredible, though it should come as no surprise: chimpanzee cultures are rich in variety and improvisation, just like humans. It’s sewn up in our shared DNA.

We are observing one of two habituated groups among Nyungwe’s 500-strong population. The national park is a conservation success story, going strong despite humanity’s best efforts to reduce it and its fauna. Hacked down for timber, honey collection, farming, and gold mining, the forest and its seemingly infinite riches were plundered with abandon. Poachers picked off the last buffalo in 1974. Then came the Tutsi genocide of 1994, and the forest buckled under the strain of refugees seeking subsistence meals and wood for shelter. Since then, however, Rwanda has made a turnaround, guarding and nurturing its natural treasures with the same ardor that once depleted them, and ensuring that Nyungwe remains Africa’s largest protected montane forest.

A Ross’s turaco glides between trees overhead, its red wings made translucent by the sun’s rays. Grey-cheeked mangabey monkeys rustle the foliage and create dancing spots of sunlight around the forest. We encounter a large male chimp resting on his back beneath a tree, his left hand cradling the back of his head. His eyes settle on me with an incuriosity tinged with attitude. Our fascination with him is clearly not reciprocated. It’s our less human-like cousins – olive baboons – who are more inquisitive. A family of them sit in the trees above our path and eyeball us unblinkingly as we head out of the forest.

The road north of Nyungwe winds through countryside that undulates so frequently it makes Rwanda’s Land of a Thousand Hills moniker sound like an undercount. There is a constant sense of being airborne, as if hot air ballooning over beautiful, lush slopes and the serrated fronds of banana trees. We stop to buy and eat sugar cane from boys on the roadside, but when I try to fling the fibrous pulp out of the car window afterwards, my driver politely tells me to desist. Even if it’s biodegradable, it’s against the law, he says. Things are regulated tightly in Rwanda, from refuse management to social cohesion: on the roadside, there are community gatherings, known as umuganda (“coming together to achieve an outcome”). Neighbors, no matter how fraught their past history, are obligated to convene and clean roads or plough fields together once a month.

The Spirit of Conservation in Rwanda

Rwanda is the “quiet man of Africa,” so much so that conversation between newly acquainted compatriots above a certain age can be oddly mute at times. The usual African icebreakers (“What’s your ethnicity?” “What of your parents?”) are sensitively sidestepped; personal histories buried beneath pain and conflict-averse silence. Fiery emotions are made to lie dormant, much like the volcanoes that dot the country’s northwest landscape.

We see them rising from the horizon on our approach to the Wilderness Bisate eco-lodge, a series of beautiful villas built on the hillside. The sinuousness of their wicker-like balconies flows with nature and affords an up-close view of the surrounding flora and fauna. I find myself eye-level with a hagenia treetop that attracts yellow-bellied waxbills and Rwenzori double-collared sunbirds. The sight of the latter’s electric green-and-red plumage flitting among the branches captivates me for several soothing minutes.

A Glimpse into the Biodiversity of Rwanda

The valley resounds with noises of village life lived outdoors: children shouting playfully, cows mooing, ingoma drums pounding in unspecified celebration. I hear these sounds during a late afternoon hike in the land surrounding the lodge, guided by Bisate’s agronomist, Jean-Moise Habimana. We pass villagers standing waist-high in a sea of white pyrethrum flowers, a natural pesticide that’s harvested and sold. Plants such as these were introduced by Europeans in the 1930s, which is why Bisate is on a mission to return this area to its natural state. The lodge has enlisted Habimana and a team of agronomists to take an inventory of all trees and sow native saplings.

So far, Bisate has planted nearly 90,000 native specimens, including redwoods and lobelia, to replace the rampant eucalyptus, which, although useful for firewood and building houses, hogs water at the expense of other vegetation. The newly reforested acres are already working their magic: golden monkeys, jackals, and elephants, among others, are back. Habimana shows me Bisate’s camera trap, fixed to a gate less than a mile from the lodge. Its lens has captured serval cats, African buffalo, and bushbuck. When reforestation is complete, these great apes could conceivably be glimpsed from guests’ balconies, but for now, they stick to the main forest, where bamboo is abundant, and humans are not.

The Journey into Volcanoes National Park

We go searching for them in Volcanoes National Park the following morning. Our trek begins with a walk through bean and pyrethrum fields, past cute children who holler “Hello!”, and a porch where a man sculpts bas-reliefs on a wooden cane. After less than an hour of hacking through thickets of bamboo and thorny undergrowth, we encounter the Hirwa (“Lucky”) gorilla family. Lying in a shaded clearing and chewing bamboo, they have the look of mine workers resting from their labors. The light illuminates their faces and turns their brown eyes orange. Our evolutionary cousins. We wonder what they’re thinking about… it certainly isn’t us: a female emerges from behind me and brushes past like I’m leaf-patterned wallpaper. Her proximity – a matter of inches – is momentarily terrifying but utterly exhilarating.

A while later, an adult male sitting 15 feet from me suddenly stands at full height and beats his chest with his fists. Gorillas are given to these sudden displays of dominance. Fidele Nsengiyumva, our guide, explains their behaviors and emotions. “They make 16 different sounds,” he says, including belches for contentment and whines for distress. The toddlers, meanwhile, are as unintentionally entertaining as their human counterparts.

Rwanda’s Conservation Success

The following day, my driver tells us about François Bigirimana, who worked with Dian Fossey, the American primatologist, to conserve the country’s gorilla population. We are on our way to Gishwati-Mukura National Park to see the work of Rwandans who are also dedicated to restoring their natural heritage. The once 250,000-acre Gishwati forest had withered to its last 1,500 acres in 2001 when Thierry Inzirayineza and two friends staged an intervention to create the Forest of Hope Association (FHA) to conserve what remained. Government funding followed, and in 2015, Gishwati and its sister park, Mukura, were granted national park status.

As a result, visitors have the entire forest to themselves. At dawn, I watch the mist ascend above the canopy and move across it like restless gossamer, backlit by a rising, peach-glow sun. This exclusivity makes Gishwati special. After a refreshing hike, we emerge from the forest and stroll back to the guesthouse, passing through emerald hills, appreciating the dedication of the Rwandans to their environment and witnessing the growing population of wildlife.

Conclusion

With 37 percent of territory earmarked for environmental conservation, areas such as Volcanoes National Park are being expanded. This is a country on a mission to manage its destiny. Rwanda demonstrates humanity’s capacity for renewal with every newborn gorilla or hardwood sapling. The country’s journey toward ecological preservation and wildlife exploration is truly inspiring.

Where to Stay in Rwanda

One&Only Nyungwe House and Gorilla’s Nest

On the outskirts of Nyungwe National Park, One&Only Nyungwe House is pitched among tea plantations. At the sister hotel, One&Only Gorilla’s Nest, wooden lodges look out onto soaring eucalyptus groves.

The Retreat, Kigali

American husband and wife owners have extended their boutique hotel, building secluded, Italian-designed villas, each with a private plunge pool, on a hill overlooking Kigali.

Wilderness Bisate

Six stunning cliffside villas offer views of the volcanoes at Bisate. For those needing to kill time before night flights, the newly Wilderness Bisate Kwanda has day rooms, with showers, meals, and impressive views of the vegetable garden and volcanoes.

Sextantio Rwanda, Lake Kivu

On the unspoilt shores of Lake Kivu, Sextantio Rwanda is pioneering low-impact tourism with two traditional huts perched on a hilltop on Nkombo Island. Guests can enjoy living a rustic life with modern amenities.

Forest of Hope, Gishwati

This NGO-run guesthouse has en-suite bedrooms and unbeatable views of the forest, offering unique experiences such as chimpanzee trekking.