I don’t think I’ve ever been so pleased to see a hotel (in this instance One&Only Nyungwe House)… mostly because they welcomed us with a much-need G&T from the Gin Bar! Set on a working tea plantation in one of Rwanda’s oldest rainforests (home to over 300 birds and 13 primate species), One&Only’s rooms are set in little clusters around the property looking into the forest. It’s a great location for hiking, biking and – our next adventure – trekking to see Chimpanzees and Colobus Monkeys.
Looking like intrepid explorers with waterproofs, trousers tucked into socks and gators provided by the hotel (top tip – be sure to hire a porter who’ll help drag you up the hills and be your barrier as you go flying down the other side!), a 40-minute walk from the car got us into the thick of the forest (it was so exciting as, right on the path as we arrived, a chimp was there to greet us!).
Then the trackers moved into action, using their machetes to create an area for us to crawl through. There was me thinking, ‘this is alright, a little stroll down the mountain and we’ve already found one, we’ll be back in time for breakfast after all…’.
Not a chance… we followed those cheeky chimps for about two-and-a-half hours, only managing to get a quick glimpse of their backs now and then. Up and down, through thick forest, the rain came, we got soaked, took a few wipe-outs, got covered in mud and then lost them! So, when we popped out of the forest five hours later, the best sight was our guide and vehicle already waiting for us, as we had thought we’d have to trek the five miles back to the car park again!
All in all though, it was one of the most fabulous five hours I’ve ever spent… I can really say I trekked with Chimpanzees!!
The next morning, Everest was back, this time ready to take us out on the hunt for the Colobus Monkeys. The trackers had already spotted them and they were in a tiny forest on the edge of tea plantations.
The walk through the tea plantations was quite tame to what we’d done the day before and, as we got closer to the forest and looked at the steep banks and thick foliage, we were so pleased to hear they were spotted right on the tree canopies, so we hiked to a higher point and watched them play for about an hour. Awesome!
Lake Kivu
After much monkeying around in Nyungwe, we headed off to Lake Kivu, right on the border between Rwanda and the DRC, an ideal place to stop when travelling on to Volcanoes National Park. Due to the volcanic nature, the lake is very clean and, best of all, free from wildlife, so it’s completely safe to swim in.
It’s so picturesque too. The surrounding hillsides are covered in pine and eucalyptus trees and it’s home to singing fishermen who we saw on a whistle-stop kayaking trip with Kingfisher Journeys as part of our stay at Lake Kivu Serena Hotel, in the resort Rwandan town of Gisenyi, set on a sandy palm-lined beach on the shores of the lake.