Nyungwe Canopy Walk Experience is one of the most unique and outstanding Nyungwe National Park Tourist activities, that gives visitors the most stunning overview of the entire Nyungwe mist-covered forests. Suspended on a metallic bridge above a deep and narrow gorge in the middle of dense tropical rain forests, the canopy walkway which is raised 70 meters high above the forest ground and 160 meters long is a very easy and exciting guided tourist activity in Nyungwe National Park that provides great views of tree tops and Wildlife encounters within the park.
Nyungwe National Park is unarguably one of the ancient and largest tropical and montane rain forests in Africa sitted in a vast area of steep slopes in the Great Rift Valley, the park greatly boasts with rich biodiversity of incredible plant and wildlife species that feature a considerable population of Chimpanzees and 13 other primate species such as the rare L’Hoest’s monkey that are endemic to the Albertine rift and abundant bird life.
Nyungwe Canopy walk experience is a non-strenuous walking adventure that takes roughly two hours with its major starting point from Uwinka reception hiking along the rated easy 2.1 km long Igishingishi trail or other Nyungwe hiking trails such as the Umuyove or Imbaraga trails.
Exploring Nyungwe National Park is best done while also engaging in other tourist activities in Nyungwe such as Chimpanzee trekking, Colobus monkey trekking, the tropical waterfalls hiking, night walking safari, bird watching or choosing to take on the nature walks along one of the 15 difficult, moderate or easy hiking trails in Nyungwe National Park.
The Nyungwe canopy walk experience is offered on a daily basis on different time schedules starting from 8:00am, 10am, 1pm and the last one at 3pm. You can choose to complement this amazing experience with other activities to have an extensive discovery of the tourist attractions in Nyungwe National Park.
In 2019, Nyungwe’s canopy walkway was named the Best Canopy Walkway in the world by Lonely Planet. This is not a small feat as there were many other great and unique walkways in the world such as Singapore’s OCBC Skyway and Montverde Sky Walk in Costa Rica. The Lonely Planet motivates the true rainforest with its 13 primate species and the endless number of birds and butterflies as part of the motivation to the number one spot.
The 160m long and 70m high suspension bridge is accessible as part of the Igishigishigi hiking trail . The canopy walkway is located close to Uwinka Visitor Center in the center of the forest. This is where the camping and headquarters of Nyungwe Forest is located. Just like all other activities in the park you need to be accompanied by a guide. Guides and entrance fee can be organized and paid at Uwinka on arrival, but ideally you should contact the headquarters ahead of time in order to make sure that guides are available upon arrival.
The canopy walkway is best enjoyed during an early morning walk when the weather is generally better and risk of rain lower. Many birds and other animals are also active during this time. The trails that lead to the canopy walkway can also be combined with hikes to other interesting places such as Kamiranzovu swamp. For more information ask your guide or contact Nyungwe Headquarters.
