GISHWATI – MUKURA NATIONAL PARK GETTING READY FOR VISITORS
(Posted 30th August 2015)
Preparations are ongoing in Rwanda to get the country’s fourth national park, Gishwati – Mukura, ready for tourist visitors, including the completion of key infrastructure elements.
While not as spectacular as the Nyungwe Forest National Park does Gishwati – Mukura nevertheless offer its own attractions for visitors, including some 58 species of trees and shrubs in addition to which there are medicinal plants and orchids found when traversing the forest. Five primate species are located in the forest, including the Black and White Colobus, chimpanzees, the Golden Monkey, the Blue Monkey and L’Hoest’s aka Mountain Monkey. These are joined by other mammals like the Southern Tree Hyrax, the Black Fronted Duiker, wild hogs and wild cats like the serval. Ornithologists will be happy to hear about 84 confirmed bird species, including Wood Hoopoes.
Plans are afoot, as successfully done in Nyungwe, to create hiking trails into and across the forest.
Tourism stakeholders have confirmed that creating the new national park was aiming at offering repeat visitors to Rwanda additional attractions and to promote generally longer stays in the country where tourists today find more options of things to do besides the traditional gorilla tracking. Watch this space to find out when the first tourists will be allowed to enter the new national park and get a sneak preview from this correspondent after visiting the park ahead of the official opening.
