Gishwati Mukura national park is Rwanda’s newest national park. It was created in 2015 by combining the Gishwati and Mukura forests. The park was established to help preserve what was remaining of the Mukura and Gishwati forests while also protecting the chimpanzee populations therein. The park is also home to golden monkeys, blue monkeys and L’Hoest’s monkeys. Before the creation of the park, the two forests almost faced extinction as a result of human encroachment after the genocide in 1994. Refugees came back and cleared a large part of the forests to build homes and for subsistence farming. The forest corridor that connected the two forest to Nyungwe National Park disappeared leaving the chimpanzee population and other wildlife isolated. Over 60% of the forests wildlife species were lost by the time the national park was formed.

The government entered into a partnership with the Wilderness safari to restore what was lost, stop encroachment, sensitize the communities about the benefit of the park and turn it into a high-end eco-tourism site. The government is working with Wilderness safaris to introduce chimpanzee trekking, primates viewing and birdwatching. The story of Gishwati-Mukura is another example of how serious the government is about wildlife conservation. The government has partnered with international organizations like the World bank to plant trees in previously degraded areas. The forest corridors have been rebuilt to connect the two forests to each other and to the Nyungwe forest. If you want to visit somewhere different, then you should visit Gishwati-Mukura National Park. You will be able to track chimps, go birding, visit the local population and take part in a groundbreaking eco-tourism project.