A Journey to GISWATI- Mukura National Park

It has been two years since the Rwandan government passed a law to create a new national park combining the Mukura and Gishwati forests, establishing the Gishwati-Mukura National Park – a forested area which spreads from up in the north of the country near the Volcanoes National Park, all the way down, joining the Gishwati and Mukura forests, to Nyungwe Forest. This is a great success story for the conservationists who have been fighting for a long time to protect this strip on the Congo-Nile divide.

This has been extremely exciting news for Rwanda and shows a great willingness of the government to help stabilize and protect these hugely important areas and turning the forest into a national park move has increased the number of parks in the country to four. The others are the game-rich Akagera, situated in savannah lowlands in the country’s east; Volcanoes National Park Rwanda, home to the famous mountain gorillas in the north; and Nyungwe rainforest in the south-west, one of the world’s richest ecosystems that is home to several species of primates and birds.

Giswati Mukura National Park makes the biggest part of the Nyabihu, Ngororero, Rubavu, and Rutsiro districts.