Monkey Business

For those of you who know about African tourism you recognize that Rwanda’s biggest attraction is the group of gorillas of the Parc de Volcans. What many people don’t recognize, however, is the abundance of primate species in the country’s lesser-known but equally beautiful national park, Nyungwe Forest. This tree-covered paradise was the location of this past weekend’s adventures as I set out with five other ex-pats to see Nyungwe and its primate species.

Nyungwe Forests boasts as a home to thirteen different primate species representing about 25% of the primate species found in the entirety of Africa. The most famous of these species are undoubtedly the chimpanzees which live in two habituated groups that are available for tourism for those who are up for the challenge. Aside from the flora and fauna contained within the boundaries of the park, Nyungwe boasts as having one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Rwanda that is much more accessible through a ten kilometer trail through the heart of the rainforest.

These were our trip goals, so to speak, as we set out on our adventure to Nyungwe. Six hours later we found ourselves in the park and ready for a challenging hike and the beautiful vistas that came as our reward. In order to access the trail, we walked through rows of tea fields in the tea plantation with a stunning view of Lake Kivu and the bordering Democratic Republic of the Congo. Shortly after venturing into the rainforest, the ferns and freshwater streams that feed them dominated the scenery as we trekked deeper below the forest canopy.

The beauty of the rainforest and the unique sights and sounds it offered us made the rain midway through our journey a welcome friend. It seemed only appropriate to experience the phenomenon for which this magnificent place was named. Then, before we realized it, the mist we were feeling was coming from below, not above for we had reached our waterfall destination. Climbing over some perilously slippery rocks was well worth the reward when we saw the rainbow that donned the water at the top of the falls.

The experience of the waterfall was so incredible that we weren’t concerned when our accommodations were slightly sub par. We realized we had booked a budget hotel but when we showed up at this lodge we found two Africans sleeping in one of the rooms and the other rooms with only four beds for six people. After volunteering to sleep on a mattress on the floor and using a towel for cover, I surprisingly drifted off to sleep quite quickly in preparation for our 4:00 AM wake up call.

Journeying to see the chimps gave us a beautiful sunrise—one that I rarely see unless I am venturing to work for early rounds. And the scenery within the forest was equally stunning. We tracked the chimps down embankments, up hills, along the edge of cliffs, and through boggy bits of mud. Their sounds could be heard throughout the forest and we often encountered their food and bodily remnants but we never caught site of our closest primate relatives. It was the most extreme hike of my life, evidenced only by the fact that I never felt stable enough in my footing to document it with pictures. About three hours into the trek we realized that the chimps were out of our reach for today, so we journeyed back to the road to hike back to our car.

When we finally reached the muddy road that we had parked on I think a mixture of disappointment and relief set in. Of course we were sad we could not see the chimps, but I think many of us were reluctant to venture back into the jungle and that tough terrain so quickly. Just as we started to come to grips with the fact that we would see none of Nyungwe’s famous primates, we stumbled upon a group of colobus monkeys. As we watched these magnificent creatures eat the lichen off the tree bark and teach their young how to cross the canopies of the forest, I couldn’t help but be amazed as to what we were watching.

This sense of amazement mixed with a bit of exhaustion characterized our eventful car ride home. Aside from the friends and conversation, this car ride was especially exciting because we got the opportunity to change a flat tire in the middle of the forest. In fact, we changed the flat using a tree branch we cut down with a Swiss Army knife because the jack was missing the metal pole to act as a lever. After that crisis was avoided we missed a turn and found ourselves on the border between Rwanda and Burundi. The beauty of the roads that wind through the land of one thousand hills is that the paved roads here are so few, it doesn’t take you long to realize you’ve veered off track.

In the end, the pit stop for the tire changing and the detour to the Burundi border left us with a beautiful sunset over the mountains as we ventured from Gitarama back to Kigali. Though we had set out less than 48 hours earlier with a clear plan for our weekend excursion, Murphy’s law took over and our itinerary drastically changed. As a person who does very little without a plan, I was surprisingly calm throughout the entire experience. Yes, it rained throughout our first day's activities but the mist of the rainforest seemed appropriate and made the setting much more beautiful. True, we missed the chimps, but we got to see the amazing colobus monkey in its full group. Similarly, though our tire changing experience was a bit of a surprise, the scenic view off the cliffs into Nyungwe forest was an unparalleled backdrop for mechanical challenges. And lastly, that breathtaking sunset over the mountains would have been totally missed without our detour to Burundi.

This weekend’s monkey business was a wonderful introduction to the Southern Province of Rwanda and the beautiful creatures that call it home. More importantly, however, it was a lesson in flexibility—a life skill that is critical in medicine and, evidently, living in Rwanda.