Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda

The park is Rwanda's first Natural World Heritage site and is located in the Albertine Rift Ecoregion. With an area of 1,019 square kilometres, as well as being home to the country’s largest remaining montane rainforest, it also contains a part of the largest peat bog in Africa.

The Nyungwe’s vast landscapes encompass dense forests, bamboo groves, grasslands and wetlands, providing habitats to a highly diverse flora and fauna. In fact, it contains the most significant natural habitats for a number of species found nowhere else in the world.

Among the park’s 317 bird species are endemic species such as the Ruwenzori turaco and the Grauer’s swamp warbler, making it one of the most important sites for bird conservation in Africa and a focal point for ornithologists from around the world.

Other endemic species to be found within the Nyungwe National Park include two species of amphibian, forty-seven species of butterfly and the critically endangered Hill’s horseshoe bat.

The site is also home to mammals such as golden cats, servals (a wild cat native to Africa) and bush pigs, all of them adding to the park’s rich tapestry of wildlife.

Beyond its biological riches, Nyungwe plays a pivotal role in hydrology. It forms part of the Congo-Nile Divide, with rivers on one side flowing into the Congo Basin and, on the other, into the Nile Basin, providing water to millions and regulating the climate across the region.

One of Nyungwe’s most awe-inspiring experiences is the canopy walkway. Suspended 70 metres above the forest floor, the walkway provides breathtaking views of the rainforest and a rare opportunity to observe life in the treetops.

Legends and folklore surround Nyungwe, with many local communities believing in the spiritual power of the forest. Sacred sites and traditional ceremonies continue to connect people to the land in profound ways.

Ancient traditions persist in the surrounding villages, where traditional healers use Nyungwe’s medicinal plants for remedies. These practices highlight the park’s cultural and ecological significance, intertwined for generations.

Nyungwe National Park was inscribed on the World Heritage List under criterion (x). It is one of the only sites of this ecoregion which still ensures the continuation of the various dynamic processes which characterize this montane ecosystem.

The numerous plant successions that occur within peat bogs or that characterize the colonization process of meadows and moors, the interactions between dense forests and bamboo thickets, and the interactions between dense forests and open-canopy forests are remarkable.