If you are interested in the Albertine Rift and its endemics, you need to visit Nyungwe National Park. I've wanted to go for years but it was just out of reach financially during my last trip. My great friend Jackson Kariuki made the trip all the way from Nyeri to join me on this trip.
Our transportation
Nyungwe is one of the most impressive forests I've seen in the world. I've heard they used to have elephants and gorillas (not sure about the latter) and that they were hunted to extirpation, but the park still has 13 species of primates and a few birds that are difficult to get anywhere else (other than DRC which is too dangerous to bird).
We were impressed with the cleanliness and infrastructure of the park; the forest seemed in great shape and the roads were perfect. We has some issues with the park staff which I'll describe later.
We got a rental car (saloon car which was fine) from Kigali Car Rentals for 40/day cash. The cost added up but it also meant less time screwing around during mornings and more flexibility. We took a few hitchhikers including some French who were visiting the park by bus so it definitely can be done. We stayed at 'EAR Gisakura Visitors' Centre' (interesting name) run by two young people and they gave us a very good rate and made fantastic traditional food. We camped on their lawn in my tent and enjoyed watching documentaries about lions in their restaurant.
This car was a lifesaver!
The drive down was interesting. I was stopped by the police for overtaking on a solid line, after neglecting to notice an oncoming lorry driver had given me a hand signal warning. Jack told me not to do it but I did anyway and had some explaining to do. I said in french that I simply had started my maneuver in the passing zone but then the line became solid mid-pass so what was I to do? It was not really true but shockingly she let me off! Later we were stopped in traffic again when I noticed a couple of Ruaha Chats hanging around a little hut with some cows. Lifer!
Ruaha Chat matching the coloration of cows
We subsided largely on a single Jackfruit eaten over the course of a week
The food is basically the same as Kenya except ugali is called
kawonga
Kahezi-Biega NP can be seen across Lake Kivu
Eager to bird right away, we made several stops along the main park road which turned up a good number of rift endemics, all of which were lifers for Jackson and all of which I'd seen before. Except for one...I detected the distinct call of...no way, it couldn't be...Red-collared Mountain babbler! We'd thought we'd lost it when suddenly there was a flock geaning the moss-clad branches and epiphytes and giving their chattery calls. Not a bad start!
Golden Monkey
Red-collared Mountain Babbler!!!
Yellow-streaked Greenbul
Handsome Francolin
Regal Sunbird
We birded our way to the Visitors' Centre which had all sorts of bird activity. Some species that are difficult to see in Uganda (Handsome Francolin, Rwenzori Turaco) are very easy to see in Nyungwe. Now I have seen Rwenzori Turaco in three countries!
Stripe-breasted Tit
White-naped Raven
Rwenzori Turacos
Rwenzori Turaco
L'Hoest's Monkey
Why the blue hair?
We experienced some strange interactions with park staff during our visit. At first, it was really straightforward - we agreed on what fees we were to pay, the meeting place for a guide and then we were set. A guide is required to access any trail and the rates were actually not bad - 100 USD for three days including guiding (but not transportation). I'd reserved a guy called Claver for two days, and a guy called Claude for the two days that Claver was not available (got their cell numbers from the internet). Unfortunately, it all fell apart because Claver got sick so we had to improvise.
The first two days with Claude were BRILLIANT. Karimanzovu (meaning 'elephant eater' because some elephants got stuck in the muck once upon a time) is an EPIC highland moor very similar to the Mabwindi Swamp in Bwindi, but I think it is more massive. We heard a large troupe of chimps screaming in the distance and birdsong was everywhere. After much difficulty we managed to get on a group of Lagden's Bush-shrikes thanks to Claude. Massive tick!
We heard so many Red-chested Flufftails but could not see any. Such was the experience with many rift endemics during our visit, of course we knew going in that it wouldn't be easy! Throughout our entire visit we detected the call of Many-coloured Bush-shrike and tracked it very carefully only to find out that it was a Mountain Boubou making the exact same call. Combine that with Gray Apalises that sound like Kungwe Apalis and Equatorial Akalats that sound like White-bellied Robin-chats and you've got yourself a serious headache!
Karimanzovu trail might require some maintenance
Mind the gap
Karimanzovu - habitat of the Red-chested Flufftail
Karimanzovu
Yellow-eyed Slaty Flycatcher - finally a bird that perches in the open!
Equatorial Akalat - a typical view
Mountain Illadopsis - typical view of any Nyungwe bird!
The next day was the Isumo Falls trail (I highly recommend this trail). It produced great views of Short-tailed Warbler and, most epically, Kivu Ground Thrush. Both birds required serious patience to see but once we saw the thrush, it sang its heart out and allowed me to photograph it. A bonus on the way back was Yellow-bellied Wattle Eye which has a crazy orange breast and teal-coloured wattle in Rwanda!
Claude/Jack/Timo
Birding with Claude
Kivu Ground-thrush
Yellow-bellied Wattle-eye
Red-faced Crimsonwings in the tea plantation
View of Virunga mountains from the Top View Hotel (a fancy hotel) we bought sodas to enjoy the sunset
Finding some of these birds is like a needle in a haystack
We said goodbye to Claude and prepared ourselves mentally for the next 4 days of birding with questionable guides and having to work hard to find as many birds as we could ourselves.
First there was a guy called Daniel, who we were told was "a good birder." However, he refused to take us on a proper trail and took us instead along the main park road, where he pointed out very common birds and even failed to know the calls of some common species (eg Mountain Illadopsis) which we wasted precious time trying to figure out. He then took us to a trail around a tea plantation which produced none of our targets. Apparently, he had a "bad leg" which prevented him from taking us on proper trails, but this was not communicated to us until well into the day. For the last 3 days, we requested a different guide who would be Vedaste, even though I'd been told not to go with him. To be fair, his knowledge of birds was decent but still failed to produce anything that we would not have found on our own.
The first problem was that he didn't want to hike long distances (we wanted to hike the Bigugu trail to the summit of the park's highest point). We were told it was a distance of 14 km "each way" but in fact when we did it, it was 14 km round trip. Shouldn't the park staff know information about their trails? One person we called said we could arrange to camp up there, while another person said we could not. So park information differed depending on who you asked. All this discussion wasted time so in the end we did not camp, but that was ok. I think Vedaste just was too lazy or unfit to do the climb. In the end he agree to do it so full credit to him. His younger colleagues jokingly called him 'mzee.'
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| Resting at the top of Bigugu mountain |
On the Bigugu trail we saw nothing new, but got great views of Red-collared Mountain Babblers and Archer's Robin-chats as well as the usual stuff. There was an interesting all-brown very plain songbird which may have been an immature Black-faced Rufous Warbler but we never were sure. That's where Claude would have come in handy! The view from the park's highest point was quite spectacular with a well-built ranger station occupied by a solitary ranger. It had a full-on concrete foundation with a steel fenced-perimeter. I was told that all the concrete and other materials were packed up by porters during the construction - a full 7 km uphill walk.
Now I will describe some more strange interactions with park staff (feel free to skip - its a bit rambling)
When we'd first arrived and asked if we could camp in the park. The answer was no, we had to go to the village, and that the best place was called Keza guest house. We later found out that we had been lied to - that there is indeed camping available in the park (albeit prohibitively expensive at 30USD pp) but that they wanted us to stay at Keza because one of the rangers there owns it.
Another odd thing was that Vedaste wanted to meet in the village (for birding) at 6:30 am - which is insane. We wanted 5:30 but had to compromise for 6:00. (sunrise is 5:45 and it takes 20-30 minutes to drive to the trail). I was trying to explain that I hadn't traveled thousands of km's and spent thousands of dollars to do half-assed birding.
During the entire 3 days with Vedaste, his behaviour got shiftier and shiftier. He kept asking us odd questions and to see our permits and passports multiple times. It turned out he wanted my guide (which is what we called Jackson) to pay as well, even though it was agreed at reception that since he was my 'guide' he would not have to pay. So strangely, we paid for my guide for the final two-days' worth but in cash and obtained no receipt. I was starting to make a scene about this when Jack had to take me aside and calm me down and explain that I better just pay the extra money to avoid further troubles (ie they could get us the pay for the whole 6 days for him - retroactively). So I paid and we finished our last day, adding Grauer's Warbler, Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo and Tiny Sunbird to our list. Interestingly, Tiny Sunbird is not shown to occur here although I'd read that Brian Finch saw one at this exact spot (Karamba trail). Karamba is an interesting trail with with a mosaic of little glades, mature forest and secondary forest, with slopes covered in thick vines. Apparently it used to lead to small gold-mining operations.
I think this large pit is evidence of gold mining
Karamba Trail where I saw the Tiny Sunbird
Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo
Gray Apalis
Another frustration that just couldn't be helped was the fact that we realized after birding with Claude that the Kungwe Apalis I'd photographed was in fact a Gray Apalis. It turned into an obsession with photographing and listening to the calls of so many Apalises only to ID them as Gray based on face and eye colour (the song is the same). Every single tour report highlighted Kungwe Apalis on the same trails we were on. Could they have been mis-IDing them all as Grays? They are so similar in call, appearance and habitat that I have that hypothesis.
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| My first African Broadbill |
We were keen to also hike the Rukuzi trail (as Dwarf Honeyguide had been seen there) but Vedaste more or less convinced us that Karamba and the VC trails were better. We later realized his real motive for dissuading us from Rukuzi was because that is the main trail where chimps are seen. We think the park staff are instructed to dissuade visitors from hiking here because if they see chimps, it would discourage them from registering for the 'guided chimp trek' which is a big money maker for the park. Too bad for them we were not interested in chimp-trekking.
Frustrated by our experience, we decided to do some freestyle birding even though it is not recommended. This included some rather adventurous night birding, an experience I'm not keen to repeat. It resulted in seeing Rwenzori Nightjar and hearing Red-chested Owlet, Fraser's Eagle Owl and Albertine Owlet (only Jack faintly heard it). We heard a lot of strange noises including tree hyrax which sounds like a night demon and some other terrifying noises whose identities remain a mystery. We birded continuously into our last morning, driving and walking down the park's southern road which was insanely scenic and beautiful but which yielded no lifers. Southern Hyliota had been expected.
The road that goes to Burundi
With our long drive in mind, we started our way back to Kigali but made a stop at a highland swamp to try for Grauer's Rush Warbler and Red-chested Flufftail. It turned into a game of hide-and-seek in which Jackson got point-blank views of a pair of flufftails preening in the open, while I was stuck in the swamp, unable to move (since I would scare them - which I ended up doing anyway). At least one of us saw them! I was happy for my friend who had missed the Tiny Sunbird. Now we were even!
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| Grauer's Rush Warbler |
Who is watching who? (Duiker)
All-in-all Nyungwe is a pretty daunting place to bird. The takeaway is to not underestimate the value of a good local guide. They can be hard to come by and the reality is that birds like Dwarf Honeyguide and Many-coloured Bush-shrike are NOT easy to find! It was unlucky that the two good guides Claver and Claude were both unavailable because they are world-class. Perhaps I will need to return some day!
Transpiration from Nyungwe Forest from a distance - testament to the importance of forests
Lifers seen
- Purple-breasted Sunbird
- Rwenzori Nightjar
- Lagden's Bush-shrike
- Kivu Ground Thrush
- Tiny Sunbird (seen only by me)
- Grauer's Warbler
- Barred Long-tailed Cuckoo
- Red-collared Mountain Babbler
- Short-tailed Warbler
- Yellow-bellied Wattle-eye
- Red-faced Crimsonwing
- Ruaha Chat
Heard only:
- Fraser's Eagle Owl
- Albertine Owlet (heard by Jack only)
- Red-chested Owlet
Targets begrudgingly missed:
- White-bellied Robin-chat (seen by Jack though)
- Dwarf Honeyguide
- Many-coloured Bush-shrike
- Kungwe Apalis
- White-bellied Robin-chat
- Scaly-breasted Illadopsis
- Southern Hyliota
- Albertine Owlet
- Red-chested Owlet
- African Broadbill (found a skeleton of one)
