In Nyungwe Forest National Park, there are over 500 chimpanzees, with 90 habituated chimp families open for tourism all year. The habituated chimp groups are found in a variety of areas around the park, including Nyungwe forest, which has over 60 habituated chimp communities, and Cyamudongo woodland, which has approximately 30 habituated chimp communities. Chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe Forest National Park begins at 5:00 a.m. with a briefing at the park headquarters. Nyungwe Forest National Park is divided into three regions where chimp trekking begins; Kitabi, Gisakura, and Uwinka. These regions serve as the park headquarters. During the briefing, visitors are divided into groups of eight and assigned to different park ranger guides who will accompany them on chimp trekking in the forest.

Traveling to a chimp colony in Nyungwe forest national park would take tourists between 2-6 hours owing to the fact that chimps in Nyungwe forest national park are known to move from one location to another from tree to tree as they look for food. Visitors that undertake chimp trekking in Nyungwe Forest National Park are only permitted to spend one hour with the chimp group after meeting it. During the one-hour experience, visitors are permitted to photograph chimps as they leave their nests, feed, and interact with each other.

The habituated chimps in Nyungwe Forest National Park are peaceful, playful, and acclimated to the presence of humans they come out of the trees when they notice people and will occasionally stroll towards them, allowing you to take clear images and videos of them. While trekking chimps in Nyungwe forest, visitors may come across other primates such as golden monkeys, red-tailed monkeys, silver monkeys, olive baboons, white and black colobus monkeys, and the grey-checked mangabeys, among others. Travelers will also appreciate bird species such as Rwenzori bats and purple-breasted sunbirds, among others, because Nyungwe forest national park is a birder’s heaven.