Park Nyungwe sits on the ridges of the mountains bordering Lake Kivu to the west and Burundi to the south in the southwestern reaches of Rwanda. It is known for its large population of chimpanzees and monkeys, with nine to eleven different species of native primates. (The number depending upon which local person, informative display or guide you query.)
Most visitors make the trip down to this somewhat removed part of the country to track the chimps and rare monkeys that populate the forests in the higher elevations.
For this experience, the Rwandan tourism organization will charge you $40 per day. This is damn expensive in a country where, according to the U.S. State Department, per capita income is $370.
But hey, you get to see monkeys and chimps, right? I mean, with all the years that guides have been taking groups around the park, and the way many of the primates have become habituated to a regular human presence, there's no way that $40 will not get you a peek at some primates, right?
No. Not right. Because I saw zero monkeys in Park Nyungwe. I hiked all day and saw pretty much no wildlife.
But after we leave the park, what do you guess we saw on the goddamn road for free?
What's that? Did you say monkeys?
You're goddamn right, monkeys. All sorts of monkeys.
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