Sustainable Travel · Rwanda
Eco-Friendly Hotels in Gishwati-Mukura — Your 2026 Guide to Sustainable Stays
Gishwati-Mukura National Park is Rwanda's newest park and its most hopeful: a 32-square-kilometre patch of montane rainforest in the country's Western Province that was nearly destroyed — reduced from 250,000 acres to a remnant of a few thousand — and is now the subject of one of Africa's most remarkable restoration projects. The park unites two forest blocks, Gishwati and Mukura, and protects chimpanzees, golden monkeys, and a suite of rare birds, all within sight of Lake Kivu. Designated a national park in 2015, it is Rwanda's quiet answer to the crowded gorilla trails further north: no queues, no permits race, just forest, primates, and the story of a landscape coming back to life. Every IMPT booking removes 1 tonne of CO₂ at the same rate as Booking.com.
Where to Stay in Gishwati-Mukura
Nyabihu & Rubavu Town Hotels
The park lies in Nyabihu District, an hour or so from Rubavu (Gisenyi) on the shores of Lake Kivu. Rubavu has Rwanda's best lakeside hotels, from mid-range guesthouses to a couple of genuine resorts, plus the Gisenyi beach scene. Nyabihu town itself has simple guesthouses used by researchers and park staff. Either makes a comfortable base.
Park Eco-Lodges & Forest Camps
Around the Gishwati forest edge, a small number of eco-lodges and community camps offer safari tents and basic chalets with the forest as your garden. Expect solar power, local meals, and dawn bird calls. These stays are the closest to the chimpanzee trails and put your money into the communities that protect the park's boundary.
Lake Kivu Shore Stays
The lakeside between Rubavu and the park entrance has guesthouses and small resorts with swimming, kayaking, and sunset views over the Congo hills. It's a perfect pairing: trek the forest by day, swim in the lake by evening. Lake Kivu's waters are safe and warm, and the shoreline villages are a cultural highlight.
Every Gishwati-Mukura-area booking on IMPT retires 1 tonne of verified carbon credits on-chain — funded from our commission, never added to your rate. Search Gishwati-Mukura hotels now →
The Forest That Came Back
Gishwati's story is one of the great comebacks in African conservation. The forest was intact until the 1970s, then refugee resettlement after the 1994 genocide cleared most of it for farms; by 2001 only a small circular patch of native forest remained. Since then, a landscape restoration programme has reconnected the fragments, planted millions of trees, and in 2015 the government gazetted Gishwati-Mukura as a national park — Rwanda's fourth, and its first created primarily for biodiversity and watershed services.
The forest is home to a growing chimpanzee population, golden monkeys, and the rare blue monkey, plus endemic birds like the Rwenzori turaco and the handsome francolin. The restored corridors are visibly working: chimpanzees now move between forest blocks that were separated a decade ago. Walking the restoration trails, with their planted groves and regenerating canopy, is like watching conservation in fast-forward.
Trekking and the Wider Landscape
Chimpanzee tracking at Gishwati is a quieter, cheaper cousin of the Volcanoes gorilla experience: small groups, expert guides, and a short walk into the forest before the chimps' calls give away their position. Unlike the gorillas, the chimps are highly mobile, so sightings are less guaranteed — but the forest walk itself, through giant trees and tangled lianas, is the reward.
The park sits in a landscape of rolling tea estates, terraced hillsides, and the vast mirror of Lake Kivu below. Combine the forest with a day on the lake, a visit to the coffee and tea cooperatives that fund local schools, and the nearby Nyungwe Forest further south, and you have one of East Africa's most varied short itineraries. Book your Rwanda hotels through IMPT and every night removes 1 tonne of CO₂ on-chain.
How IMPT Makes Your Gishwati-Mukura Stay Carbon-Negative
Here's the maths. An average hotel night produces roughly 35 kg of CO₂ — from air conditioning, laundry, lighting, and food service. When you book any Gishwati-Mukura hotel through IMPT, we retire 1,000 kg of UN-verified carbon removal credits. That's 28 times what your stay produces. Not carbon-neutral — carbon-negative.
The cost to you? Zero. IMPT funds the removal from its booking commission. You pay the standard nightly rate — in fact, IMPT offers the same rate as Booking.com on the same room, with carbon removal built in. The carbon credits are tokenised on Ethereum, retired against a named project, with a public retire code anyone can verify. No double-counting. No greenwashing. Just verified carbon removal, every night.
- €5 free credit when you sign up — applied to your first Gishwati-Mukura booking
- 5% back on every stay — 3% funds carbon projects, 2% as travel credit
- 8M+ hotels worldwide, 195 countries — Gishwati-Mukura is just the start
- Free cancellation on most rates, typically up to 48 hours before check-in
Beyond Hotels — More Ways IMPT Works in Gishwati-Mukura
Shop through IMPT's 25,000+ retail partners for cashback on purchases that also offset carbon. Send someone a trip credit gift to visit Gishwati-Mukura — IMPT plants trees with named farmers, GPS-tagged and photo-verified.
For business travel, IMPT's B2B Corporate Travel platform gives you exclusive rates, automatic ESG reporting, and a single dashboard tracking every booking's carbon impact. Companies with CSRD compliance needs get automated sustainability reporting out of the box.
Interested in running IMPT in Rwanda? Country Ownership offers 50% revenue share on every transaction from Rwanda-registered users, with 8% APY staking yield. Book a call →
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get to Gishwati-Mukura National Park?
The park is in Nyabihu District, Western Province, about 2.5–3 hours' drive from Kigali on good roads via Musanze or the Kivu shore route. The nearest town is Nyabihu; the main access points for the Gishwati section are near the villages of Gikongoro and Rushashi. From Rubavu (Gisenyi) on Lake Kivu, the park is about an hour away.
When is the best time to visit?
The dry seasons — June to September and December to February — are the best windows for trekking: trails are firmer and chimps are easier to track. The wet seasons (March–May, October–November) are greener and quieter but paths get slippery. The forest is cool and misty year-round; bring a rain jacket and sturdy boots regardless of season.
How does chimpanzee tracking work?
Tracking is organised through the Rwanda Development Board or a licensed operator, in small groups with a guide and trackers. The walk typically takes 1–3 hours depending on where the chimps have moved overnight. Permits are far cheaper and easier to get than gorilla permits, and sightings — while less guaranteed — are magical when they happen.
What else can I see in the park?
Beyond chimpanzees, the park protects golden and blue monkeys, plus a rich montane birdlife including the Rwenzori turaco, the handsome francolin, and numerous sunbirds. The restoration areas are fascinating in their own right, and the viewpoints over Lake Kivu and the Congo Nile Trail are among Rwanda's best. Fishing and kayaking are available on the lake nearby.
Where should I stay when visiting Gishwati-Mukura?
For the full experience, stay at one of the small eco-lodges or community camps on the forest edge, which are closest to the tracking trailheads. For comfort, base yourself in Rubavu (Gisenyi) on Lake Kivu, an hour away, with its range of lakeside hotels. IMPT books all of these at the same rate as Booking.com, with 1 tonne of CO₂ removed per booking.
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