Nyungwe: In celebration of World Tourism Day under thetheme “Tourism & Biodiversity”, Rwanda Development Board launches the Canopy Walk at Nyungwe National Park this October 15th 2010.
Graced by the Honorable Minister, Monique NSANZABAGANWA, the event was attended by Senior Government officials, hundreds of Rwandans, conservationists and local and regional media.
In his opening remarks, the COO of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) Clare AKAMANZI said “The launching of the Canopy Walk in Nyungwe means many things: first, we celebrate Rwanda‘s tourism achievements and the positive effects of the country’s growing tourism industry as well as Rwanda’s dedication to protecting the biodiversity within and outside our Protected Areas.
Secondly with the launching of the new Canopy Walk we want to diversify our tourism products by giving visitors to Nyungwe National Park the opportunity to experience the Park in a new and exciting way”.
She added that Nyungwe National Park has been deliberately chosen as the venue to celebrate“Tourism and Biodiversity” due to its wealth of fauna and flora species, and its role as an important tourism destination.
The canopy walk is set 50 meters above the ground and will surely change the way tourists view the park and its wildlife. The 150 meters walkway is the first of its kind in East Africa, the third in Africa after South Africa and Ghana. The Canopy allows visitors to see the forest from above the trees and be at eye level with the birds and monkeys that inhabit the upper storeys of the forest.
The launch of the Canopy Walk in Nyungwe will also signify the launch of the new modern Uwinka Interpretation Centre which gives tourists the chance to experience the park before stepping into the forest. It is an interactive learning centre with exciting facts and images dedicated to the National Park and the surrounding communities.
Nyungwe National Park was newly created and gazetted as National Park in 2005 , with an objective to protect one of the largest and still intact montane forests in Africa as well as to protect a natural resource that is widely recognized as being of global as well as national significance.
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