Munazi Lodge: a new forest gateway in Nyungwe
This article is part of Rwanda First-Hand, a series based on my roundtrip through Rwanda in May 2026 as Chief Editor of Made in Rwanda TRIBUNE.
In Nyungwe National Park, Munazi Lodge gives travellers a rare kind of stay: close to the forest, rooted in conservation and shaped by local hands.
In May 2026, I stayed for three nights at Munazi Lodge, experiencing one of its A-frame en-suite cottages first-hand. The lodge sits just 1.2 km off the Kigali–Rusizi highway near Pindura, yet the short road in feels like a small border crossing. Traffic fades. Forested footpaths take over. The air cools. The cottages appear between trees like quiet wooden tents on the hillside.
Nyungwe’s growing tourism story
Munazi arrived at a significant moment for Nyungwe. The park recently became a UNESCO World Heritage site, while 2026 marks 20 years of partnership between the Rwanda Development Board and African Parks. That partnership forms part of a wider effort to restore and protect one of Africa’s oldest rainforests while opening better ways for visitors to experience it.
Nyungwe covers 386 square miles of rainforest on the watershed that divides the Nile and Congo Rivers. Its landscape rises to 9,700 feet above sea level and includes cloud forest, bamboo stands and highland rainforest. The result is a dense green world of mossy trunks, ferns and layered canopy.
The park also covers 1,019 km² of Afromontane forest, grasslands and wetlands. It supports more than 1,100 recorded plant species, 345 bird species and 85 known mammal species, including 13 primates such as chimpanzees, Ruwenzori black-and-white colobus and L’Hoest’s monkeys.
Built with reclaimed wood
Munazi Lodge has nine A-frame en-suite cottages, including one Executive A-frame, with 20 beds in total. The cabins use reclaimed exotic wood from the National Park, helping native plants regenerate. Local artisans and construction teams made much of the furniture and design, working with park managers and engineers.
The A-frame shape suits Nyungwe’s high rainfall. The cabins rise above the forest floor, bring in natural light and keep guests warm. Each private unit blends into the landscape and looks across the surrounding canopy. On clear days, guests may catch a glimpse of Lake Kivu.
The lodge offers 24-hour mains electricity, water stored in tanks and heated by solar heater or geyser. Wi-Fi is intermittent, which feels less like a problem than a polite nudge from the forest to look up.
A practical step forward
Munazi adds comfort to a park long known for biodiversity but still developing its boutique accommodation offer. It also connects tourism to local craft, forest restoration and community opportunity.
When the lodge opened in 2025, Irene Murerwa, Chief Tourism Officer at the Rwanda Development Board, said the new experiences would “strengthen Nyungwe’s position as a sustainable tourism destination.”
Munazi points to a stronger future for Rwanda’s nature-based tourism, where careful investment brings visitors closer to the forest without pushing the forest aside.
More stories from Nyungwe and the wider Rwanda visit will follow soon, drawing on first-hand experiences, local perspectives and the people shaping the country’s tourism sector.
More information:
Website Munazi Lodge
