Slow steps towards great growth – rewilding in Rwanda

Singita Volcanoes National Park is set within a landscape of wetlands and lush meadows, with the looming silhouettes of the Sabyinyo, Gahinga, and Muhabura volcanoes in the not-so-distant distance. An amphitheatre of majesty and mystery. A symbol of endurance, and yet ever evolving.

When you look a little closer, and deeper into its borders, you see that it’s not merely gorillas or the bamboo thickets they inhabit that define Volcanoes National Park. Within its boundaries – and just outside – is a patchwork of cultivated areas, which gradually merge with forest, and then, higher up, transform into a lush bamboo forest. After this comes the Hagenia-Hypericum forest and, finally, Afroalpine shrubland and moorland at around 4000 metres. This gradient of ecosystems is home to a diversity of life that filters to the edge of the forest, and increasingly even closer.

When Kwitonda and Kataza House were conceived, part of the vision that inspired them was a commitment to regenerating and rewilding the land that hosts them – through great strides, but also small steps over time. The location of the property, right on the edge of the Park, demanded a vision that was sympathetic to this precious ecosystem, but would also actually nurture it in the years to come.

The rewilding of former farmland takes the form of reforestation – reclaiming and transforming agricultural land that had, over time, eaten into the natural forest, and turning it back into verdant and indigenous buffer zones.

Rather than mass whole-area planting, Singita’s reforestation initiatives here have taken the form of a ‘tree-island’ (nuclei) model, aided and informed by research by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. This restores degraded ecosystems gradually – as these patches attract seed-dispersing wildlife, allowing forest regeneration to occur. In the process of planting indigenous species and clearing alien ones, and ongoing efforts to care for the land, the cycle of renewal has taken on a life of its own. Slowly, surely, and naturally, balance is being restored.

With this comes the return of wildlife to the borders, and to Kwitonda – buffaloes, forest elephants, golden monkeys, and birds. Robert Mugabe, resident conservationist, tells us that the Rwenzori turaco, a bird that usually remains within the borders of the forest, has been spotted in trees around the lodge. Tangible and colourful proof of this rewilding.

Nature is integral in every aspect of this process, and is reflected in each of the properties’ spaces. The landscape has been intentionally woven into the design from conception. Materials were drawn from the region, in part to enrich the experience of being there, but also to allow people to feel the impact of its closeness. Moss has crept over volcanic stone walls, softening their edges and embracing the buildings. Eventually, trees that were planted will envelop the lodge, too.

The land between the lodge and the edge of the park forms a bridge between the wild, unpopulated property and the private concession. Between the present and what’s possible in the future. When guests go on walks around the property, they can see first-hand how the borders have blurred, and can plant trees themselves during their stay.

"I want my children and their children to grab hold of this vision to see the wilderness of Africa thrive,” says Charles Nsabimana, another conservationist at Singita. Born at the base of Sabyinyo, he has always been connected to the landscape. He has witnessed the evolution of rainforest to community grazing and crop fields, and now leads its ongoing regeneration.

Not only is the park home to incredible biodiversity, but the preservation of this life and the research it supports, in turn, supports local livelihoods through the vocation of conservation – an ecosystem in and of itself. The communities that border the park live just a few metres from its edge, tending crops and cattle on the land they depend on. Beside them lies another, wilder world. These two worlds do and must exist in tandem.