Rwanda is on track to open its fourth national park in 2019. The Gishwati-Mukura National Park, in the north-west districts of Ngororero and Rutsiro, was conceptualised in 2007 and is in final stages of planning.

The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) is heading up the process. The announcement was made on Wednesday by RDB Chief Tourism Officer, Belise Kariza, during the launch of the annual Kwita Izina gorilla naming festival. Kariza said she was confident the park would be ready for tourists by next year.

The area demarcated for the national park was once largely depleted by illegal mining, overcrowding and livestock farming after people fled to the area during and immediately following the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi people.

In 2014, the World Bank approved a loan to the government of Rwanda of $9.5 million for the rehabilitation and conservation of the country’s Gishwati and Mukura forests. In 2016, the government demarcated the area as a national park and undertook research into ways of restoring the natural environment of the area.

The RDB is hoping to restore around 700 hectares of natural forest with more than 18 indigenous tree species.