Echuya Forest Reserve is one of the forests found south western Uganda in Kisoro District covering 3,400 ha. The reserve has different ecosystems and includes a permanent high-altitude swamp (Muchuya) at 2,300 m, about 7 km long by up to 750 m wide, in a narrow valley surrounded by steep forested hillsides. The swamp vegetation is dominated by sedges Carex and includes tussock vegetation and giant lobelias. The swamp drains north-west into the Murindi river. The reserve is dominated by Hagenia-Rapanea moist montane forest and montane bamboo Arundinaria. Echuya may not be as diverse overall as other Ugandan forests.

The forest has played a great role towards the improving the livelihoods of the surrounding communities that depend on through acting as the main source of bamboo for building and crafts by the local communities. Batwa have traditionally lived in the forest and continue to earn their living from various forms of resource extraction.

Echuya Forest Reserve is an Important Bird Area (IBA), including the Muchuya swamp, with a total of 100 species recorded. Of these, a high proportion are dependent on highland forest. In view of its size, the swamp is likely to support a larger population of Bradypterus graueri than the nearby Mubwindi swamp, one of only a few known localities for this species in Uganda. Birds in the reserve that are restricted to the Afrotropical Highlands biome include such rare species as Francolinus nobilis, Batis diops, Ploceus alienus and Cryptospiza jacksoni.

Apart from the birds, the forest reserve is also a home to four Albertine-endemic small mammals, namely Lophuromys woosnami, Dasymys montanus, Myosorex blarina and Sylvisorex lunaris. The rare Delanymys brooksi (restricted to montane swamps) also occurs.