RWANDA - HOME OF THE MOUNTAIN GORILLA

Rwanda is dubbed as the “Land of a thousand hills” a reference to the thrilling beauty of its rolling mountainous landscapes. The country is stable, offering a wonderful landscape of hills, forests, lakes and volcanoes, together with a temperate climate. After independence, the small Central African nation leaped to fame as the adopted home of Dian Fossey: the land of “Gorillas in the Mist”.

Rwanda’s tourism sector has rich and beautiful attractions. Among these are the Akagera and Nyungwe National parks, forests, various flora and fauna, and the endangered Mountain Gorillas found in the Parc Nationale des Volcans which is part of the Virunga Trinational Conservation Area. This Virunga area is the single most important mountain gorilla habitat in the world

Parc National Des Volcans is best known as the place where for some 20 years Dian Fossey carried out pioneering studies of gorilla behavior, and it is largely thanks to Dian Fossey that the gorilla poaching was greatly reduced, but it is of course here that she perished too.

The Virunga volcanoes, which are home to the world’s most endangered and famed Mountain Gorillas, rises steeply from Lake Kivu in the west, sloping down first to a hilly central plateau and further eastwards to an area of marshy lakes around the upper reaches of the Akagera River, the most remote source of the Nile, where the Akagera National Park is situated. Dominated scenically by the labyrinth of swamps and lakes that follow the meandering course of the Akagera River, this is archetypal African savannah landscape of tangled acacia woodland interspersed with open grassland.

Extending for 1,000 square kilometers across the majestic hills of southeast Rwanda, Nyungwe National Park is the largest block of montane forest in East or Central Africa, and one of the most ancient, dating back to before the last Ice Age. Nyungwe is most alluring for its primates, home to 13 species in all, including humankind’s closest living relative the chimpanzee, as well as the handsome L’Hoest’s monkey and harbours almost 300 bird species of which two dozen are restricted to a handful of montane forests on the Albertine Rift.

The bustling market town of Ruhengeri has a memorable setting at the base of the Virungas. On the outskirts of town, the natural bridge at Musanze - a solidified lava flow - is a fascinating relic of the volcanic activity that shaped this scenic area. Also within easy day tripping distance of Ruhengeri, are the seldom visited but lovely Lakes - Burera, Ruhondo and Karago. Visitors could also base themselves in Gisenyi or Kigali and - with an early start - head to the Parc Nationale des Volcans and Ruhengeri as a day trip.

ITINERARIES RWANDA Volcanoes National Park Nyungwe Forest National Park Akagera National Park		Nyungwe Forest National Park Extending for 1,000 square kilometres across the majestic hills of southeast Rwanda, Nyungwe National Park is the largest block of montane forest in East or Central Africa ...   Read more ...
		Akagera National Park Set at a relatively low altitude on the border with Tanzania, Akagera National Park could scarcely be more different in mood to the breezy cultivated hills that characterize much of Rwanda.... Read more...