How to Discover Rwanda: 10 suggested ways.
Ten approaches to learn about Rwanda. Often referred to as “Land of a Thousand Hills,” Rwanda is an East African nation located on the eastern edge of the Albertine Rift Valley. Like every high terrain. Geographically, Rwanda is surrounded from east by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Democratic Republic of Congo.
Rwanda is a safe and hospitable place evidence of the resiliency of its people, despite a turbulent history because tourism is rebounding there. Rwanda provides a very rare experience for anyone looking for a really fulfilling safari. From mountain gorillas in Volcanoes to the volcanic peaks and limitless successions of steep hills, it is not surprising that it is the Land of a Thousand Hills.
Rwanda’s fastest-growing industry is tourism, most specifically ecotourism around Lake Kivu, Nyungwe Forest, and naturally the world’s most renowned mountain gorillas at Volcanoes National Park.
How to reach and move around Rwanda
There are many ways to travel to and around Rwanda. Every foreign aircraft lands at Kigali foreign Airport, and upon arrival tourists often decide to spend nights in Kigali city. Getting to the next location of your choosing will need a fantastic road transfer. Alternatively go to your travel route map.
Generally speaking, Rwanda’s major highways in metropolitan areas and the capital are lovely and clean, which makes travel around easy.
Being a land-locked nation, road travel remains the primary means of transportation utilized with its fast-growing economic infrastructure given priority and thus makes it simple to get throughout the country with ease; some roads are typically bad like any other developing nation. Although hiring someone to drive you is often not the best option highly advised, looking at self-drive you must give it another consideration.
Akagera Aviation offers helicopter trips within Rwanda.
All overseas tourists must have passports valid for six months after the planned duration of stay. Arriving at Kigali International Airport and all land crossings, nationals of every country get a visa. The US $50 single-entry tourist visa is valid for thirty days and excludes several countries. Please be urged to routinely consult the Rwanda Directorate of Immigration and Emigration since this is subject to fluctuations.
Essential knowledge about Rwanda you should be familiar with
Kigeli is Rwanda’s capital city. The most often used and intelligible languages in Rwanda are French and Kinyarwanda. Spoken mostly in the major towns, hotels, and national parks, English is also the official language. As it is in any nation, simple safety measures should be followed when visiting Rwanda. Don’t leave money or too much jewelry laying around or carry too much.
Where safe-deposit boxes are available, securely store travel papers and valuables. Walk unescorted late at night not at all. If in uncertainty, consult your guide for direction.
Local money is the Rwandan Franc (Amafaranga in the local tongue).
US dollars are accepted generally; nevertheless, dollar notes older than ten years are not accepted.
Cities have banks and foreign currency bureaus; kindly verify the most recent exchange rates before visiting your target location.
Visa and MasterCard are accepted most of the hostels and lodges.
Before visiting Rwanda, make sure you have enough travel insurance to cover any medical condition including hospitalization as well as cancelment, postponing of plans, and luggage.
Health Situation in Rwanda
Accidents and malaria are the biggest health hazards in Rwanda. Before visiting Rwanda, travellers should see their doctors for guidance on preventative malaria measures.
Travelers should be sure their vaccines are current. Rwanda belongs to the yellow fever zone of Africa, hence it is very necessary to be vaccinated against yellow fever no less than ten days before trip.
Update COVID-19
Results from negative RT-PCR tests done 72 hours before departure are needed to board an aircraft to Rwanda.
Those leaving Rwanda have to show negative for Covid-19 within 72 hours before their trip starts. The only approved test is a SARS-CoV2 Real-Time Chain Polymerase (RT-PCR) taken 72 hours before travel. Other tests are not allowed.
Public is urged to use masks or face covers.
Drinking tap water is advised against. Every town offers bottled mineral water; check sure the seal is unbroken.
If you want to view primates, you must be in excellent health since passing on human colds or other diseases to them has hazards.
Ban on Plastic
Kindly do not bring plastic bags to Rwanda. Legal bans on plastic bags in 3008 mean that any plastic bags you pack will be taken at the airport or other point of entry.
Rwanda works to preserve the environment; this is a topic covered in their constitution and closely watched by every resident who helps out in a community service known as “Umuganda” on the last Saturday of the month.
Rwanda’s Safety
Always ask your guide to find out if there are any possibly dangerous places you should stay away from.
Steer clear of abandoned sites, especially at night. Dress down for city exploration. One should use hidden travel wallets.
Rwandans are extremely friendly and compassionate people, hence please do not hesitate to seek for aid or assistance at any moment.
Steer clear of photographing anything linked to the military or government, including army barracks, land, or people near by, government buildings, banks, ports, rail stations, and airports.
Notable is that cotton clothes is the most comfortable throughout the day. Please find particular packing instructions for gorilla tracking here.
Motives for Seeing Rwanda
A leisure trip or vacation would be perfect in Rwanda. We quickly discuss some of the reasons to visit some of Rwanda from outstanding deals to not be missed experiences that fit your tastes in the coming paragraphs.
Tacking of mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park
Mountain gorilla hiking is another approach to explore Rwanda. One cannot find any wildlife encounter like that with the graceful mountain gorilla. Volcanoes National Park, named after the sequence of dormant volcanoes known as the Virunga Massif—Karisimbi (snowcapped), Bisoke, Sabinyo, Gahinga, and Muhabura—is located far northwest of Rwanda.
It guards the steep slopes of the great mountain range, home of the threatened mountain gorillas, and a diverse mosaic of montane habitats, which embrace evergreen and bamboo forest, open grassland, wetland, heath.
Through the enigmatic closeness of the rainforest, admire close interactions with mountain gorillas in Rwanda, alive with the sounds of over 300 bird species and chattering of the uncommon golden monkey. It’s amazing to witness these peaceful monkeys undisturbed in their natural habitat.
Living in the Volcanoes National Park are fifteen completely habituated mountain gorilla families (Susa, Igisha, Karisimbi, Sabyinyo, Amahoro, Agashya, Kwitonda, Umubano, Hirwa, Bwenge, Ugyenda, and Muhoza), with a few others acclimated only for scientific study. Every group or family comprises at least one silverback along with many females and children.
With each group seeing visitors for a tight limit of one hour daily, the families usually cling to a particular region and are under continuous protection by park guards.
Every day, for every group or family, a maximum of six tourists escorted by a professional ranger go out in quest of miraculous encounters with the great apes calling the Virunga Mountains their habitat. Visitors discover the beautiful, picturesque terrain where Dian Fossey conducted her innovative gorilla studies, negotiating hills covered with bamboo and jungle.
Finding your allotted gorilla family takes thirty minutes to five hours; after you find them, you are free to spend an hour peacefully viewing these fascinating animals.
Arriving at the Volcanoes National Park headquarters in Kinigi at 7am, visitors are instructed on dos and don’ts, tracked the mountain gorillas, and assigned a family based on fitness levels.
See them foraging, playing, teasing one other, eating, or slumbering in an almost human likeness. Enjoy every minute. Though the climb to see them may be difficult at times with steep climbs shrouded in thick foliage, initial views of these amazing species usually pay off.
Gorillas live in places where food plants abound close to the ground and think nothing of climbing rather high slopes to get them. As this amazing area of Rwanda is rather unique, try to spend as much time as you can in it.
With guided trips prior to the main event giving a chance to meet park officials and conservationists, the annual “Kwita-Izina” gorilla-naming ceremony is a unique occasion to visit the Volcanoes National Park. Musanze celebrates in Visitors are amused and have conversations about Rwanda’s outstanding progress in gorilla protection as well as the still-present difficulties.
Booking ahead, either online or via a reputable tour operator, is strongly advised given Rwanda’s only 96 gorilla permits daily. Rwanda is a premium gorilla tracking site as the Rwanda gorilla tracking permit is the most at US $1500 each. Tracking gorillas has a minimum age restriction of fifteen years old.
Tracking golden monkeys in Volcanoes National Park
Endemic to the high-altitude woods in the Volcanoes National Park region, the golden monkey is a local subspecies of the widely distributed Sykes Monkey, often known as the Blue Monkey.
Usually dangling from bamboo trees or running on the forest floor, golden monkeys are curious and energetic.
Only located in Uganda and Rwanda, these amazing golden monkeys are unique within the Virunga Mountains range—which spans the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda.
Two habituated golden monkey groups live at the foot of Mount Sabyinyo; one group consists of around 80 to 100 individuals.
From the national park headquarters at 7 a.m., forest treks search for the golden monkeys; guests are allowed to remain with them for just one hour.
There are no restrictions on the number of people tracking golden monkeys; each ticket costs US $100 per person per trip. Permits may be booked at the park headquarters on the morning of the event or set up beforehand. You may contract porters to help carry lunchboxes or cameras.
NOTE: Every activity in Volcanoes National Park begins at the park headquarters in the town of Kinigi, 15 km north of Musanze, 110km from the city, Kigali. And payment for all these activities is via Bank transfer at least one day before you engage in the activity and provide a receipt as evidence of payment. Requesting further information from your travel agent can help to address any unanticipated letdowns.
Although the national park does not provide lodging, various lodges and motels are located along its boundaries.
The closest airport is Kigali International Airport; you may drive to and from there.
Monitoring chimps in Nyungwe Forest
Conservation of Nyungwe Forest National Park, a high latitude highland rainforest in southern Rwanda, dates back to 3005 Comprising around 1700 t0 3000 square kilometers, this is the biggest protected alpine forest in Africa.
Chimpanzees and monkeys call the protected Nyungwe Forest National Park home, providing a unique chance to see these amazing creatures up-close. According to research, chimps have almost 99% of the original human DNA; the reason is still unknown.
Two chimpanzee groups totally habituated for tracking call the woodland home. One group is at Nyungwe main forest; the second is discovered in Cyamudongo, a little area of the forest situated in the eastern section of Nyungwe forest national park.
Every path is unique, and the fascinating chimpanzees of the forest abound with surprises. From the three welcome centers—Kitabi, Uwinka (the main center), and Gis Sakura—where all visitors meet the park ranger guide—the all-great trip to chimpanzees begins.
Visitors engaged in this activity should be at their designated places early, say 4:30 am, so that they can all travel to the trek starting site at 5 am. The professional guide will bring you, following chimpanzees, into the heart of the forest at the crack of morning.
A rustling of leaves, and subsequently, through the branches, you will see a chimpanzee staring down from the fig trees. Maybe you will also observe a bunch of chimps that live among trees launching themselves from the canopy. Only one hour is allowed for visitors to spend with the chimpanzees.
Although the Cyamudongo group has just around thirty members, they have the most successful sightings among groups in the main hub of Nyungwe with about 60 members. This is so due to the difficult topography of the jungle, which makes it difficult or almost impossible to see the chimpanzees.
The minimum age is 16 years; a chimpanzee tracking permit costs US $90 per guest per day. Visitors should pack long sleeved shirts, a rain jacket, jeans, hiking shoes or boots. To keep you going while you enjoy the walk, a tourist also has to pack at least two liters of drinking water and food.
Nyungwe National Park’s Canopy Walk
Rich in variety and breathtakingly gorgeous with the rugged terrain filled with animals, Nyungwe is among the oldest rainforests in Africa. Along with many other things this amazing jungle provides, tourists may have unforgettable and photographic experiences going over the Canopy Walk suspension bridge.
Rising over a ravine in the rich montane rainforest of Nyungwe National Park, the canopy walkway offers a thrilling viewpoint on the prehistoric treetops and species. Accessible on a guided trip along the Igishigishigi trail, or those walking the Imabaraga or Umuyove paths, this 160-meter long and 70-meter high suspension bridge Along the hour’s walk to the canopy walkway from the Uwinka Reception Center, guests have chances to witness numerous butterflies, orchids, and colorful birds, including several endemics to the area.
Though individuals who want to find thirteen primate species that reside in Nyungwe should choose a focused primate excursion, chances to observe them are not out of question.
A guided trip to the canopy walkway is US $60 per person. Participants have to be at least six years old, and youngsters accompanied by parents.
The well-maintaining trails on the steep wooded slopes might get muddy particularly in rainy conditions. Consequently, one should carry a lightweight raincoat and wear appropriate shoes.
Game watching at National Park Akagera
Comprising grassland, forest, marsh, and a dozen lakes, Akagera situated on the somewhat warm and low-lying plains. The goal is to make sure the big five game wander the park in greater numbers over time; this basically open expanse is perfect for game watching. Though the park is tiny in comparison to many other savannah parks throughout Africa, game watching is the major activity available.
A helicopter, a canine squad, and rhino trackers that help to monitor the movements and safety of the animals have helped to minimize poaching in Akagera. The 8000 big animals in this national park have benefited much from the 2013 finished surrounding fence.
One spot to see wildlife is Akagera National Park. With lions, eastern black rhinos, buffalo, elephant, antelope, zebra, giraffe, baboons, monkeys, 490 bird species, African swallows, warthogs, mongoose, hippos, crocodiles, to name just a few, it is regarded as a “gem of Rwanda”.
Akagera National Park for US$40 per person offers night game drives as well, which may be scheduled outside from the park.
The park is open for self-drives. While foreign-registered automobiles pay US$25 plus double for the Safari vehicles or buses, EAC registered cars pay US$7.
The amazing trip from the south to the north in a day will allow you to see numerous animals, hence a terrific adventure experience as well as the breathtaking views from the mountain over Lake Ihema into Tanzania, highlight of every visit to Akagera. Large pods of hippos, Nile crocodiles, and many waterbirds on the island in the center of the lake are visible while on the boat journey.
One may only tour the park by automobile. One might sleep in the park at several lodges.
Lake Kivu
One of the African Great Lakes, Rwanda’s biggest lake, Lake Kivu, located in the western side of the nation and surrounded by breathtaking mountains. Its deep emerald, green waters encompass a surface area of 2,800 square kilometers.
Between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Lake Kivu drains into the Ruzizi River, which runs southeast into Lake Tanganyika. One entirely within the Democratic Republic of Congo and another divided between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, the lake creates two big fingers.
Among the many parks close to the lake are Virunga National Park, a fantastic place to see the wilds in the heart of Africa, and Volcanoes National Park, home to active volcanoes and primates including mountain gorillas.
Beautiful views of the nearby mountains abound from Lake Kivu, which also has charming resorts and huts and ports such Rusizi, Karongi, and Rubavu dotting the coastline.
Rubavu, formerly Gisenyi, is a sizable town on the northern border of the lake dotted with fading ancient homes, hotels, and hip bars perfect for sundowner drinks. From Volcanoes National Park, a great spot to unwind after gorilla tracking, it is one hour journey.
Karongi, midway across the lake, is a well-known beach resort with pine and eucalyptus slopes against the glittering lake. Local fisherman chanting spreads over the river as they paddle concurrently at nightfall and sunrise.
Karongi is well-known for its Saturday market, Museum of the Environment—which has a collection of stuffed animals and mounted butterflies—and rooftop garden with well-labeled plants used for traditional medicine.
A kayaking trip on Lake Kivu, or mountain biking or trekking one of the Congo Nile Trails, is a great option for adventurous visitors to see Rwanda.
The islands of Gahinga and Nkobo, both of which sustain great birdlife, are reached via a short trip on a local boat.
Like Kivu, main ports are most conveniently accessible by car. Karongi is around 135km west of Kigali and Rubavu is 155km northwest via Musanze; Rusizi is roughly 220km southwest of Kigali via Huye and Nyungwe National Park. Along with a twice weekly ferry service, a 300km road links the three principal ports to one another.
Kiggi City
The capital of Rwanda, Kigali, is the ideal base from which to begin an amazing journey of discovery of Africa.
Kigali, location of Rwanda’s sole international airport, is the most orderly and cleanest city in Africa. With the government district on one hill and the city center high on another, Kigali, vibrant and colorful, stretches across picturesque peaks and valleys.
On an amazing guided Kigali City Tour, history, architecture, and culture meet. As you go to where the first modern building was constructed, which set the groundwork for Kigali, you will be able to wonderfully see the vitality of this city.
Then negotiate crowded areas to really experience Kigali life. The great expansion of the city results from the fast growing number of tourists and investors drawn to what has been described as one of the nicest and safest towns in Africa.
The city tour covers the Genocide Memorial Center, sensory stops at the city market with a section for visitors with souvenirs, a visit to the Museum of Natural History, a motorbike ride across the town, interaction with the Inema Art Center’s artists, appreciation of the vibrant dance and musical performances, and dinner at the Hotel Des Milles Collines, the hotel most known from the film “Hotel Rwanda.”
People and Cultural Heritage of Rwanda
Mostly three groups of people live in Rwanda: the Hutu, the Tutsi, and the Twa or Pygmies. With almost 84%, the Hutu rule over other groups; the Tutsi account for 15%; and the Twa about 1%.
Unlike many African nations, Rwanda has been a cohesive state from pre-colonial times, inhabited by Banyarwanda with one language and cultural legacy.
Essential components of Rwandan rituals, celebrations, social events, and storytelling are music and dance. males have historically drummed; women have the Umushagiriro, or cow dance; males have the Intore, or dance of heroes; and so on.
Cultural villages, museums, and numerous hotels and lodges across Rwanda the Gorilla Guardians village in Musanze as well as the National Museum of Rwanda often include live dance events.
While most started as totally useful objects rather than just for decoration, art and craft are created all throughout the nation. Traditionally used to create dry containers for keeping food and medication, weaving and basket manufacturing is still a craft today.
These, also referred to as peace pots, have traditional values including celebrating marriages or as a welcome present. Many towns nowadays still have traditional Batwa-style pottery visible there. Liquid storage and cooking still take use of pots. Among the locally produced goods are wood sculptures.
Why, do you wonder, is Kigali the cleanest city in Africa?
Rwanda is not by chance the cleanest nation in Africa. The rationale is a combined effort known as “Umuganda,” which translates as gathering around a shared goal to produce a result. Umuganda is when Rwandans from all walks of life band together to serve their country at large and their local areas.
Every month, the final Saturday marks this. On this day, all stores shut, buses stop operating, traffic vanishes from roads, people lay aside their own enterprises and help public works all throughout the nation which include rubbish cleaning, tree planting, home construction for the vulnerable, and much more. All guests are kindly welcomed and those interested are welcome to participate during this social event.
Where in Rwanda one should stay?
Rwanda has tented camps in the parks and reserves, safari hotels, and quite nice lodging in Kigali, the city. These lodges provide the perfect base from which to go gorilla tracking. Expect neat, cozy lodges, great cuisine, breathtaking vistas and surrounds, and plenty of adventure.
