Rwanda – nestled in the heart of Africa, is “a Land of a thousand Hills” characterized by towering highlands, ancient montane forests and freshwater lakes that dot it’s scenic landscape. Endowed with vast natural attractions and a rich cultural heritage, Rwanda offers a holistic holiday spiced up by cultural immersions, wildlife experiences and adventure. A tailor-made holiday safari in Rwanda is an immersive adventure that packages various top highlights, from treks along gorillas and chimpanzee, hiking, biking tours, kayaking, wildlife safaris, cultural experiences and more.
Country Overview
Covering an area of 26,340 km 2, Rwanda is a highland country elevated across 1500m-2500m of altitude. It neighbors Uganda in the north, Tanzania on its eastern flanks, the Democratic Republic of Congo on the west, and Burundi on its southern border. Although smaller that its neighbors, Rwanda boasts a modern infrastructure network, green environment, prolific scenery characterized by green tea highlands, and a diverse natural heritage protected in its national parks. It’s a country on an upward move, that has risen from a dark past to today’s modern and fastest-growing economy.
Rwanda is a densely populated country, with a vibrant and youthful population of close to 12m residents. It’s bustling capital of Kigali lies at the heart of the country, vibrant, clean, and charming reflecting the strong and resilient spirit of the Rwandan people. This commercial and economical hub hosts a population of 1.3m residents. First-time visitors on a guided city tour will discover Rwanda’s rich ancient culture merging with modernity to create Africa’s shining star.
Attractions and Activities to do while on Holiday Adventure Safari in Rwanda
Rwanda is endowed with a myriad of attractions including scenic lakes that offer excellent escape and recreation activities to well marked scenic trails that traverse the countryside inviting adventurers to explore. The country protects some of the Africa’s best wilderness places and ancient rainforests that host endemic flora and fauna while its vibrant cities showcases Rwanda’s resilience and upward mentality. Here is a brief of different attractions and highlights that can be tailored together to offer a unforgettable Rwanda holiday safari expereince.
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Mountain Gorilla and Chimpanzee Trekking Experience in Rwanda
Rwanda’s top bucket-list adventure is ofcourse a trek experience along both the mountain gorillas and chimpanzee in their natural forested habitats. The robust dedication to conservation and excellent infrastructure has made Rwanda a premier destination for these lifetime treks along the endangered mountain gorillas and chimpanzee. Mountain gorillas are tracked in Volcanoes National Park while Chimpanzee occur in Nyungwe Forest National Park. A trek expereince in the rainforests to meet these giant apes is regarded as a lifetime experience.
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Trek up-close the Golden Monkey in Rwanda’s Volcanoes NP
Golden monkey trekking is another exciting adventure and a top bucket-list of things-to-do while in Rwanda where you will trek up-close to a troop of these beautiful primates as they forage across their extensive range in Volcanoes National Park. The golden monkey which is an Albertine endemic occurs high up along the bamboo forest zone and near the forest edge where they forage in troops of over 100 individuals.
The trek to these beautiful and agile monkeys is considered much easier than gorilla trek and equally exciting. The trek expereince to the golden monkey is offered mainly at Volcanoes National Park and at a less extent in Gishwati-Mukula National Park.
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Big-5 African Wildlife Safari Experience in Rwanda’s Akagera National Park
While visiting Rwanda, take an epic wildlife safari Akagera National Park, a little gem that offers an almost exclusive African wilderness experience. Akagera National Park is a stunningly beautiful wilderness characterised by rolling hillsides, grassland plains, lakes and wetlands hosting all of the iconic Big 5 listers and a checklist of up to 500 bird species.
Activities here include guided interpretive game drives, night game drives, boat safaris and walking safaris that bring you up-close to variety of game including savanna elephants, black and white rhinos, lions, leopards etc and a plethora of birdlife.
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Go birding for the Albertine Endemics
Rwanda is a premier birding destination offering the best montane birding expereince anywhere on the continent. The country’s quality infrastructure linking top birding sites, a wide range of quality accommodation plans, high quality guides, safe record makes birding in Rwanda easier and rewarding. Rwanda’s other advantages include its geographic location near the equator but more importantly; at the confluence of Africa’s biggest biomes hosting over 750 bird-species checklist; the highest concentration of birds per square kilometer of any country on the continent.
This bird diversity includes the much-sought-after Albertine Endemics, biome restricted specialists, forest proper and generalists species. The country’s top birding hotspot is Nyungwe Forest National Park, also the continent’s oldest rainforest, which offers the best montane birding due to its location along the Albertine Rift. Other birding hotspots include Akagera National Park with its varied habitats and a chain of wetlands surrounding most highland lakes across this country.
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Explore Rwanda on an Adventure Trip
Rwanda, “the land of a thousand hills” offers excellent and off-the-beaten-paths adventure options to spice up your holiday here. These adventure options are explored solely on a multi-day adventure safari or tailored along a gorilla and chimp trekking expereince or with a wildlife safari here. Among the adventures in Rwanda is an exhilarating hiking expereince include treks through vast ancient rainforests to summiting volcanoes at Volcanoes National Park that lie along the western region of the country. Other adventure options include, Cycling tour, Kayaking, Canopy Walk, City Tours, cultural treks and community tours that expose you to an authentic Rwandan hospitality and lifestyle.
One popular hike is a One Day hike to Mt. Bisoke (3711m)mountain peak whose rim is topped by a scenic crater lake. The trail passes by former Dian Fossey’s compound and now her final resting place. Another popular hike is a multi-day hike to Mt. Karisimbi that towers some 4507m and offers a stunning views of the surrounding volcanic ranges.
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Explore the charming Lake Kivu
The beautiful quiet shores of Lake Kivu in the west of the country are charming and offers a perfect holiday escape haven with numerous soft adventure and cultural experiences to explore and spice up your stay here. Lake Kivu is often used as a base to break up the journey between Rwanda’s top attractions of Gorillas in Volcanoes in the north and chimpanzee in Nyungwe lying in the south.
Best Time to Visit Rwanda
Rwanda is an all-year-round travel destination with local variations dictated by topographic features and altitude. The central and western regions receive higher rains than the east making activities like mountain hiking challenging as the trails tend to be slippery during the rainy season. Even so, the rainy season brings lots of fresh food for the vegetarian specialist including the mountain gorillas and need not wander far and wide. For the omnivorous chimpanzee, this is a season when most figs are fruiting making locating them while on treks much easier.
The country’s annual seasons include.
- Rain season: From late Feb-June. This receives most rains, especially in the higher mountains and mid-September-mid December.
- Dry season: From June-Sept longer season while the Dec- Feb is a shorter spell.
Other Highlights on a Holiday Safari in Rwanda
- Canopy Walk in Nyungwe Forest
- King’s Palace Tour on a Cultural experience in Nyanza
- Kigali City Tour
- Biking Tour