Rwanda is one of the smallest countries in East Africa, made up of mainly hilly terrain which led to its name “The land of a Thousand Hills”. Rwanda is a green undulating landscape of hills, with lots of tea gardens which is the major cash crop grown there. The country offers tourists a one of a kind journey – home to one third of the world remaining Mountain Gorillas, one third of Africa’s birds species, several species of primates, volcanoes, game reserve, resorts and islands on the expansive lake Kivu, graceful dancers, artistic crafts and friendly people, all of this has led the country to be voted one of the leading tourist destination areas in Africa.
Rwanda has three national parks; Akagera national park, which is the park for wildlife viewing, Nyungwe Forest National park, where chimpanzee tracking and other primate is done, as well as a variety of bird species. Then there is Volcanoes National park, which is the home to the famous mountain gorillas. This is the most visited national park in Rwanda as tourists come from all over the world to come and see these amazing and endangered mountain gorillas.
Gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National park takes 1-8 hours depending on the group allocated and the movement of the gorillas in there natural environment. The tracking in Volcanoes NP is not very strenuous, but will take you through muddy and slippery ground, so expect to get dirty. Tracking goes through shrubs with nestles which may sting, so it is advisable to wear long and thick pair or pants. Volcanoes NP is made up of mainly bamboo forest, which the gorillas feed on and other fruiting trees. It is a bit challenging for especially unphysical fit trackers, but the meeting of the gorillas is rewarding! To track the gorillas, one has to buy the gorilla permit which is now sold at USD750 per permit and this only allows one to track the gorillas once.
A maximum of only one hour is allowed to stay in presence of the gorillas, which is enough to take photographs and ask questions concerning the mountain gorillas
Other activities done in Volcanoes National park include golden monkey tracking, which is a rare and endangered monkey specie. These are amazing to watch as they are probably one of the most playful monkey.
Dian Fossey hike is another activity done, and this involves hiking up to the former Karisoke research centre, which was established by Dian Fossey, an American primatologist who dedicated her life to conserving the life of the mountain gorillas until she was killed allegedly by the poachers who had been foiled in their effort to kill the mountain gorillas. She was buried at the centre next to Digit, the mountain gorilla. You will learn a lot of information about the mountain gorillas and the effort of Dian in conserving these amazing animals.
Another park, which is Nyungwe Forest National Park is situated in the south western Rwanda, and is the largest ‘island’ of montane forest remaining in east and central Africa. This rich and ancient centre of unparalleled biodiversity and natural wonders is uniquely accessible to the casual visitor. There is 13 primate species recorded in this national park. Of particular interest are the Angola colobus – delightfully acrobatic arboreal monkeys which move in troops of several hundred – and an estimated 500 chimpanzee.
Other primates one might encounter are L’Hoest’s monkey, silver monkey, vervet monkey, olive baboon, grey-cheeked mangabey and red-tailed monkey.
There is also forest canopy walk in this forest which is offers an opportunity to have a clear view of the forest and have an eye level contact with the birds in the forest as well as the primates which play on top of the forest.
Apart from animals, Rwanda is rich in cultural tourism with many organized groups that entertain tourist on Rwanda’s culture, as well as the genocide memorial museums which were established which following the infamous 1994 genocide that left over 800000 people, mostly the Tutsi and other Tutsi sympathizers dead.
