RWANDA NATIONAL PARKS –
PARC NATIONAL DES VOLCANS:
This is Rwanda’s most popular national park situated in far northwest of Rwanda on steep slopes of the magnificent volcanic Virunga mountain range, made up of a chain of 5 volcanoes covering 1600 hectares. Home to rare mountain gorilla, close parent to mankind, which you can discover after a fascinating trek, during experienced guides will lead you through the dense forest to watch the giant anthropoids. It was here that primatologist, Dian Fossey worked until her death in 1985, and whose work inspired the movie, “Gorillas in the Mist”, which is even today very successful.
Apart from the amazing gorilla, the park also boasts of rich forest canopy, colourful birds, chattering golden monkeys and elusive populations of elephants and buffalo. Roughly half of the world’s mountain gorillas are resident in the Virungas, where five habituated groups – ranging in size from seven to 37 individuals – can be visited by up to 36 tourists daily. Permits to visits gorillas are issued by the Office Rwandaise du Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux (ORTPN) or Rwanda Tourism Board, in Kigali or Ruhengeri.
Activties: Gorilla trekking, Primate visits (golden monkey trekking), visit to Dian Fossey tomb, birding and nature walks.
Accommodation: Range from high and low budgets - Mountain Gorilla Nest, Volcanoes Virunga Lodge, Kinigi Guest House, Hotel Muhabura, Hotel Urumuli, Home Modern Hotel and Diocese Centre.
AKAGERA NATIONAL PARK: (elephant/ zebra, shoebill, leopard in tree, etc)
Located in eastern part bordering Tanzania, Akagera is the place to be for safaris. With its patchwork of grassy, wooded and bushy savannah, of marshlands and lakes, the park offers an enchanting and adventurous environment for a big game country… Here, you can elephants, lions, buffaloes, antelopes, oribi, bushbucks, giraffes and occasionally stumble on a leopard.
During a boat tour, you can enjoy the calm of Lake Ihema, or discover hippopotami and crocodiles. As for bird, the park boasts of more than 525 species, among which there are 345 nesting species as well as a big number of migrants.You may encounter unique species such as shoebill, the papyrus gonolek, or sizeable flocks of resident and migrants attracted by seasonal fluctuations in water levels.
Activities: Game drives, boat trip, camping, nature walks and birding
Accommodation: Hotel Dereva, Motel Ikambere, Umbrella Pine Guest House, Centre St Joseph, Hotel Rwamagana Ngari
NYUNGWE NATIONAL PARK: (Pictures of birds, orchids,)
Located in south-west covering an area 1,030 sq. km, Nyungwe National Park is the largest mountain forest in Africa. Park boasts of rich biodiversity being home to 13 types of primates, over 270 species of birds, 25 of which are endemic, more than 250 species of trees and shrubs, 100 varieties of orchids and several types of large mammals including leopards, golden cats, bush pigs, black-footed duiker, etc. Chimpanzees, black-and-white colubus monkeys, mangabeys and blue monkeys have been habituated for tourism. Dedicated bird-watchers will never want to leave!
Activities: Game drives, chimp tracking, camping.
Accommodation: Hotel du La Kivu, Hotel des Chutes, Bar Rubavu, Peace Guest House and many more others.
LAKE KIVU:
Lake Kivu is an extraordinarily beautiful inland sea enclosed by steep, green terraced hills along the Congolese border. It is the largest of numerous freshwater bodies that shimmer in the valleys of Rwanda. Three resort towns, Gisenyi, Kibuye and Cyangugu, are connected by a wild roller-coaster road that tumbles through lush plantain fields and relic patches of rainforest to offer sweeping views over the water. It is one of the classic journeys in all of Africa. There is also a charter boat service on the lake connecting the three towns. Gisenyi is the most developed of these three resorts, lies less than an hours from the Parc des Volcans and is set on a sandy beach lined with swaying palms and colonial-era hotels that exude an atmosphere of tropical languor.
Activities: Boat trips in dug canoes, sport fishing, birding
Accommodation: Hotel Palm Beach, Kivu Sun Hotel, Hotel Izuba, Hotel Gisenyi, Regina Hotel, La Bel Vedre, Ubumwe Hotel.
KIGALI CITY TOUR:
The Kigali City Tour will introduce you this small neat city hedged in between hills now busting with activity following a decade of reconstructions after the infamous 1994 genocide. Its hosts all major governments offices, hundreds of international agencies, educational institutions and has its equal share of recreational centres. You will come face to face with Rwanda dark past – the infamous 1994 genocide in Rwanda which claimed close to a million lives. After the genocide, Kigali City decided to dedicate a site for the burial its people in a single place. Many mass graves were exhumed from around the city and the remains interred at the Kigali Memorial Centre in Gisozi district. This is now their final resting place.
Accommodation: Intercontinental Hotel, Hotel Okapi, Hotel des Diplomates, Hotel Concorde, Hotel des Chutes, Kigali Hotel, La Garni de Centre, Volcano Hotel
