View itineraries in Rwanda
The east African country of Rwanda is located in the centre of the Albertine Rift in the western section of Africa’s Rift Valley. The undulating hilly and mountainous terrain has earned it the nickname “Land of a Thousand Hills”. It is a tiny, landlocked country with rainforest on the western heights and heavily cultivated fields in the valleys below. From the centre, the land slopes away to the savanna and marshes of the east. The legendary Virunga Mountains in the north east are home to volcanoes, swathes of cloud forest and half the world’s total population of critically endangered mountain gorillas. To the west lies Lake Kivu, one of the world’s deepest lakes, with a depth of 475 metres (1 558 ft).
For many people, Rwanda’s name often evokes memories of the horrific genocide that brutalised the country in 1994, but today the country is a world-away from the nightmare that engulfed it. This beautiful African country is the premiere destination for gorilla tracking; its cities are vibrant with a charming small-town feel about them, smart lodges are cropping up in the mountainous national parks and the safari scene is still gloriously under-the-radar.
