Gorillas in the mist
Stick Rwanda on your bucket list, says
The Land of a Thousand Hills, as Rwanda is often known, offers travel escapism of the most memorable sort. Think of the country from afar and it appears in the mind’s eye as a sweep of jungle green and dusty brown. There are guffawing mountain gorillas and chattering chimpanzees. Misty rainforests are cut through by sunbeams. Smoking volcanoes stalk the horizon. All sights that help restore the mind and make one feel alive.
A pipsqueak compared to bigger-hitting tourism rivals Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, Rwanda is one of the smallest countries on the continent. And yet utterly unforgettable, it more than makes up for its size, with pinch-yourself safaris, sustainable tourism and that rare thing: beer made from bananas.
Here’s why you should visit, now that it’s finally lifted its Covid restrictions and is fully reopened to tourists, regardless of vaccination status.
Gorillas will be the beginning of your love affair
No matter how many times it’s cited as one of the world’s great bucket-list thrills, nothing prepares you for the visceral buzz of coming face-to-face with a mountain gorilla. At first, you’re cutting through dense undergrowth with a machete-wielding guide. The next second a matt-haired silverback comes crashing through the bamboo at full pelt.
What follows is an extraordinary moment in the company of a habituated pride, with the sense that time has stopped. Humbling, euphoric and everything you hope it would be, no other African safari experience matches it for drama. Two great starting points to plan a gorilla adventure are Visit Rwanda and Volcanoes National Park. Permits cost around US$1,500 (£1,300) per day. Just don’t get too close.
Be one of the first to discover a new national park
Covid may have taken the shine off the debut of Gishwati Mukura National Park, but that just means it can be discovered anew in 2021. A marriage of two pre-existing wildlife corridors stretched across the Albertine Rift, Rwanda’s fourth national park is a primate paradise and home to chimpanzees, golden monkeys, L’Hoest’s and Blue Monkeys. Cock your ear to the canopy and you’ll hear calls and whistles from some 230-odd bird species, many of which are endemic to the park. For now, hiking and chimp tracking are available, with more guided adventures in the pipeline. There are few tourists here, which is why the four-hour drive from capital Kigali is totally worth it.
The lodges and camps are second to none
Rwanda’s mountain lodges and safari camps are as extraordinary as they are haunting. Some come with liberating morning views of gently smoking volcanoes and cloud-topped forests. Others spoil you with jam-packed plains safaris and Afro-chic eye candy.
If you’ve more than a week, make sure to explore them in full, not just the well-tramped northwest. To the east, inside Akagera National Park, Magashi is the country’s newest safari camp. Here, there are healthy populations of leopards, black rhinos and lions, as well as hippos and enormous crocodiles. The birds – of which there are thousands – are no less obliging for photos.
Bisate Lodge in Ruhengeri is the operator’s other bar-raising offering and it comes complete with beautifully thatched, laundry basket-like villas.
Botanically and ornithologically speaking, Volcanoes Safaris’ Virunga Lodge is a standout, with 10 paint-still-wet luxurious bandas (traditional huts) and the Dian Fossey Map Room, which houses a permanent exhibition dedicated to the conservationists of the Virunga Volcanoes.
One&Only entered the Rwandan market last year, with Nyungwe House set on a working tea plantation in far-flung Nyungwe National Park, and Gorilla’s Nest on the edge of Volcanoes National Park. As you’d expect from one of the most extravagant hotel brands, highlights include tree-skimming bedrooms, a forest spa and best-in-class gorilla treks.
Like elsewhere in east Africa, none of the above options are cheap. Depending on the season, rates start from upwards of £380 per person.
Visit first-rate coffee and tea plantations
The sheer scale of Rwanda’s volcanoes, jungles and rolling hills means you’ll often need to take a breather to soak it all in. Handy, then, that two of the country’s most lucrative cash crops are tea and coffee. There are a number of plantations to visit, from Kinunu Washing Station on the coffee-bean strewn banks of Lake Kivu to Gisakura Tea Factory and Gisovu Tea Estate,
both near Nyungwe National Park. Bear in mind the majority of visits need to be set up through a local tour operator, not with the estate itself. A visit to Huye Mountain Coffee comes highly recommended.
Rwanda takes sustainable tourism seriously
Coronavirus focused your mind on more sustainable ways to travel? Then know that a trip will help local community organisations more so than elsewhere in east Africa. Indeed, thanks to government foresight, Rwanda gives 10 per cent of all tourism revenue to national parks and local communities.
Over the past few years, Rwanda has also ramped up sustainability and eco good news abounds. Consider a nationwide plastic bag ban 16 years ago (with a ban on all singleuse plastics set to follow in 2021), successful animal rehabilitation and rewilding programmes, and a switch to sustainable safari lodges. One place to experience this first-hand is Kitabi EcoCenter, where ecotourism is a byword for supporting local community organisations.
And there’s more...
You can spectate at the Tour du Rwanda, the greatest cycle race in Africa, which is held every February. Or climb a heartpumping volcano like Mount Karisimbi, Rwanda’s highest and one of Africa’s most beautiful. The two-day hike within Volcanoes National Park rewards the intrepid with a border
defining view of the geography of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Or how about learning more about the extraordinary Gorilla Doctors? First set up by Dian Fossey, the charity is the planet’s only hands-on vet that helps eastern lowland and mountain gorillas in the wild. Opportunities to see its work firsthand can be arranged by Volcanoes Safaris’ Virunga Lodge.
Travel essentials
For more information on Rwanda: visitrwanda.com
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