Terraced fields for farming cover the hills of northwestern Rwanda.

©Edwin Remsberg/Getty Images

Rwanda

Rwanda is known as Le Pays des Mille Collines (Land of a Thousand Hills) thanks to the endless mountains in this scenically stunning little country. Nowhere are the mountains more majestic than the Virunga volcanoes in the northwest, and hidden among the bamboo forests are some of the world's last remaining mountain gorillas. For a change of scene, the shores of Lake Kivu conceal some of the best inland beaches on the continent, while Nyungwe Forest National Park protects extensive tracts of montane rainforest, and is home to many primates. Looking for a more metropolitan experience? Kigali, the capital, is one of the loveliest cities in Africa.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Visitors at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.

    Kigali Genocide Memorial

    Kigali

    In the span of 100 days, an estimated one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were systematically butchered by the Interahamwe army. This memorial honours…

  • Ethnographic Museum

    Ethnographic Museum

    Rwanda

    This outstanding museum was given to the city as a gift from Belgium in 1989 to commemorate 25 years of independence. While the building itself is…

  • A female mountain gorilla with her young baby in Volcanoes National Park in the Virunga Mountains.

    Volcanoes National Park

    Rwanda

    Volcanoes National Park, which runs along the border with the DRC and Uganda, is home to the Rwandan section of the Virungas. Comprising five volcanoes,…

  • Wild Eastern Black-and-white Colobus in Nyungwe National Park.

    Nyungwe Forest National Park

    Rwanda

    Nyungwe Forest National Park is Rwanda’s most important area of biodiversity and has been rated the highest priority for forest conservation in Africa…

  • Murambi Genocide Memorial

    Murambi Genocide Memorial

    Rwanda

    Nyamagabe (formerly called Gikongoro) and the satellite town of Murambi was the site of one of the most unforgettable horrors of the 1994 genocide…

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    Akagera National Park

    Rwanda

    Akagera is Rwanda's answer to the savannah parks of Kenya and Tanzania, and is utterly different in landscape to anywhere else in the country. Prior to…

  • King's Palace Museum – Rukari

    King's Palace Museum – Rukari

    Rwanda

    Situated on a hill 2km southwest of town, this fascinating museum is less about ancient history and more about royal residences. The displays centre on a…

  • Rubona Peninsula

    Rubona Peninsula

    Rwanda

    Roughly 6km south of town (about RFr1000 by moto-taxi), along a lovely lakeshore road, the Rubona Peninsula is Lake Kivu at its finest. Hills rise steeply…

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