ABOUT RWANDA 

In colonial times, the thrilling beauty of Rwanda’s rolling mountainous landscapes earned in the sobriquet “The Land of a Thousand Hills”. After independence, this small Central African nation leaped to fame as the Land of “Gorillas in the Mist”, adopted home of Dian Fossey and the most important refuge for the rare mountain gorilla. Gorilla trakking in the Virungas was the country’s premier attraction, supplemented by the mesmerizing savannah and plains wildlife of Akagera National Park, the incredible biodiversity of the extensive Nyungwe rainforest, and a range of mountain and lakeshore around the beautiful Lake Kivu.

Then came 1994 and the genocide that caused Rwanda to leap from glossy travel supplements to grisly front page news. By 1995, the country was already clawing its way back close to normality, and today it is poised to reclaim its rightful place as one of the world’s finest adventure and ecotourism destinations. The mountain gorillas are still there, every bit as awe inspiring as ever, as are the elephants of Akagera and the chimpanzees and monkeys of Nyungwe. Rwanda is also one of Africa’s top birding countries, with an incredible 670 different bird species recorded within an area the size of Wales or Belgium. And this nature-lover’s paradise remains, for all it has been through, a truly welcoming country, whose attractions are complemented by good facilities, fine food and its rich cultural heritage.