Rwanda
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Rwanda has made massive strides in security and national development in the two decades since the infamous 1994 genocide and is now among the safest countries in Africa. A sense of order prevails: violent crime is nearly nonexistent, and police can be spotted at most major intersections. New roads and tidy villages characterize the countryside. Citizens are required to participate in a monthly day of community service, and you'll be hard-pressed to find litter on the streets, particularly plastic bags, which are banned. You'll find new businesses, homes, and roadways under construction in every corner of the country.
It's worth noting that Rwanda offers more than just gorillas: The primeval forests of Nyungwe National Park are inhabited by more than 75 different mammals, including hundreds of chimpanzees and nearly 300 bird species. Akagera National Park in the northeast offers a savanna safari experience without the usual khaki-clad crowds.
Top Destinations
Akagera National Park
This 1,122-square-km (433-square-mile) park along Rwanda's northeastern border with Tanzania is the safari scene's best-kept secret. You can experience prime safari lands without the Land Rover wagon circles that surround wildlife in Kenya and Tanzania. The borders encompass a labyrinth of lakes and papyrus swamps teeming with hippos and crocodiles, plus savannas dotted by giraffes, zebras, elephants, and nearly a dozen varieties of antelope.
Originally established in 1934, Akagera has weathered a tumultuous history. The park lost half its territory and all of its lions in the wake of the 1994 genocide. Now, however, the park has experienced a rebirth. Nonprofit African Parks partnered with the Rwandan government to spend approximately US$10 million on restoring the country's only protected savanna environment. Lions will be reintroduced in 2015, and the park already has a new thatch-roof reception center, a café, and a luxury tented lodge. It also offers camping facilities, guided game drives, boat cruises, and fishing trips. Akagera is still off the main tourist circuit. If you're seeking solitude and a one-on-one experience with nature, it doesn't get better than this.
Kigali
Kigali is a fascinating example of a future-focused African city. Once the wasteland of civil war and genocide, Rwanda's capital has transformed itself into a model of urban development. In the two decades after the genocide, exiles have flocked to the city flush with education, investment dollars, and entrepreneurial ideas. Foreigners have jumped in the mix, opening sushi joints, yoga studios, bakeries, artisan coffee shops, and even a co-working space for start-ups. The nightlife is also picking up, and you'll find dance clubs, sports bars, and live music.
With a population of approximately 1 million people, the city is the commercial and governmental hub for the rest of the country. Its trash-free boulevards, smooth roads, LED streetlights, and meticulously manicured medians are a closer approximation of Europe than East Africa. It's an image the country is keen to expand. Construction on an ultramodern convention center and adjoining IT complex is currently underway, and a slick new master plan calls for an overhaul of the business district and more urban housing.
Even without gleaming new buildings, the city is something to behold. The undulating skyline of red-roofed houses, terraced farm plots, and brilliant green foliage is stunning. Kigali is also safe: violent crime is rare, particularly against foreigners, and police do their job, including handing out speeding tickets. You'll rarely find yourself hassled, and negotiating traffic will be your biggest obstacle. Some expatriates say that they feel safer raising their kids in Kigali than in U.S. cities.
Volcanoes National Park
Imagine slashing your way through undergrowth, sidling around bamboo forests, and peering through eucalyptus leaves to catch a glimpse of the massive and majestic silverback mountain gorilla.
He makes eye contact, grunts, then proceeds to pick his nose. Two teenage gorillas, drunk off bamboo sap, roll past in a wrestling match, brushing your leg as they go by. A mother gorilla carts her two-week-old baby around piggyback and throws a cautious glance your way. Visitors describe the hour-long encounter with gorillas in Volcanoes National Park as surreal. Set against the backdrop of the Virunga Mountains, each peak topped by saucer-shape clouds, a visit with mankind's not-so-distant relatives certainly seems to defy reality.
Volcanoes National Park is one of only four places on earth where visitors can commune with the critically endangered mountain gorillas. The park encompasses a 160-square-kilometer (62-square-mile) slice of the Virunga Mountains, including a string of nine volcanoes that extends into neighboring Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The ecologically rich Virunga region is home to more than half of the world's mountain gorilla, which number fewer than 900.
Volcanoes was gazetted in 1925, making it the first national park in Rwanda. Tourism activities were suspended during the Rwanda Civil War but resumed in 1999. Now travelers can visit one of 10 habituated gorilla groups by purchasing a permit for US$750. A maximum of eight people are allowed to visit each group daily.
Gorillas may be the headline act, but there's plenty more to see and do in the park. Hiking enthusiasts can navigate a network of trails through the Virunga Mountains, including summiting the 3,711-meter (12,175-foot) Mount Bisoke, with its crater lake and rewarding cross-border views of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. History and mammal buffs can visit the grave and research center of prominent primatologist Dian Fossey, whose life and work inspired the movie Gorillas in the Mist.
A visit with the park's population of golden monkeys is worth the US$100 permit. These hyper, cherub-cheeked primates swing through the bamboo forests, occasionally swooping down to the forest floor for a particularly choice bamboo shoot. Be warned that catching them on camera can prove tricky. Volcanoes is also home to forest elephants, buffalo, spotted hyenas, and nearly 200 bird species.
