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What You Need to Know Before Going on an Africa Safari to Rwanda- Rwanda Safari News

Posted on by Uganda Safari Advice

An Africa safari adventure to Rwanda is nothing short of an epic Africa journey adventure given the fact that Rwanda is a country that is home to a wide range of attractions that include the elusive mountain gorillas that are found in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, chimpanzees, and a wide range of savanna wildlife mammals that are found in Rwanda’s Akagera National Park. Let’s not forget Rwanda’s Kigali genocide memorial which gives you a chance to reflect about how Rwanda’s has managed to rise from the ashes of the dark horrors of the Rwandan genocide.

In a part series, I would like to give you some the travel trips that you need to know as you prepare yourself for a safari in Rwanda

Geographical location.

An Africa safari to Rwanda takes you to the east African part of the African continent. Rwanda lies about 1o56.633’S 30o3.567’E. Rwanda is relatively a small landlocked country with a land size of 26338sqkm as compared to its rather seemingly large neighbours. Rwanda is bordered by Uganda in the North, Democratic Republic of Congo in the west, Tanzania in the east and finally Burundi in the South.

Weather in Rwanda

Rwanda is generally a hilly country which explains why it has been cordially termed as the land of thousand hills as its home to it occupies an area with many mountain ranges including the 5 out of 8 of the famous Virunga ranges that are have risen to international fame as the ultimate place to go to for an epic gorilla safari adventure since these ranges are home to the world’s surviving gorilla population which is close to 1063 gorillas. With all these mountain ranges many of which are blanketed in tropical forests Rwanda experiences a largely equatorial tropical climate which is majorly characterized with 2 periods of high rains that come around between the months of March to May and also between august to December. During this period Rwanda experiences an average of between 1500-2000mm of rain annually. Being tropical country temperatures in Rwanda are generally warm averaging between 17oC-22oC annually with a minimum average of 12-16oC and a maximum average of 26oC-30oC.

 

Culture in Rwanda

Rwanda is a country of few cultural tribes with only 3 tribes unlike their northern neighbours Uganda who have over 66 tribes. Rwanda’s major tribes include the Hutus, Tusti and the Twa. The Hutus were majorly agriculturalists and they constitute the majority of the population taking about 85% of the Rwandan population. The Tustis are majorly pastoralists who keep large herds of cattle and these were the second biggest tribe having about 14 of the population.  The Twa were hunter and food gatherers. Although the Rwandese were literally people who shared much of their culture, they had deeply rooted divisions among them and these divisions gave way to the bloody Rwandan genocide in which over 500000- 1000000 Tustis and a few moderate Hutus were killed by their fellow Hutus. However, this bloodshed came to an end when the Rwanda Patriotic Front took over the government with the incumbent Paul Kagame.

Currency used in Rwanda

During your Rwanda safari or Rwanda gorilla trip, you need to have your money in Rwandan francs as this is the official national currency of Rwanda. However, in many tourists establishments in Rwanda, you can still easily use the US dollars, and several credit and debit cards such as American Express, Visa Cards, Master cards and many others.

Driving tips in Rwanda

Driving in Rwanda is done while keeping right, this, therefore, means that if you’re visiting Rwanda from countries like USA, France, Canada you won’t have any problem with this mode of driving since it’s the same mode of driving in these countries as well, however, if you are coming from countries like UK, Japan South Africa and many other former British colonies well you might find this quite problematic since in many of these countries driving is done while keeping left.

Accessing Rwanda

You can access Rwanda via road transport and air transport.

Road transport: Accessing Rwanda using road transport is convenient if you’re coming from neighboring countries like Uganda, Tanzania and D. R. Congo since these countries share border frontiers with Rwanda.

Air transport: Rwanda can easily be accessed by air transport as you will be able to land at Kigali international airport right on the outskirts of Kigali city. In a bid to improve its accessibility the Rwanda government introduced a national airline carrier RwandAir which made accessing Rwanda remarkably easy. As of today, RwandAir flies hundreds of thousands of tourists to and from Rwanda and from several cities around the world which include U.A.E, South Africa, Belgium and China. In addition to a national airline, Rwanda has partnered up with Qatar’s government in a project to construct a multi-million dollar airport in Bugesera and when fully completed this airport is expected to handle over 14 million passengers annually.

In our next episode, we will look at the remaining Rwanda travel tips which include travel documents, immunization, attractions to see and best time to visit Rwanda.

Are you in for a thrilling Rwanda gorilla safari or a Uganda tour? Check out our Rwanda gorilla tracking safaris website. This website gives you a myriad of Rwanda gorilla tour packages. Rwanda gorilla safaris are carried out in Volcanoes National Park, Volcanoes is home to over 10 gorilla families that have been habituated to give you an ultimate Rwanda gorilla tour experience. These gorilla safaris in Rwanda have been classified into short Rwanda gorilla tours and these run between 1- 5 days for example 1 day Rwanda gorilla safari tours and 2 days Rwanda gorilla safaris. There are also long Rwanda safari tours, these run between 6-9 days for example 6 days Rwanda gorilla chimpanzee safaris. Since Uganda is also another fascinating Africa safari destination which shares quite similar attractions like Rwanda has, these attractions in range from savanna wildlife attractions that are found in Queen Elizabeth National Park, Murchison Falls National Park Kidepo Valley National Park and Lake Mburo National Park. Uganda is also a gorilla destination and Uganda gorilla safaris are carried out either in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park or Bwindi Impenetrable National Park which can be visited for a spectacular Uganda gorilla tour experience. After a magical gorilla tour in Uganda, you can always visit Lake Bunyonyi Uganda and enjoy the stunning views of this magical lake. A visit to Lake Bunyonyi gives you an opportunity to experience a boat ride on Africa’s second deepest lake.. Regardless of the length of your stay in Africa, you can enjoy either a short Uganda safari tour or a long Uganda safari experience visiting several attractions in Uganda. However, if you don’t want to miss out on experiencing what each country has to offer, you can also have a combined Uganda Rwanda safari tours options which will see you visit the two countries of Uganda and Rwanda in a single safari package such as 5 days Uganda Rwanda gorilla trekking safari.

Here are some of the safari packages in Rwanda

 

 

 

 

 

 

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