Bradt Travel Guide: Rwanda with Eastern Congo

About this book

Now into its eighth edition and written by Philip Briggs, the world’s leading author of African guidebooks, Bradt Travel Guide: Rwanda has been the go-to guide for visitors to the ‘Land of a Thousand Hills’ for more than 20 years. Still the only standalone guide in English to this increasingly popular destination, it remains in a class of its own for in-depth information. With fresh research into developments across the country, Bradt Travel Guide: Rwanda includes expanded coverage of Gishwati-Mukura National Park, which opened to tourism in 2021, and up-to-date details of rapidly modernising Kigali, considered Africa’s cleanest city.

Rwanda continues to change and develop at an unprecedented pace – no country has a higher proportion of female parliamentarians – and there’s hardly a more accessible part of Africa. It’s no less intriguing for the convenience, however, and Rwanda’s superlative natural attractions constantly improve, with growing animal populations, as in Akagera National Park, where Africa’s Big Five (rhino, lion, leopard, elephant and buffalo) can be seen.

This new edition also includes extensive maps and natural history information, while details of kayak and canoe excursions on Lake Kivu and the Mukungwa River complement advice about staying on tea plantations at Sorwathe or Gisovu. It contains everything you need to know about tracking mountain gorillas in Volcanoes National Park (workplace of primatologist Dian Fossey of Gorillas in the Mist fame) and chimpanzees in Nyungwe National Park (East Africa’s largest surviving montane forest, harbouring numerous endemic birds and primates) and Gishwati-Mukura (which is also the only location for the rare golden monkey outside the Virunga mountains). Also covered are Nyanza, with its hilltop Rukari King’s Palace Museum, and the Ethnographic Museum of Rwanda, the top cultural site in Butare (Huye). A chapter on nearby cities and national parks provides key necessary information to take an excursion into neighbouring DRC, including how to see lowland gorillas.

As not only the most in-depth guide available in English, but also the guide with the longest history in the country itself, Bradt’s Rwanda is the indispensable companion for visitors, including wildlife enthusiasts and Africa aficionados.

Contents

Introduction
PART ONE GENERAL INFORMATION

Chapter 1 Background Information
Geography, Natural history and conservation, History, People, Language, Religion, Education, Culture

Chapter 2 Practical Information
When to visit, Tourist information and services, Tour operators and travel agents, Red tape, Embassies and consulates, Getting there and away, Health, Safety, What to take, Money, Budgeting,
Getting around, Accommodation, Eating and drinking, Public holidays and events, Shopping, Media and communications, Cultural etiquette, Becoming involved

PART TWO THE GUIDE

Chapter 3 Kigali
History, Getting there and away, Getting around, Tourist information, Tour operators, Where to stay, Where to eat and drink, Nightlife, Arts and entertainment, Sports, Shopping, Other practicalities, What to see and do

Chapter 4 Around Kigali
Bugesera District , Gitarama (Muhanga), Kabgayi and surrounds, The highlands north of Kigali,
Lake Muhazi

Chapter 5 Akagera National Park
History, Natural history, Getting there and away, Park fees, Where to stay and eat, Activities

Chapter 6 Ruhengeri (Musanze), Kinigi and the Virunga Foothills
Getting there and away, Where to stay, Where to eat and drink, Useful information, What to see and do

Chapter 7 Volcanoes National Park
Wildlife, History, conservation and ecotourism, Getting there and away, Where to stay and eat,
Gorilla tracking, Golden monkey tracking, Other hikes and activities

Chapter 8 The Lake Kivu Belt and Congo Nile Trail
Gisenyi (Rubavu) and Rubona, Gishwati-Mukura National Park, Kivu Belt from Rubona to Kibuye, Kibuye (Karongi), Kivu Belt from Kibuye to Cyangugu, Cyangugu (Rusizi)

Chapter 9 Nyungwe National Park
Orientation, Park fees, Natural history, Getting there and away, Where to stay and eat, Trails and activities

Chapter 10 Nyanza, Butare (Huye) and the Heritage Corridor
Nyanza, Butare (Huye)

Chapter 11 Virunga and Kahuzi-Biega National Parks (Eastern DRC)
Entrance and border formalities, Security, Goma, Virunga National Park, Bukavu, Kahuzi-Biega National Park, Idjwi Island

Appendix 1 Language
Appendix 2 Further Information
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

Philip Briggs has been exploring the highways, byways and backwaters of Africa since 1986, when he spent several months backpacking on a shoestring from Nairobi to Cape Town. He is the world's leading author of guidebooks to African countries, with more than 30 years of experience. During the 1990s, he wrote a series of pioneering Bradt travel guides to countries that were then – and in some cases still are – otherwise practically uncharted by the travel industry. These include the first dedicated guidebooks to Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Ghana, new editions of which have been published regularly ever since. He has written many articles about Rwanda, contributed to two national tourist brochures, and worked on a government tourist database. His other Bradt guides cover Somaliland, Suriname, The Gambia, Sri Lanka, East African wildlife and safaris. When not travelling, he lives in the sleepy South African village of Wilderness.