About Rwanda

Rwanda, land of a thousand hills, offers many beautiful tourist attractions most within a two-hour drive from Kigali. Among them, the most popular attraction is the Volcanoes Mountains, home to the famous Silverback Gorilla.
When touring through Akagera Park, you may see a range of wildlife including elephant, black hippopotamus, giraffes, zebras, water-buffalo, and the rare grey hornbill. Visit the lakeside town of Kibuye for a relaxing retreat with beaches, swimming and lakefront restaurants and hotels. Butare is a quaint college town and considered the “intellectual centre” of Rwanda. There you can visit The National Museum of Rwanda, where you will see a beautifully presented collection of exhibits on Rwandan history and culture.Nearby, Nyungwe Forest holds 13 primate species, 20-25% of the total number in Africa.Ruhengeri, another beautiful lakeside town, has long sandy beaches stretching across the shores of Lake Kivu with several quaint hotels along the water.

Visit the Rwanda Tourist and National Parks Office (ORTPN) on Avenue de l’Armée for information about all current events as well as street maps of Kigali, and information about transport, minibus, taxis or car hire. This office also sells permits to visit the Mountain Gorillas and can help you arrange transportation.
Additional ORTPN contact information:
Telephone: +250 76514, 76515, 73396
Fax: +250 76512
Email: reservation@rwandatourism.com

GEOGRAPHY:
Rwanda is a landlocked republic in Equatorial Africa, situated on the eastern rim of the Albertine Rift, a western arm of the Great Rift Valley, on the watershed between Africa's two largest river systems: the Nile and the Congo. Much of the country's 26,338 km2 is impressively mountainous, the highest peak being Karisimbi (4,507m) in the volcanic Virunga chain protected by the Parc des Volcans. The largest body of water is Lake Kivu, but numerous other lakes are dotted around the country, notably Burera, Ruhondo, Muhazi and Mugesera, some of which have erratic shapes following the contours of the steep mountains that enclose them.

ECONOMY:
Primarily a subsistence agriculture economy, Rwanda nonetheless produces for export some of the finest tea and coffee in the world. Other industries include sugar, fishing and cut flowers for export.

MONEY:
The unit of currency is the Rwanda franc. The US dollar is the hard currency of preference. It may be impossible to exchange travellers' cheques away from the capital. Credit cards are usually only accepted at the major hotels in Kigali.

LANGUAGE:
In addition to the indigenous language of Kinyarwanda, French and English are official languages. French is widely spoken throughout the country. In the capital and other tourist centres, many people speak English.

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS:

Good Friday and Easter Monday, which fall on variable dates, are recognised in Rwanda. Other public holidays are :

• 1 January (New Year's Day);
• 1 February (National Heroes Day);
• 7 April (Genocide Memorial Day);
• 1 May (Labour Day);
• 1 July (Independence Day);
• 4 July (National Liberation Day);
• 15 August (Assumption Day);
• 1 October (Patriotism Day);
• 25 December (Christmas Day), and
• 26 December(Boxing Day).

COMMUNICATIONS

Rwanda has an excellent cell phone network covering almost the entire country.
International phone calls can be made easily. Appropriate SIM cards for the network are readily available everywhere, even in remote towns, and cell phones can be purchased or rented from major shops in Kigali. Most towns of any size will have several Internet cafes and computer centres