How To Sell
BY MELISSA SHOLES Rwanda is an emerald land of tea and
terraces, where gorillas chomp on young bamboo and chimpanzees swing through primeval forests bright with butterflies and blue turacos. It’s a land that has been to hell and
back and is learning to live again, building itself as a series of cooperatives on an ecological model, where plastic bags are banned and everyone gets together to clean the country once a month on Umuganda Day. It’s also a land of astonishing beauty
and extraordinary diversity that is ripe to become the hot new African tourist destination. Sell week-long tours taking in Kigali, Lake Kivu and three major national parks. For tourists there’s a clear circuit,
starting in the city with a visit to the Genocide Memorial – perhaps not to everyone’s taste but powerful, haunting and it gives a clear idea to the background of the country. Driving down to Nyungwe, there are
stops at Nyanza to visit the excellent King’s Palace cultural complex and Butare, for the National Museum. Nyungwe is part of Africa’s largest
surviving primeval rainforest and an extraordinarily rich and beautiful place. Go chimp trekking and do the canopy walk, one of just three in Africa). There’s excellent birding, wonderful
orchids in season, and the ultimate source of the Nile is in the north of the park at Gisovu. There’s enough to keep you occupied for several days. At present however, you do need to be reasonably physically fit to access most of the activities here. The trails are not easy. Lake Kivu, the vast Rift Valley Lake which acts as Rwanda’s Riviera, is all about chilling out and relaxing. Akagera National Park, accessed from
Kigali, is where you can find elephants and zebras; lions are being reintroduced next year. But the crowning glory of any trip to Rwanda is a trip to the Volcanoes National Park to go gorilla trekking – not a cheap or easy option, but absolutely the trip of a lifetime. There are good hotels in all the key locations. Serena opened up Kigali’s
From left: A gorilla trek in Volcanoes National Park is pricey but memorable; Rwanda is hauntingly beautiful; Smiling once more
first five-star hotel and also has an excellent lodge on Lake Kivu. At Nyungwe, Dubai World has opened Nyungwe Forest Lodge within the Gisakura tea plantation on the edge of the forest. At Volcanoes there’s a better choice, headlined by the pricey but spectacular Virunga Lodge, on a mountain summit. Akagera has a reasonable old hotel, and its new tented camp comes on stream this autumn. “Rwanda is a young country in tourism terms but we are working hard to develop. We already have some world-class projects and have others in development,” said Rica Rwigamba, Head of Tourism and Conservation, Rwanda Development Board.
Rwanda News Qatar Airways is the latest major international airline to fly into Kigali with daily flights from Doha. In Nyungwe National Park, the US Aid- funded Nyungwe Nziza project has opened a canopy walk, an interpretation centre is helping develop hiking trails and community tourism projects including three cultural centres, the first of which will open in September, offering visitors the chance to stay in traditional accommodation, do village tours and traditional cookery and dance experiences. Meanwhile at the Volcanoes National Park, the cost of doing a gorilla trek is
going up from June 1 to $750pp. However, if you are prepared to fork
out an additional $200 or so, you can negotiate to have yourself carried up to see the gorillas on a basket litter – the
RWANDA Top Selling Tips
• Take a trek... “Meet the mountain gorillas of Volcanoes, the chimps at Nyungwe or around 14 other species of primate from golden monkeys to black and white colobus. Magnificent!”
• Bird watch... “With 500 species of bird, this is a twitcher’s paradise”
• Mountain highs... “Spectacular mountain scenery from rainforests to tea plantations, terraces of bananas and rice paddies”
• Be sure to reassure... “Rwanda is a safe, stable, forward-looking country with good roads and a rapidly improving infrastructure”
preferred form of transport of the former King of Rwanda.
Where To Book It TRIBES TRAVEL – 01728 685 971
www.tribes.co.uk EXPERT AFRICA – 020 8232 9777
www.expertafrica.com ABERCROMBIE & KENT – 0845 485 1535
www.abercrombiekent.co.uk
All offer a selection of customized
four-day to week-long tours of Rwanda including gorilla trekking. Prices start around £2700 for four days and £3500pp including flights for a week.
General Information
TIME ZONE: GMT +2 VISA: UK citizens do not need a tourist visa for stays of up to 90 days. GETTING THERE: Qatar Airways (
www.qatarairways.com) is the latest airline to start flights to Rwanda Kigali, its daily services linking with flights to Heathrow. INFORMATION: Visitors should have valid Yellow Fever certificates and take anti-malarial prophylaxis. Plastic bags are banned in Rwanda. Note that chimpanzee and gorilla treks need to be booked well in advance as places are limited. CONTACT:
www.rwandatourism.com TWITTER: @TravelRwanda
www.sellinglonghaul.com • July/August 2012 21
RWANDA
ANDY HOSKINS
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