TRAVEL TUESDAY 517 - VIRUNGA MTS, RWANDA

“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.” -  Desmond Tutu

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us.

Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Known as the "Land of a Thousand Hills" (French: Pays des mille collines) for its high elevation and rolling terrain, its geography is dominated by mountains in the west and savanna in the southeast. The largest and most notable lakes are mainly in the western and northern regions of the country, and several volcanoes that form part of the Virunga volcanic chain are primarily in the northwest. The climate is considered tropical highland, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year.

Its capital and largest city is Kigali, located at the centre of the country, at 1,567 metres above sea level. Rwanda lies a few degrees south of the Equator in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Going clockwise Rwanda is bordered by Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. It is the most densely populated mainland African country; among countries larger than 10,000 km2, it is the third-most densely populated country in the world.

Rwanda is a de facto one-party state ruled by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and its leader Paul Kagame continuously since the end of the civil war in 1994. Although Rwanda is nominally democratic, elections are manipulated in various ways, which include banning opposition parties, arresting or assassinating critics, and electoral fraud. The RPF is a Tutsi-dominated party but receives support from other communities as well.

Tourism is one of Rwanda’s fastest-growing economic sectors and remains the country’s leading foreign exchange earner. In 2023, Rwanda recorded over 1.4 million international visitors, generating about US$620 million in revenue, according to the Rwanda Development Board. The World Travel & Tourism Council reported that in 2024, the sector supported nearly 386,000 jobs in Rwanda and contributed over 10% of GDP.

A major draw for visitors is mountain gorilla tracking in Volcanoes National Park, one of only three places worldwide where mountain gorillas can be seen in the wild. Other attractions include Nyungwe Forest National Park, known for its chimpanzees and canopy walkway, the resorts of Lake Kivu, and Akagera National Park, a savanna reserve in the east home to elephants, lions, and giraffes. The Virunga Mountains in the photo are a great scenic location.

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