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Tiny Rwanda lies landlocked at the hub of Africa. Also known as ‘Land of the Thousand Hills’ the country builds the bridge between the forest ecosystems of the Congo basin and the great rift valleys of the east. The vegetation is mainly dominated by volcanoes, lakes and numerous rivers. The rainforests of Volcanoes or Nyungwe National Park in the west give way to the characteristic African savannah of Akagera National Park in the east. The reminders of  the genocid in 1994 still prevent people from travelling to Rwanda. But today it's a safe country with very pleasant and open-minded people.
 

We visited Rwanda as part of another trip to Uganda and spent far too less time here. Like many other tourists do, we confined our visit to Volcanoes National Park. The ‘Parc des Volcans’ protects the Rwandan sector of the Virunga Mountains, a range of six extinct and three active volcanoes which straddles the border with Uganda and DRC and is mainly famous for its mountain gorilla population. The area is best known to the outside world as the place where Diane Fossey undertook her pioneering studies of gorilla behaviour.
 

We had an amazing time here with two gorilla trekkings and several other hikes. In December 2008 there were seven habituated gorilla families (Group 13, Sabinyo, Amahoro, Umubano, Susa, Kwitonda and Hirwa). Most groups are half-day walks or even shorter but Susa can take up to 8 hours. Our trek to Hirwa group was a two hours climb back while the trek to Susa was an exhausting 7 hours climb up Karisimbi volcano and back. Hirwa is a small group with 12 individuals with lots of juveniles which we found playing around a lazy silverback. The trek to Susa group led us through cultivated fields, bamboo and cloud forests with lobelias at an altitude between 2400 and 3300 metres where sun was very intense and breath got short. We found ourselves in the middle of a huge group with 5 silverbacks and individuals everywhere - an unforgettable experience J ! Anyway - be prepared to walk a long distance in steep and muddy conditions.