Over 23 years down the reconciliation road after the dreadful genocide, which so about three quarters of the minority Tutsi tribe killed, this small East African country is vividly on progress and development.

There is commendable commitment to conservation of the country’s natural resources with mountain Gorillas increasing in numbers;  Gorilla tour Safaris count up as the biggest of the country’s tourism revenue, which also remarkably counts up to 95% of the nation’s total budget.

May this year, the Rwandan Development Board announced the increase in the price of Gorilla permits doubling from $750 to $1500, which came as a very big surprise, one can agree that this small landlocked country has been every traveler’s first choice of the other two Gorilla destinations of Uganda and The Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rwanda took a bold decision to maintain visitor numbers at a sustainable level and also increase investment into communities living around these national game parks in a quite commendable way.

Most of all visitors to this beautiful country of “a thousand hills” come mainly for Wild Gorilla trekking safaris  and shortly leave for other destinations offering the better wildlife drama like the Murchison Fall National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda, or even move up to the Serengeti and Maasai Mara of Tanzania and Kenya respectively. But all one needs to know is that the true face of Rwanda is unharmed and mostly left out by most of tourists but this beautiful country is worth paying a visit to.

Travel Through The Congo Nile Trail biking

The Congo Nile trail is over 200km of following a winding course uphill and downhills road network going through changing vegetation types and smaller villages beginning from the northern side of Lake Kivu (Gisenyi) to southern end in Cyangugu.

On this trail, you will not only see Rwanda’s scenic beauty, but also experience the real rural culture of Rwanda and get a chance to interact directly with the locals, no better way to get familiar with the real Rwanda.

Mountain Hiking in Rwanda

With the recent hiking of Rwanda Tracking Gorilla permit prices, Volcanoes National Park is still one of the most adventurous destination to visit in Rwanda with many hiking opportunities.

As part of the Virunga volcano region, Volcanoes National Park hosts 4 of the 8 volcanoes that spreads across a distance of about 60 km – the rest are found in Congo which are Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira Volcanoes and Uganda’s Mount Sabyino– of which and two are active – Mount Nyamuragira and Mount Nyiragongo.

Visitors have a variety of mountains to climb in Rwanda including a hike to Mount Karisimbi (4,507 m), Mount Bisoke (3,711 m), Mount Muabura (4,127 m) and Mount Gahinga (3,474 m), and Lake Ngezi (3,000 m).