Lake Kivu

Shared middle from two points Rwanda and DR Congo, delicate Lake Kivu offers 2,370km² across the floor of the Albertine Rift and is enclosed by a steeply terraced slope that rises until 1.5km above the alluring surface. Ranked among the world’s 20 deepest and 20 most vast freshwater frames, it is interlined accompanying pretty angling villages and three of the best ports in the form of Rusizi, Karongi, and Rubavu.

The latest specifically has long dressed as a favorite journey retreat for dwellers of Kigali, and as an ultimate boreal point on the Rwandan coast, it too formal an excellent place to calm down following in position or time pursuing gorillas in nearby Volcanoes National Park.

Highlights

The most pertaining to the south traffic on Lake Kivu, Rusizi (heretofore Cyangugu) is split into a friendly above city squatted 150m above the water and a tinier bit more climatic lower municipality set alongside the Rusizi River as it exits the pool. A short ride on a local Amato schooner (including three dugouts bound in addition to bamboo poles) leads to the isles of Gihaya and Nkombo, two together that support a plentiful birdlife.

The tightest Kivu traffic to Kigali, Karongi (already Kibuye) sprawls pleasingly across a row of pine- and eucalyptus-cultivated piles mixed accompanying the weaponry of the pool. It is notable for its allure scurrying Saturday market and the currently-unlocked Museum of the Environment, which includes an accumulation of crammed mammals and backed butterflies, and s rooftop flowers of well-described plants secondhand as the established cure.

Nearby Napoleon’s Island is formed like the allure namesake’s headpiece and supports a massive community crop sock. Situated at a distance of 2,150m on the slope above the waterfront, the 100m-extreme Chutes de Ndaba is most influential in the rainy season and a harsh pathway leads to the base from the ethical or easiest course middle from two points Karongi line and Rubavu.

Rwanda’s freshest safe place for wildlife, gazetted in 2016, the 35km² Gishwati-Mukura National Park protects two women with dead husbands’ patches of the vast area of high altitude rainforest that already capped the Rift Valley slope south of Nyungwe.

The more appealing to travelers is the Gishwati Forest, which supports meaningful populations of ape, L’Hoest’s monkey, and advantageous monkey, in addition to 120 fowl variety, including Albertine Rift epidemic to a degree Ruwenzori turaco, unfamiliar weaver, and cardinal-throated leather. The park is not still open to sightseers but a network of on-foot trails is projected.

The most favorite Kivu traffic accompanying tourists is the shaded municipality of Rubavu (already Gisenyi), which lies just 60km from the gorilla following abilities at Volcanoes National Park.

Rubavu’s beautiful scene is capped afterward by the different outline of Nyiragongo, the ultimate alive of the Virunga volcanoes, that lies on the opposite side of the Congolese border, and frequently belches out cigarettes by epoch and glows ominously after dark. Tourist facilities are concentred 6km exhausted city at Rubona, a picturesque waterfront village notable for its allure of pretty beaches and angling harbor.

The scenic Congo-Nile Trail runs roughly parallel to the eastern shore of Lake Kivu between Rubavu and Rusizi along 227km of existing roads and motorable tracks. Divided into ten stages, it takes ten days to complete on foot, five by bicycle, and two or three by 4×4, sleeping at various lakeshore villages and towns.

Practical Advice

• RwandAir operates a once-daily flight between Kigali and Kamembe airport outside Rusizi (formerly Cyangugu). Otherwise, main ports on Lake Kivu are most easily reached by road. Rusizi is about 220km/5 hours southwest of Kigali via Huye and Nyungwe National Park, whilst Karongi is 135km/2 hours west of Kigali and Rubavu is 155km/3 hours northwest via Musanze (the gateway town for gorilla tracking in Volcanoes National Park). A newly surfaced 200km road also connects the three main ports to each other, as does a twice-weekly ferry service.

• A decent selection of budget and midrange accommodation is available at Rusizi, Karongi or Rubavu. For something more upmarket, you are best heading to Rubavu. Boat trips onlt othe lake can be arranged at all the ports.