One of Africa's Great Lakes, filling a Rift Valley trough between Rwanda and the DRC, with no crocodile or hippo and safe, swimmable water. The lakeside towns of Gisenyi, Kibuye and Rusizi are strung together by the Congo Nile Trail, which runs 227km along the shore and can be walked, ridden or dipped into for a day. Island-hopping boat trips leave from Kibuye.
Perfect landing after gorilla trekking. Swam every day, watched the fishermen sing their way out at dusk.
Rode a section of the Congo Nile Trail — hilly, beautiful and almost no traffic.
Kibuye is the quiet one and the island boat trips are lovely. Underrated part of Rwanda.
Uganda1 dayThe lakeside town most visitors see first and dismiss too quickly. Entebbe holds the National Botanical Gardens on the shoreline, the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Centre, and boat access to Ngamba Island, a forested sanctuary for rescued chimpanzees. Sunset cruises on Africa's largest lake make an easy, gentle opening or closing to a trip.
Rated 4.3 out of 5 from 3 reviews
Rwanda3 daysThe Rwandan flank of the Virungas, where Dian Fossey did her work and where mountain gorilla tourism was effectively invented. Treks are shorter and better organised than Bwindi's, on bamboo slopes beneath a chain of volcanoes, and the park is a two-hour drive from Kigali. Permits are the most expensive in the region by design — the price is the conservation model, and it has worked.
Rated 4.7 out of 5 from 3 reviews
Rwanda3 daysOne of Africa's oldest montane rainforests, old enough to have survived the last ice age, which is why it holds thirteen primate species and around 300 birds including numerous Albertine Rift endemics. The canopy walkway runs 70m above the forest floor on a suspension bridge — the only one of its kind in East Africa. Chimpanzee tracking and enormous troops of Angolan colobus are the other draws.
Rated 4.7 out of 5 from 3 reviews