Must See

Kigali

Check out the nightlife in Rwanda's capital and commercial centre. It's clean and - these days - peaceful, but doesn't have too many tourist sights. It does, however, make a good base from which to explore the rest of the country. One important place to visit is the Genocide Museum, which documents the 100-day massacre in 1994.

Butare

Known as the intellectual capital of the country, this town bordering Burundi is home to the National Museum, which houses perhaps the finest ethnographic collection in East Africa. This fascinating display of traditional artefacts and turn-of-the-century photographs provides an insight into pre-colonial lifestyles and the subsequent development of Rwanda as a modern African state. The town also boasts a botanical garden and a number of craft shops.

Near Butare is the cathedral town of Kabgayi; Gitarama, which has a good art museum; and Mushubati, home to the grottoes of Bihongori.

A'Kagera National Park

Take a safari in this park devoted to preserving native game and get to some of Rwanda's fantastic wildlife. Covering over 2,500 sq km of savannah to the west of the A' Kagera River (the frontier with Tanzania), the park is home to lions, zebras, antelopes, hippos, buffalo, leopards, giraffes, elephants and over 500 species of birds.

Nyungwe National Park

Trek through this dense tropical rainforest, one of the oldest in Africa, in search of huge troops of colubus monkeys and other wildlife.

Parc Des Volcans

The Parc National des Volcans region is composed of volcanic mountains, of which two (Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira, across the frontier in the Democratic Republic of Congo), are still active.

The park is now one of the last sanctuaries of the mountain gorilla - there are believed to be no more than 700 left in the world today. The primates live among the forests of this volcanic mountain region, known as the place where American primatologist Dian Fossey undertook her pioneering studies of mountain gorilla behaviour. Her life was recounted in the movie Gorillas in the Mist, which was filmed in the park. The fact that there are any of the gorillas left at all is largely down to Fossey's dedication to curtail poaching, before her brutal and still-unsolved murder in 1985, possibly at the hands of poachers. Today, military personnel guard the reserve to keep out poachers and ensure the safety of visitors.

Guided tours or gorilla tracking may be organised for small parties by the Office Rwandaise du Tourisme et des Parcs Nationaux (ORTPN) bureau and some private companies in Kigali; a permit is necessary but this can be arranged through the ORTPN. A gorilla visit can entail anything from a 1 to 4-hour trek through the forest, led by experienced trackers who have spent their entire lives living in or close to the forest. The highlight, of course, is spending some time with the gentle giant gorillas as they go about their daily life, feeding, playing, resting, raising their young. By the end of the visit, it will be easy to understand what kept Fossey living in this same forest for 18 years protecting these wonderful animals.