RWANDA is known as the Land of a Thousand Hills, is a country located in the Great Lakes region of eastern-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. The country has received considerable international attention due to its 1994 genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed. Since then the country has made a remarkable recovery and is now considered as a model for developing countries.

Rwanda Highlights: Volcanoes National Park, Nyungwe Forest National Park

Although close to the equator the country has a cool temperate climate due to its high elevation. Kigali, the capital, has an average temperature of 19 degrees Celsius. Rwanda is also renowned for its beautiful terrain with mostly grassy uplands and scenic, gently rolling hills. The obvious reason to visit Rwanda is for its abundant wildlife, especially the rare mountain gorillas, and tourism has become one of the biggest sectors of the country's economy.

Situated in the far northwest of Rwanda, Volcanoes National Park protects the steep slopes of this magnificent mountain range - home of the rare mountain gorilla - and the rich mosaic of montane ecosystems, which embrace evergreen and bamboo forest, open grassland, swamp and heath. The gorilla trekking trips in the park are well organised and clearly structured, with numbers limited to eight people per group per day.

Extending for 1,000 square kilometres across the majestic hills of southeast Rwanda, Nyungwe Forest National Park is most alluring for its primates: 13 species in all, including humankind’s closest living relative the chimpanzee, as well as the handsome L’Hoest’s monkey and hundredstrong troops of the delightfully acrobatic Angola colobus. The most important ornithological site in Rwanda, Nyungwe harbours almost 300 bird species of which two dozen are restricted to a handful of montane forests on the Albertine Rift. The avian highlight of Nyungwe is the great blue turaco.