Rwanda Safaris

Rwanda is a land –locked country in central Africa. Sometimes referred to as the “ Land of a Thousand Hills’, Rwanda has five volcanoes, 23 and numerous rivers. The country lies 1,270km west of the Indian Ocean and 2,000km east of the Atlantic literally in the heart of Africa.
Geographically, Rwanda is a mountainous topography and a product of its position on the eastern rim of the Albertine Rift valley, part of the Great Rift Valley which cuts through Africa from the Red Sea to Mozambique. The country’s largest freshwater body, Lake Kivu, which forms the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is effectively a large sump hemmed in by the Rift valley walls, while its highest peaks –in the volcanic Virunga chain are a result of the same geographical process which formed the Rift valley 20 million years ago. The Rift valley escarpment running through western Rwanda also serves as a watershed between Africa’s two largest drainage systems: the Nile and Congo.
Vegetation: in prehistoric times, as much as a third of what is now Rwanda was covered in montane rainforest, with the remainder of the highlands supporting open grassland. Since the advent of iron –Age technology and agriculture some 2,000 years ago, much of Rwanda’s natural vegetation has been replaced by agriculture, a process that has accelerated dramatically in the last 100 years. The only large stand of forest left in Rwanda today is Nyungwe, the southwest, though several other small relic forests patches are dotted around the country, notably Cyamodongo and Mukura Forests.
Fauna: Rwanda naturally supports a widely vafrried fauna, but the rapid huan population growth inrecent decades, with its by-products of habitats loss and openly admitted it might not be the only one. Poaching has resulted in the extirpation of most large mammal species outside of a few designated conservation areas. Rwanda today has gthree main conservation areas: the Volcanoes Park, Akagera Park and Nyungwe forest. Each of these protects a very different ecosystem and combination of large mammals, for which reason greater detail on the fauna of each reserve is given under the appropriate regional section. Infact Akagera supports a typical savanna fauna dominated by a variety of antelope, other grazers such as zebra, buffalo and giraffe, the aquatic hippopotamus. And plains predators such as lion, leopard and spotted hyenas.

Visiting time: Rwanda can be visited any time of the year. The long dry season. June to September, is the best time for trekking the gorillas in Volcanoes park and hiking in Nyungwe forest, since the ground should be dry underfoot and the odds of being drenched are minimal, but this should not be a major consideration for any reasonably fit and agile traveler. The dry season is also the best time for traveling on dirt roads.
There are two annual rainy seasons and these are the big rainy which last from mid February to the beginning of June and the small rains from mid – September to mid December. Rainfall, especially over the mountains. Rainfall specially over the mountains, can be heavy during these seasons particulary from March –May, although it is still perfectly feasible o travel at these time s of the year.

Money policy: The local currency is the Rwandan franc, and it is allowed to float freely on the world currency market. The exchange rate in 1998 was 312 Rwandan francs for 1 U.S. dollar. The National Bank of Rwanda is the country's central bank and determines monetary policy for the country. Inflation, which had been extremely high following.

ATLAS SAFARIS
P.O.BOX.12719 KAMPALA
UGANDA
Tel: +256-414232276 / +256-772749858
Fax: +256-414255357
Email: safari@atlassafarisuganda.com