Rwanda

Africa’s second-largest country, the 2,344,858 square kilometers extends west from its border with Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania all the way to the distant Atlantic coastline. It is arguably the most biodiverse country in Africa, best known for the green swathes of rainforest associated with the vast Congo River Basin, but also home to the western slopes of the immense Ruwenzori and Virunga mountains, as well as several massive lakes.

Unfortunately, the Democratic Republic of Congo is also one of Africa’s most problematic countries, and much of it is undeveloped for tourism and practically off-limits following long decades of poor governance and civil war.

A discovery to the southeastern part of DR Congo through Lubumbashi, will lead you to Upemba and Kundelungu National Parks. These parks are rich in diversity of natural habitats that range from the gallery forests, highland steppe, miombo woodlands, savannah and wooded grasslands. The parks have numerous gorges, waterfalls, wetlands to rivers and escarpments. On the other hand, depressions are filled with more than 20 lakes that are strongholds for exceptional fish, plants, insects, wildlife and rare bird species that are worth exploring.

The the eastern border area with Rwanda and southern Uganda, where the astoundingly biodiverse Virunga National Park reopened to visitors in 2009 and has since attracted a steady trickle of tourism, albeit with a few interruptions due to sporadic outbreaks of fighting. Easily visited as a cross-border excursion from Rwanda or Uganda, Virunga is popular with adventurous budget-conscious travelers because gorilla-tracking permits are far cheaper than in neighboring countries, and more easily obtained at short notice. The park also boasts one truly unique attraction in the form of Mount Nyiragongo, whose active volcano stretching a kilometer-deep crater hems in the world’s largest lava lake.