The Part-Time Explorer

Rwanda is the cleanest poor country I have ever been to. Apparently, once a month you are not allowed to drive, and everyone has to walk around and clean up. There is still trash of course, but not nearly as much as in other parts of the continent.

If you want to go to Africa, and real Africa (as opposed to say South Africa), but don’t have much experience traveling, the Rwanda is perfect for you. It has the same feel as any other African country, but is cleaner, safer, and the English spoken here is better than many other places.

Kigali (Spend 2-3 days here, I spent 1)

There are basically two things to see in Kigali, the genocide memorial museum, and the hotel Des Milles Collines. Both are very much worth it, but don’t stay at the hotel, because it is very expensive, just spend the day at the bar there. There are equally nice hotels down the street for half the price.

For the hotel itself, it is kind of amazing how in the movie they depict this as being out in the suburbs, but in reality it is in the middle of the city, and is not a very big hotel.

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WP_20150822_15_38_29_Pro — Hotel Des Mille Collines pool

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Gisenyi (transit city)

This is a transit city if you want to go see gorillas in Virunga national park, which I highly recommend. I went to Goma on the other side of the border in Congo, and while it was safe through the national park I booked with, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. The same gorillas are on the Rwandan side, where you can take photos with the gorillas without surgical masks (as you do in Congo), and it is wildly safer and more convenient. You might just go to Virunga in Congo if you really just want to be in Congo, you’d like to see the largest active volcano in the world, or you want to see more gorillas, and for days on end.