Enjoy Gisenyi’s beach and rolling hills
Rwanda Highlight Enjoy Gisenyi’s beach and rolling hills
Lake Kivu, one of the great lakes of East Africa, is situated between DRC Congo to the west and Rwanda to the east. Gisenyi is one of the major waterfront towns, has a good beach and bars and is a good place to go swimming or to rent a fisherman boat or even a kayak and enjoy the lake and islands. I am not really a beach bum so I explored the surrounding area and hiked through the hills to experience rural Rwanda. The scenery is impressive!
A great uphill, but otherwise, easy hike is from Gisenyi to Paradis Malahide Guesthouse (try the sambaza, fresh fish!) and take a local bus or moto back (300 or 700 frank, 2018). If you’re lucky you get to spot one of the typical three-hulled fisherman’s boats at the inlet!
About Rwanda
The ‘Land of a thousand hills’ maybe associated with the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, but it’s a surprisingly peaceful country of friendly people who are very optimistic about their country's future. If you are into mountain gorilla’s, beautiful lush green rural scenary, volcanoes, rolling hills and valleys combined with lakes and beaches - this is the place to go.