Ride the hills then meet gorillas and kings

Tour du Rwanda week turns Rwanda into a moving postcard. The peloton sweeps over green ridgelines, crowds gather on bends and climbs and you start to understand why the country is called “The Land of a Thousand Hills”. But the best add-on to race week is what happens when the roads quiet down. Rwanda is one of only three countries in the world where travellers can see mountain gorillas in the wild and that single fact can reshape an itinerary.

In Volcanoes National Park gorilla trekking is the headline experience. With an experienced guide, travellers hike the misty slopes of the Virunga Mountains, pushing through bush and bamboo until the forest suddenly holds its breath and a gorilla family appears. The moment is intensely real, black fur against deep green rainforest, close enough to make you forget your phone exists. Gorilla trekking permits also contribute to conservation, including reforestation initiatives that help protect habitat for the future.

From the hills in the north, Rwanda’s eastern edge offers a different kind of drama. Akagera National Park, on the border with Tanzania, is a protected wetland and savannah landscape where elephants, hippos and rhinos roam. Game drives are thrilling in daylight, but the park also comes alive after dark.

At the solar-powered, lakeside Wilderness Magashi Peninsula retreat guests can join night-time drives where guides use infrared spotlights to reveal nocturnal species such as bushbabies, genets and jackals and sometimes even pangolins. If you prefer wildlife with a breeze, boat safaris bring hippos splashing in the shallows, crocodiles sun-basking on the banks and elephants drinking at the water’s edge into view from the water.

For culture that sits inside nature, Buhanga Eco Park is a 31-hectare forest eight kilometers west of Musanze. Recently integrated into Volcanoes National Park, it is linked to Rwanda’s monarchy and protected by its sacred status with lava-stone paths under towering trees. If you want to go deeper into that history, visit the King’s Palace Museum in Nyanza, which focuses directly on Rwanda’s monarchical heritage and the royal court traditions. 

For a practical, sustainability-minded stop the Museum of the Environment in Karongi overlooks Lake Kivu and explores renewable and non-renewable energy sources.

Tour du Rwanda week might bring you for the race, but Rwanda gives you plenty of reasons to stay for the story.

Sources: National Geographic & IGIHE.