An overview of Rwanda, Africa

Visiting Rwanda is the most exciting and most memorable experience one can ever get in Africa.

The earliest known inhabitants of Rwanda were pygmies’ hunter-gatherers, ancestral to the modern Twa people who today comprise only 0.25% of the national population. Some 2,000 years ago, agricultural and pastoralist migrants from the west settled in the area. Oral traditions recall that prior to the 15th century a ruler named Gihanga forged a centralised Rwandan state with similar roots to the Buganda and Bunyoro Empires in neighbouring Uganda. Comprised of a cattle-owning nobility and agriculturist serfdom majority - the precursors respectively of the modern-day Tutsi and Hutu - this powerful state was able to repel all early attempts at European penetration.

Music and dance plays an important role in the traditions of all Rwanda's peoples .The Rwandan people have a variety of music and dance which range from acts that demonstrate epics commemorating excellence and bravery, humorous lyrics to hunting root.

Visitors may chance upon spontaneous traditional performances in the villages of Rwanda. The finest exponent of Rwanda's varied and dynamic traditional musical and dance styles, however, is the Intore Dance Troupe.

A wide range of traditional handicrafts is produced in rural Rwanda, ranging from ceramics and basketry to traditional woodcarvings and contemporary paintings. A good selection of crafted artifacts can be viewed in the main market or street stalls in Kigali, while an excellent place to peruse and purchase modern art works is the capital's Centre for the Formation of Arts.

Rwanda is also blessed with natural resources like Nyungwe Forest National Park the largest ‘island’ of montane forest remaining in east and central Africa is situated in the hills of southwestern Rwanda. It is uniquely accessible to the casual visitor. There are at least 200 tree species found in the forest, along with hundreds of different flowering plants, including wild begonia, more than 100 species of orchid, and sensational giant lobelias. Primates are the most visible, with 13 recorded species which include the Angola colobus and an estimated 500 chimpanzee. Other primates one might encounter are L’Hoest’s monkey, silver monkey, vervet monkey, olive baboon, grey-cheeked mangabey and red-tailed monkey. It is also home to more than 275 bird species.