Rwanda’s largest and Africa’s sixth largest lake; Lake Kivu Rwanda lies along the African rift valley in the western perimeter of Africa’s small nation forming the border between Congo and Rwanda. Quite a busy lake, Lake Kivu is always alive with fishermen who mainly use dugout canoes to carry out their activities especially fishing as well as traders who exchange goods by buying and selling at the lake shores. Lake Kivu tours are usually comprised by long drives along the lake on unmade roads which offers you the opportunity to have a feel of rural life that has existed for centuries and has virtually been unchanged since. The route is very scenic as you will go past people at work in their farms cultivating bananas, cassava, beans, sorghum, potatoes, rice and even coffee on the slopes of small family plots. Be sure to explore the different villages that surround the lake which include the following;
Kibuye
This village is a five hour drive from Nyungwe and only six from Cyangugu. Despite the road being dusty, the drive is an incredible journey full of scenes of the richness of Rwanda’s mother nature and a beehive of activities of the inhabitants of the area for example brick works and trading on the lake shores. Plantations of coffee, tea, tiny fields and terraces of rice, beans, bananas, potatoes and cassava are an indication of how the citizens of Rwanda respect and give so much value to agriculture which has earned an income for these families. This is the prettiest of all the villages that surround the lake with a touch of a beach, a genocide memorial in honor of the befallen comrades in the early 90s, guest houses.
Cyangugu
Located at the southernmost end of the lake, Cyangugu is a pretty run down port town with a few faded colonial buildings that has grown up around the border crossing into Congo. While staying here you can almost cross into Congo by a single jump through your bedroom window. This is how close it is from the border so you can imagine the view you will have while there.
Gisenyi
This is a village with one of the best accommodation facilities you will find in Rwanda for example Kivu Serena which is a five star hotel on international standard. Its shore was once lined with crumbling villas but this is recently changing as people have noticed a gold mine here and they are investing heavily especially in the tourism industry.
While on Lake Kivu tours, you will enjoy the radiant quality of the sandy beaches which have natural waves that keep pounding upon them and majestic highlands surround the lake which makes the tour even more outstanding filled with incredible sights while you relax and enjoy the refreshing breathe. Waves crashing upon the sand make a unique yet pleasant rhythmic sound with a serene stillness and the giant trees just give it a finishing touch of beauty that one may think this is a drawn master art piece.
Some of the values added while on
Lake Kivu tours
include; An opportunity to visit local projects in the area as well as interacting with participants of the project, opportunity to visit local artisans and women waving associations to experience home basketry waving and see how this makes a difference in people’s lives. An opportunity to visit the water springs in the area and to learn the geographic make up of volcanic rain and lastly a chance to purchase first hand items yourself from the manufacturers for example, crafts, baskets, pots name it. Activities like gorilla trekking, bird watching, chimpanzee trekking, fishing, music dance and drama will grace your tour. So if you have been having trouble on where to go for a holiday or what do for fun, your questions have been answered. Get packing and fly down here and get to enjoy this amazing tour that will leave you in awe and envying people who live here. Am confident that you will enjoy yourself here at Lake Kivu.The one place you can go to and enjoy food and drink yet at the same time relax at the incredible marvels of Mother Nature is Lake Kivu.
Lake Kivu a gorgeous and scenic lake found in western Rwanda, is among the numerous ‘inland seas’ lying along the border of Congo. It is among the deepest freshwater-lakes found in Africa, and it is bordered by steep terraced escarpments (these characterize majority of Rwanda’s terrain), green slopes, waterfalls as well as sandy beaches. Bordered by the Great Rift Valley as well as the Virunga Volcanoes found in the north, the depth of the lake which is 480 meters is because of its position upon the impressive floor of the Albertine Rift, which causes infrequent volcanic activity in this very area.
Immerse Yourself in Nature
The absolute attractiveness of the blue clear waters, alongside the stunning background, in addition to the lake’s nearness to the Volcanoes National Park, have made Lake Kivu an perfect transit point, particularly for those desiring to picnic, swim, unwind or even hike. The area’s birdlife is as well outstanding and comprises of malachite kingfishers, crowned cranes and fleets of pelicans.
The Switzerland of Africa
There are 3 vivid resort towns and these include Cyangugu, Gisenyi and Kibuye all with their personal dissimilar character within the tropical stillness of green plantations and a foggy rainforest that joins them. The zigzag roads just about the curved inlets, the slender valleys as well as the hills covered by pine also verify the area’s reputation of being the ‘the Switzerland of Africa’, although the path is lively with agriculturalists nurture their prolific cassava fields, women gathering tea as well as nurturing their crops, fishermen busy in their dugout canoes, this offers a charming sight into the traditional, rural lifestyle here.