Gisenyi

Gisenyi is the most northerly port on the lake and an interesting small town. It is split into the upper and lower town, the first being a set of busy rounds around a central market and the latter more spaced out with collections of banks, old colonial houses and hotels. Several hotels and guest houses border the lake shore. The waterfront with the sandy beaches are a lovely mix of palm lined roads and old architectural styles. With looks similar to a West African backwater town, it is not as humid as it sits at 1500m altitude making it a comfortable climate.

There are interesting birds along the lake shore and a short walk away Rubona port has great views and you can explore in a dugout canoe traditional style if you prefer. It is on an attractive peninsula about 6km from the centre of Gisenyi. Near to Bralirwa are the hot springs, which are claimed to have curing effects, but more commonly the boiling water is used by villagers to cook food!

Near Gisenyi is also the home of the Rosalind Carr Imbabazi Orphanage which was started in 1994 to shelter orphans of the genocide, which is a fantastic project and one which has a great success story. Rosalind was a firm friend of Dian Fossey and the original site was in her plantation at Mugongo where she sheltered some of the many genocide orphans. She moved to Gisenyi in the 1990s and returned to new premises in Mugongo in 2005. Visitors are welcome and will no doubt find the children singing and dancing to them! The orphanage is on the Ruhengeri road.

There are several eco-tourism craft and farming projects in the area which you can visit and also the local Bralirwa breweries that uses methane gas from the lake for running their turbines. The Dancing Pots project gives visitors chance to interact with a Batwa settlement, hunter gaterhers by tradition where they have honed traditional skills such as pottery and performing arts and visitors can enjoy learning about their way of live and seeing traditional dance performances and pottery demonstrations. There is also the Ingoboka Coffee Cooperative which is one of the largest producers of coffee in the area, where visitors can tour the factory and do tasting. The main coffee harvest season is March to June.

Visit also the Rwanda-DR Congo border which is a fascinating insight to the cross border foot traffic and market trading that goes on here, a local guide can tell you all about the financial and commercial goings on between the two countries.