Lake Kivu

Part of Africa's Great Rift Valley, Lake Kivu in the west of Rwanda is surrounded by magnificent mountains and has deep emerald green waters covering a surface area of 2,700 km². It is Rwanda's largest lake and the sixth largest in Africa.

Rubavu — the town most people still call Gisenyi — sits on the northern shore, about an hour from Volcanoes National Park. The waterfront has kept its colonial-era buildings, its hotels and its lakeside bars, and the beach is a few minutes' walk from our door.

Karongi lies halfway down the lake, where pine and eucalyptus hillsides come down to the water. It is a resort town, and the fishermen's singing carries across the water at dawn and at dusk.

The Congo Nile Trail runs 227 km along the shore, from Rubavu in the north to Rusizi in the south, through hills terraced with banana plantations. Kayaking, mountain biking and hiking are all ways to take a piece of it.