Welcome to Le Pays des Milles Collines (Land of a Thousand Hills). Rwanda is a lush country of endless mountains and stunning scenery and nowhere are the mountains more majestic than the peaks of the Virunga volcanoes in the far northwest of the country. Hidden among the bamboo and dense jungle of their forbidding slopes are some of the world’s last remaining mountain gorillas. It is the opportunity to encounter these contemplative creatures at close quarters that continues to draw visitors to Rwanda. The shores of Lake Kivu conceal some of the best inland beaches on the continent. Deep in the southwest, Parc National Nyungwe Forest is the most extensive montane rainforest in the region, and home to many primates. (Lonely Planet)
 The Country
- Rwanda covers an area of 26,000 square kilometers
- The population of Rwanda is approximately 8 million
- The country ranges in altitude from 950 meters above sea-level to 4519 meters above sea-level
- Rwanda is bordered by Uganda to the North, D.R. Congo to the West, Tanzania to the East, and Burundi to the South
- Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa
- The capital city is Kigali
- The country’s currency is the Rwandan franc
- The official languages of Rwanda are Kinyarwanda, English, and French
The Coffee
- Bourbon Arabica coffee has grown in Rwanda since the early 1920’s
- Rwanda is a producer of premium quality, fully-washed Arabica coffee
- Approximately 430,000 families produce coffee in Rwanda and the typical farm has fewer than 20 trees
- Rwanda produces about 17-22,000 tonnes of Arabica annually
- Rwandan coffee is grown at altitudes ranging from 1,350 to 2,100 meters above sea-level
- The annual harvest takes place between February and June
- Few chemical fertilizers are used and the soil is generally maintained using traditional methods such as mulching
- OCIR-CAFÉ (The Office of Rwandan Industrial Crops-Coffee) is the government’s agency responsible for Rwanda’s coffee sector
Kivu
- Kivu is located approximately 3 to 6 hours west of Kigali
- Harvest – February to June
- Kivu is the most intense growing region in Rwanda
- It has a unique microclimate with fertile volcanic soil from the nearby Virunga volcano
- 1º 52’ 34.71” S 29º 20’ 26.08” E
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