This day experience is one of our two examples of what is possible on the otherwise 11-day Congo Nile Trail. See also: 2-Day Kivu Life Dive.
How much of Rwanda’s Congo Nile Trail do you fancy? Walk your stretch, claim a gorgeous beach on Lake Kivu and let a motorboat bring you home. Some days just write themselves.
Highlights
- head for the most picturesque beach of the Congo Nile Trail
- encounter fascinating remote villages and spectacular views
- walk through family coffee plantations
- experience Rwandan daily life as it exists nowhere else
- gaze at the international business of sand
- chat with a traditional healer
Facts
duration: 1 day; difficulty: moderate
starting point: Rubavu/Gisenyi
total distance: 33km/20mi
walking: 18km/11mi
boating: 15km/9mi
price per person
8+ people: USD 110
6–7 people: USD 145
4–5 people: USD 170
2–3 people: USD 200
1 person: USD 325
included: guiding, boating, lunch, snacks, water, all activities, tips and contributions
not included: transport to Gisenyi before the trip
You are reading one of our growing number of day experiences in Rwanda and Uganda. Click for an overview of these experiences or check out our multi-day treks.
Itinerary
When you find yourself in Gisenyi with a whole day to spare, nothing beats the walk to Cyimbili. Hiking through fields and over hills, you get a real sense of how Rwandans live on the shores of Lake Kivu.
You set off near the Bralirwa brewery, the first factory ever built in Rwanda, back in 1959. Before it arrived this was a quiet residential corner of colonial times; the brewery is what helped turn it into the busy city you encounter today. An hour or so later comes a second industrial landmark: a modern methane gas power station, which you will admire from the hill above.
The rest of the morning is an up-and-down affair through banana and coffee plantations, past villages where people sell their crops, mind their small shops and get on with other modest businesses. Crossing a stream or two — without a bridge! — is part of the package.
The afternoon brings the remaining 4-5 kilometres (2-3 miles) along the lakeshore, with fishermen readying their boats for a night of work and Congolese barges collecting sand. It is far gentler than the start of the day and eases you towards that final swim at Cyimbili. Nothing in Rwanda is ever entirely flat, though, so do prepare yourself for another 15 minutes of soft climbing before you are done.
Your destination is Cyimbili Guesthouse, a historic spot you reach through the grounds of the secondary school it helps finance. The place has seen better days yet still offers the prettiest beach on the whole Congo Nile Trail; it also runs a thriving coffee processing business. Here is your chance to watch your favourite drink travel from soil to cup.
Later comes a visit from a traditional healer, who shows how herbs from the hills can help with almost any sickness. Forget the medicine man of the movies: this is a rural professional, regulated and licensed as all such practitioners are in Rwanda.
The return to Gisenyi is by motorboat, so you can sit back and survey all the slopes you defeated along the way.
For the best possible idea of what awaits you, don’t miss the video below. Our guest Rinda Scheltens from the Netherlands started her day with a drive from Musanze and had many more hiking days ahead of her, but what she recorded is very much what you can expect during the Kivu Beach Stroll!
featured photo by Miha Logar, other photos by Cesar Niyonkuru
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