March 15

Gorillas in the mist

By Matthew Sterne on March 15, 2007

Having walked up Lions Head (next to Table Mountain) once in preparation for my epic journey to Rwanda next week, I trust you’ll understand my apprehension as I plan on tackling one of the nine volcanoes in The Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda in search of Dian Fossey’s Mountain Gorillas – did I mention three of which are still active!

Why Rwanda?  Like South Africa, Rwanda too has a somewhat dubious past, with over a million people being murdered in the 100 day genocide that occurred in 1994. And like South Africa, it too has made a remarkably recovery in a very short period of time to emerge as Central Africa’s leading Tourist destination – largely due to the Mountain Gorillas of the Central African Highlands.

Like South Africa, Rwanda is an African success story, and as such deserves support – the decision to travel to Rwanda was therefore quite simple – as one of Africa’s leading Inbound Tour Operators, we feel a responsibility to promoting such destinations in order to ensure the continued success of these developing countries.

Tracking gorillas in Rwanda with Rhino Africa

The fact that Rwanda has the Gorillas is an added bonus, to what otherwise I believe to be a magical country. But that is only half  the reason. We believe that the focus of travel is changing, and our aim is to change with it. No longer is a ‘luxury’ hotel or lodge enough – one can find luxury anywhere in the world today as one tourist destination after the next opens offering more ‘luxury’ than the pervious. The result is that travel has become nothing more than exchanging different comfort zones.

We at Rhino Africa believe there has to be a real reason for leaving home – your journey has to make a difference, and clients need to be changed and touched by the experience.  Travel today is about conscience and life-changing experiences – an exposure to learning that is aimed to enrich one to Africa’s wildlife, people and diversity.

The fertile valleys of Rwanda

Rough 4x4-ing in rural Rwanda in search of gorilla

To this end, Rwanda I hope is just the start  of many journeys to discover, uncover and bring to you specialised knowledge in planning your holiday to this magical continent.  Tourism is the number one industry that has the ability to bring prosperity and stability to Africa, and our goal as an Inbound African Tour Operator is to facilitate this process as much as possible.

I look forward to reporting back to you on this journey, in addition to providing another valuable destination to the Rhino Africa website.

Happy travelling,

David

For more information about Rwanda, click here.

 


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About the author 

Matthew Sterne

Matt discovered a passion for writing in the six years he spent travelling abroad. He worked for a turtle sanctuary in Nicaragua, in an ice cream factory in Norway and on a camel safari in India. He was a door-to-door lightbulb-exchanger in Australia, a pub crawl guide in Amsterdam and a journalist in Colombia. Now, he writes and travels with us.

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