Rwanda Climate and Geography

Rwanda is a land locked country situated in central Africa. The country is well known as land of thousand hills with 5 volcanoes, 23 lakes and other numerous rivers some of which forms the source of River Nile.

Rwanda is situated just a few degrees south of the equator. Rwanda is surrounded by many countries such as Uganda in the north, Burundi in the south, Tanzania in the east and democratic republic of Congo in the west. The country is comprised of grass land, rolling hill with also a temperate climate.

Rwanda’s largest and capital city is Kigali that is located with the heart of the country. Kigali is a small attractive city with incredible variety of flowering trees and shrubs that keeps the country ever green.

Visiting Rwanda offers you a chance to see the rolling landscapes of hills, tea plantations and the green gardens.

The country hosts almost one third of the world’s remaining mountain gorillas in the world and one third of African bird species with several species of different primates that includes chimpanzees, baboons, golden monkeys, vervet monkeys and many others.

The country has also got other interesting areas of attraction with different activities that are carried there which includes gorilla tracking in the volcanoes national park located north of Rwanda.

There is also chimpanzee tracking and canopy walks in Nyungwe national park, game drives to see a wide range of Rwanda’s wildlife in Akagera national park, resorts and island on expansive Lake Kivu, graceful traditional dancers, artists craft with amazing friendly and welcoming people of Rwanda.

Geography.

Rwanda is one of the world’s densely populated countries .the country is divided by the great peak of up to 3000 which runs through the country from the north to south with around 8o percent of the country’s area draining into the Nile and 20 percent into Congo via river Ruzizi.

Rwanda’s longest river is river Nyabarongo which rises in the north-west, flows north, east and south east before emerging with Rubuvu to form river Akagera .Akagera then flow north along eastern border with Tanzania and eventually drains into Lake Victoria the source of river Nile.

Rwanda has many lakes and Lake Kivu is the largest lake in the country. Lake Kivu occupies the floor of the Albertine rift valley in the western border of Rwanda. Lake Kivu is one of the twenty deepest lakes in the whole world with maximum depth of 480metres (1,575 ft).other sizable lakes in the country include the twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo, Muhazi, Rweru, and Lake Ihema.

Mountains dominate the western and central region of Rwanda. These mountains form part of the Albertine Rift Mountains that flank Albertine branch the east African rift valley.

The branch run from south to north in the western boarder of Rwanda .the highest peak is regarded as karisimbi at 4507 meters (14787 ft) on the Virunga volcano in the North West of Rwanda.

The western region of the country lies in the Albertine rift montane forests and has an elevation of 1500 meters (4921 ft),to 2500 meters (8202 ft).the central region of the country is predominantly rolling hills and the eastern region consists of savanna grass land and swamps.

The country has got temperate tropical high land climate with low temperature due to its elevation .Kigali the heart of the country has typical daily temperature that varies 0 from 12c (54 ft)with less variation throughout the year. And there are also temperature variations in the country more so in the west and north parts of the country that is generally cooler than the lower lying east.

Rwanda has only two rain season throughout the year, the first running from February to June and the second and the second from September to Decembers. The two rain season are separated by two dry seasons the major one starting from June to September during which there is no rain at all and the less severe one from December to February.

Even though Rwanda is located only two degrees south of the equator, Rwanda’s high elevation makes the climate temperate. The average daily temperature is near lake kivu; at an altitude of 4800feet(1463)is 73F (22.8 0C).the average day temperature is 24 oc with a possible maximum of 30oc.the annual average rainfall is 800mm(31.5)and rain is generally heavier in the western and northwest mountains than in the east.