Kigali

This effort toward sustainability and cultural investment can be seen across the city, from cafés to galleries. Take Question Coffee: Its downtown shop serves up pourovers and espresso, while its sales benefit female coffee growers. They also host “farm treks,” full-day tours of local cooperative coffee growers. At the Nayamirambo Women’s Center, visitors can take cooking classes or walking tours of the pedestrian-only Biryogo restaurant street in the city’s oldest (and always busy) Nyamirambo neighborhood; proceeds go to career training. In Kacyiru, a small, central neighborhood with a mix of locals and expats, the Inema Art Center exhibits work made from unrecyclable materials and hosts evening yoga, dance, and DJ events every week. And Heaven Restaurant is Kigali’s first training restaurant, providing locals coaching in hospitality jobs while also offering visitors berbere goat stew, pan-seared Nile perch, and lemongrass sorbet.

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In Kigali, history happily coexists with modernity, often in surprising blends. Modern skyscrapers sit next to open-air markets selling fruit and clothing. Local food carts serve plantain-based curries loaded with spicy Akabanga hot sauce just steps from restaurants led by Michelin-trained chefs blending ingredients such as penja peppers from Cameroon, vanilla beans from Zanzibar, and Ghanaian chocolate. And the Kigali Genocide Memorial both chronicles the country’s tragic past and celebrates its extensive growth since then. Exhibits are in English and French.

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Kigali is home to the only international airport in Rwanda, and modern highways connect it to the nearby national parks. Akagera National Park offers not just open-air safari drives, but also behind-the-scenes tours to learn about the park’s wildlife success stories, as well as low-impact, solar-powered glamping. Volcanoes National Park is home to the endangered mountain gorillas famously studied by primatologist Dian Fossey, and only a small number of people per day are allowed to visit. Permits are sold exclusively by Rwanda’s Development Board, which gives 10 percent of tourism profits to community projects in and around national parks. The country has also reintroduced lions and black rhinos to Akagera, and the gorilla population has more than doubled thanks to the strict protections. The country’s mountainous landscape is also growing as an adventure destination; Lava Tours offers cycling trips through Rwanda’s hills and woman-owned Judith Safaris offers treks up the volcanic Mount Bisoke, led exclusively by female guides.

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— Suzie Dundas