Rwanda has been named among the top ten best places to travel to for the month of August, a new study by the US-based Conde Nast Traveller magazine. Condé Nast Traveler is a luxury and lifestyle travel magazine published by Condé Nast. According to the study, Rwanda which ranks 8th on the list has moved beyond its scarred past to become one of Africa’s must-visits. Besides the mountain gorillas as a major tourist attraction, “Rwanda maintains a tricky balance of quaint and contemporary; see capital Kigali’s chaotic craft markets and cool art museums.” Additionally, “It’s astoundingly green in more than one sense: a lush wonderland of tea plantations, rice paddies and forested volcano slopes, as well as innovations in urban sustainability (a plastic-bag ban, solar-powered hotels).” The study highlighted that some of the country’s exquisitely designed villas include, Wilderness Safaris’s Bisate Lodge, a facility that is close to the country’s gorilla-tracking headquarters and One&Only’s Nyungwe House, a stylish nature lodge tucked between rows of tea plants. Other destinations named include Cornwall-England, Mancora-Peru, Stockholm-Sweden, Queensland-Australia and Vilnius-Lithuania. Others are, British Columbia-Canada, French Polynesia, Wyoming and Montana- USA and Bali- Indonesia. Meanwhile, the development follows a recent announcement from the World Health Organisation (WHO) which declared Rwanda among nations, globally, that have managed to prevent coronavirus outbreaks on a large scale. Also the country’s national flag carrier, RwandAir on August 1, officially resumed its commercial flights after being halted for over four months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Although the pandemic has slowed down economies, statistics from the Rwanda Development Board show that local tourism is showing signs of recovery following the reopening of the sector in June.
