Musanze

Musanze, formerly Ruhengeri, lies under the chain of Virunga volcanoes and is the base for the mountain gorillas of Volcanoes National Park. Treks leave from the park gate at Kinigi before dawn and climb through bamboo and nettles to a habituated family, on a permit that costs the same in every month of the year. Golden monkeys, the grave of Dian Fossey below Karisimbi and the crater lake on Bisoke fill the other days, and Karisimbi itself takes two. Lava caves run under the town, the twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo lie east, and the fields are potatoes and pyrethrum.