19-Nights Tanzania and Rwanda’s Untouched Wilderness President’s Pick — CALL

This park, 15 mi/25 km east of Gisenyi, protects the Rwandan portion of the spectacular Virunga Mountains, which straddle the borders with Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Virunga is not a mountain range in the normal sense of the word but rather a chain of isolated freestanding volcanic cones strung along a fault line in the Rift Valley. Sometimes also referred to as the Birunga or Bufumbira Mountains, the chain is composed of six inactive and two active volcanoes, all of which exceed 9,840 ft/3,000 m in altitude. The tallest are Karisimbi (14,783 ft/4,507 m), Mikeno (14,553 ft/4,437 m) and Muhabura (13,537 ft/4,127 m).

Few national parks in Africa can be explored on foot, but this park north of Ruhengeri offers a reward worth the hike through its dramatically beautiful, albeit rough terrain: the chance to observe a family of mountain gorillas, the rarest—and largest—of the four gorilla subspecies. About 700 mountain gorillas live in the wild (roughly half of them in Rwanda), and naturalists have habituated seven of the 20-odd families in this park to the presence of tourist observers. Many people regard visiting these gentle giants (up to 485 lbs/220 kg) in their natural habitat to be the single most-extraordinary wildlife experience in the world. The park can be accessed on organized gorilla-tracking tours, which are limited to seven groups of eight people daily. Gorilla-tracking permits cost US$500 per person in cash (including park entrance fees but not transportation and lodging) and should be booked as far in advance as possible.

Other activities include a visit to a habituated troop of golden monkeys (an endangered bamboo-eater whose range is essentially restricted to the Virungas), as well as day or overnight hikes to the various volcanic peaks and a day trip to Dian Fossey's grave at her former research center high in the misty mountains. As a precaution, armed soldiers accompany each tour.

Even in the best of times, Kigali, Rwanda's capital city, didn't have much for visitors to do, other than visiting its food market in the town center, enjoying the views (the city is built on a series of steep hills) or taking a walk.

These days, the market again bustles with activity. However, prices of imported goods are very high in this landlocked capital, where almost everything, apart from local produce, must be flown in or shipped from the distant coast. Visitors can buy local arts and crafts in Caplaki, a tourist market.

The city's most compelling and disturbing landmark is the Gisozi Genocide Museum situated on a site where at least 250,000 residents of Kigali were killed during the 1994 genocide. Another site is the Natural History Museum, housed in the former residence of the German explorer and zoologist Dr. Richard Kandt.

Kigali was established in 1907 as a small colonial outpost.

Ruaha National Park, the second-largest national park in Tanzania, lies about a two-hour drive northwest from Iringa, but is most normally visited by air in conjunction with the Selous Game Reserve.

Wild and relatively little-visited, Ruaha is known for its high elephant densities and for great predator sightings, with prides of 20 lion likely to be seen, along with cheetah and leopard. It also harbors a substantial population of the endangered African wild dog.

The Ruaha River is the main feature of the park (where hippo and crocodile thrive) and as most of the park is on the top of a plateau, the ripples of hills, valleys and plains make the topography uniquely beautiful. Because it lies in a transitional vegetation zone, Ruaha supports an unusually wide variety of ungulates, most notably the rare greater kudu, and several bird species more normally associated with southern Africa. Striking features of the landscape are the plentiful baobab trees that stud the plains and the palms that line its dry river beds. The handful of safari lodges and tented camps dotted around Ruaha all possess an intimate bush feel in keeping with the park's untrammeled atmosphere, but the park is also accessible to campers in the areas by the main gate.

The park is 292 mi/470 km southwest of Dar es Salaam.