Rwanda Travel Safety Guide

Rwanda is, for most visitors, a straightforward country to travel in, and the risks that matter are concentrated in specific places and specific activities rather than spread evenly. Knowing which is which is most of the value of a page like this.

The borders, and two governments describing them differently

The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to parts of the Rubavu and Rusizi Districts, along the Congolese border. The US State Department advisory draws its line differently and marks everything within 10 kilometers of the DRC border as Do Not Travel.

Those are not the same area, and this page reports both rather than averaging them into a boundary neither government drew. The underlying concern is identical: armed groups and military forces operate in North and South Kivu on the Congolese side, and violence has crossed the border.

Burundi closed its border with Rwanda in January 2024 and there may be tension near it. Crossings to Uganda have closed at short notice in recent years. Any itinerary that assumes a land border will be open needs a plan for it being shut.

The road through Nyungwe

On 18 June 2023, two people were killed and six injured when suspected militants opened fire on a public passenger bus on the Nyamagabe to Rusizi road, in Nyungwe Forest.

That road is worth understanding. UNESCO's own inscription for Nyungwe describes an international road crossing the property, completely illuminated and used by heavy truck and bus traffic. It is a major transport corridor that happens to run through a World Heritage rainforest, and it is the way many visitors reach the park. Most writing about Nyungwe mentions neither the highway nor the attack.

Crime, and the parts of Kigali that are not obvious

Crime levels are relatively low, with burglary, theft, bag snatching and mugging occurring in Kigali. The usual precautions apply and are enough: care at night, transport arranged in advance, car doors locked, nothing valuable left in a parked car.

Two local rules are less obvious. Some off limits military zones in Kigali are neither well lit nor signposted, and entering one can lead to arrest and detention. And it is illegal to photograph some government buildings; using a drone over a prohibited area without a permit risks imprisonment or a heavy fine.

Penalties for illegal drugs, cannabis included, are severe, and airports have strong detection technology that is also applied to the baggage of transiting passengers.

Health: altitude, evacuation and one specific warning about caves

The emergency number is 112; ask for an ambulance. Altitude sickness is a risk in parts of the country.

Medical facilities are limited. The FCDO states that a serious accident or illness may require evacuation by air ambulance to Kenya or South Africa. That single sentence is the argument for insurance here, and specifically for cover that includes international medical evacuation rather than treatment alone.

Rwanda declared the end of a Marburg virus disease outbreak on 20 December 2024. The outbreak began on 27 September 2024 and was linked to contact with fruit bats in a mine near Kigali. Because the virus can persist, the advice is that anyone visiting or working in caves inhabited by fruit bat colonies should wear gloves, protective clothing and a face mask. Cave visits are a normal tourist activity in Rwanda, and this connection is rarely made in travel writing about them.

There is also an Ebola outbreak in the DRC, which the World Health Organization has declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and heightened health screening at borders across the region follows from it.