Rwanda - Nuts and Bolts

About the size of Vermont and located in east central Africa, Rwanda (the capital is Kigali) is a landlocked country just south of the Equator bordering Uganda to the north, Burundi to the south, Tanzania to the east, and Zaire to the west. There were estimated to be over 8 million people in Rwanda before the holocaust. They live packed at 789 people per square mile: 85 percent are Hutu, 14 percent Tutsi. Almost half of the Tutsis were murdered during the genocide.

Rwanda is home to rare mountain gorillas and the bizarre topography and plant life of its forests found in Parc National des Volcans. The gorillas of the park have been mainly unharmed in the nation's unrest due to its remoteness and that most Rwandan park guards have remained on duty. At last count, there were only 650 mountain gorillas left on the planet, of which 320 live in the 125-square-kilometer Parc National des Volcans in Rwanda's northern mountains.

The currency is the Rwanda franc (RFr). There are 100 centimes to the RFr. There are 222 RFr to the U.S. dollar. Local time is two hours later than GMT, seven hours later than U.S. EST. Electricity is 220V/50Hz. Hutus comprise 85 percent of the population; the Tutsi account for 14 percent. Sixty-five percent of the population is Roman Catholic. Protestants make up 9 percent, Muslim 1 percent and indigenous beliefs 25 percent.

Kinyarwanda and French are the official languages, and Kiswahili is used commercially. Illiteracy stands at 50 percent. Rwanda has a tropical climate that varies slightly with altitude. The major rainy seasons are February through May and November through December, with an average annual rainfall of 31 inches.

Web Resources

http://www.rwandemb.org/rwsites.html