Musanze, formerly Ruhengeri, is the gateway to Rwanda's volcanic north and the base from which almost every traveller sets out to see the mountain gorillas. Nestled at the foot of the Virungas, with the volcanic cones outlined on the horizon, it is a quiet, fast-growing city surrounded by some of the country's loveliest countryside: a mosaic of terraced hills, potato fields, eucalyptus trees and villages where life follows the rhythm of the land.
Although its big draw is its location, just 15-20 minutes from the Volcanoes National Park headquarters in Kinigi, Musanze also has treasures of its own: the impressive Musanze lava cave, the calm twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo, the sacred Buhanga forest where kings were crowned, and community cultural centres that showcase the life and traditions of the north. It is also the best place to sleep, eat and get organised before and after the treks.
This guide takes a practical look at Musanze: how to use it as a base for the gorillas and the volcanoes, what to see and do in the city and its surroundings, how to get around, where to stay at every price level, from budget guesthouses to nearby luxury lodges, and how to combine it with Lake Kivu and the rest of the north. Once you have Musanze sorted, Rwanda's star experience is within easy reach.
Musanze, known as Ruhengeri for much of the 20th century, grew as the administrative and farming centre of northern Rwanda under Belgian colonial rule. Its strategic location, at the foot of the Virungas and near the borders with Uganda and Congo, made it a key point, but also a battleground in the civil war of the 1990s: it was one of the first areas affected by the RPF invasion in 1990 and suffered badly during the conflict and the 1994 genocide. After the war, the city was renamed Musanze and was reborn as the base for gorilla tourism, now its main economic driver. The full story is told on our history page.
Read the full history ↓At the foot of the Virunga range, the mountain gorilla sanctuary that Dian Fossey made known to the world, among volcanoes, lava caves and terraced hills.
Read the history of The north and the volcanoes →A local guide tells you in half an hour what no sign at the site will ever explain. We look ours up on Civitatis: guided in Spanish and booked online with no fuss. They have 7 activities in Kigali. And there are free tours here: you book without paying and tip the guide whatever you think at the end, so trying one costs you nothing. Have a look below: tap any of them to see them all.
They depart from Kigali, 69 km away. If you book from this link we earn a commission and you pay no more.
No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
The Musanze region, in the far north of Rwanda, owes its character to geology: it sits at the foot of the Virunga Mountains, a chain of volcanoes whose eruptions over thousands of years covered the land with rich, fertile volcanic soils. That fertility, together with a cool highland climate and plentiful rain, made the area one of the most productive farming regions in the country, best known for its potato crops, which today supply much of Rwanda. The landscape of terraced hills, green fields and villages at the foot of the volcanic cones is the result of centuries of work by farming communities.
Before the Europeans arrived, this northern region was part of the cultural world of the Kingdom of Rwanda, though with its own particular features: it was a frontier area, with a strong local identity and a degree of autonomy from the central power of the royal court. Near Musanze lies the sacred forest of Buhanga, linked by tradition to the coronation rituals of Rwanda's kings, which gives an idea of how symbolically important the area was. The local lava caves, formed by volcanic activity, have sheltered the population in times of conflict since ancient times.
Being close to the volcanoes and to the borders with what are now Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo made this region a crossroads of routes and cultures, but also a place exposed to regional tensions. That dual nature — fertile, prosperous land and, at the same time, a strategic border zone — would leave a deep mark on Musanze's history throughout the 20th century, and above all in its most dramatic chapter.
During the colonial era, first under Germany and then, after the First World War, under Belgium, the town we now know as Musanze grew up under the name Ruhengeri. The Belgians made it an administrative centre for northern Rwanda, taking advantage of its strategic position and the region's agricultural wealth. The town grew around its administrative, commercial and missionary roles, and gradually became the main urban centre in the north of the country.
As in the rest of Rwanda, the Belgian colonial administration deepened the social divisions between Hutu and Tutsi and reshaped the economy around crops and the needs of the colonial power. Ruhengeri, at the heart of a mainly Hutu region, carried particular weight in Rwandan politics in the years before and after independence. After the 'social revolution' of 1959 and independence in 1962, the north became a stronghold of Hutu political power, and key figures of the regime that would govern the country over the following decades came from this region.
In fact, President Juvénal Habyarimana, who took power in a coup in 1973 and ruled until his death in 1994, came from the north, and his regime relied heavily on the region's elites. Ruhengeri was therefore a city tied to power for much of the history of independent Rwanda. That political centrality would have a tragic flip side when the conflict that led to the genocide broke out.
Its position on the border put Ruhengeri at the centre of the conflict that tore Rwanda apart in the 1990s. In October 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), made up of descendants of Tutsi exiles, invaded the country from Uganda through the north, and from the very start the Ruhengeri region was on the front line of the civil war. In 1991, the RPF even stormed Ruhengeri prison in a daring raid. The war years brought fighting, displacement and a growing militarisation and radicalisation of the area.
When the genocide against the Tutsi began in April 1994, the north, a stronghold of the regime and of extremist propaganda, saw massacres just like the rest of the country. Soon afterwards, the RPF's advance gradually took control of the territory and brought the genocide to an end, but it also triggered a mass exodus of Hutu civilians — mixed in with those responsible for the killings — into the Congo, through the Ruhengeri border region and around Lake Kivu. After the war, the area was among the hardest hit and most unstable in the country.
Throughout the second half of the 1990s, insecurity continued in the north because of raids by armed groups (the so-called 'infiltrators') from the Congo, against the backdrop of the wars that engulfed the Great Lakes region. Ruhengeri and its surroundings went through hard years of lingering violence before the country became fully stable. Rebuilding this badly battered region would be one of the great challenges facing the new Rwanda.
With the country's stabilisation in the early 21st century and the 2006 administrative reform that reorganised Rwanda's districts, the town and district officially took the name Musanze, leaving behind the colonial name Ruhengeri. The change of name came with a change of era: the region, once defined by war and conflict, began to rebuild and look to the future, relying above all on its great natural asset, the mountain gorillas of nearby Volcanoes National Park.
The gorilla tourism boom completely transformed Musanze's economy. The town became the undisputed logistics base for treks, and an industry of hotels, lodges, restaurants, tour operators and services grew up around it. Alongside traditional farming — potatoes above all — tourism became a driver of development, with international luxury lodges opening at the foot of the volcanoes and programmes that share part of the park's revenue with local communities. Museums and centres such as the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, opened in 2022, cemented the area's role as Rwanda's conservation capital.
Today Musanze is the country's third-largest city and one of its fastest-growing, with an identity tied at once to the countryside, the volcanoes and tourism. Its story — from fertile land to political stronghold, from war zone to gorilla tourism hub — sums up much of contemporary Rwanda's journey: that of a battered region that managed to reinvent itself. For travellers, understanding that journey adds depth to a city that, beyond being the starting point for the gorillas, has a rich history of its own.
