Rwanda has been named the next host country of the Commonwealth Heads of States and Government meeting (CHOGM). The meeting is customarily held every two years and it is the highest consultative and Policy making gathering of the organization. The last summit was held in London 2018, which also resolved to hand the hosting of the following summit to Rwanda. The summit was supposed to have been held in June 2020 but due to the effects of Covid -19, it was postponed twice in 2020 and in 2021.
The CHOGM new dates are set for the week of 20th June 2022. Thousands of delegates from the 54 CHOGM member countries will gather in Rwanda, the country of thousand hills as it is known for. The theme of this year’s summit is “Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, and transforming” which seems to be a continuation of the discussions of the 2018 summit that were themed “Towards a Common Future”. Apart from the CHOGM summit itself, other side fora are organized including: the Commonwealth Youth Forum (CYF) to be held between 19th-21st June 2022, Commonwealth Women’s Forum to be held on 21st to 22nd June 2022, and the Commonwealth People’s Forum to be held 21st-22nd June 2022. The Commonwealth Business Forum new dates are yet to be communicated.
Attending CHOGM 2022 in Rwanda would be also an occasion of exploring the beauty and attractions that the country of a thousand hills has to offer to its visitors. What to do in Rwanda in addition to attending the CHOGM in Rwanda? Rwanda normally is known to be a good destination for travellers. There are various recommendations on what to do in Rwanda besides attending the CHOGM. Here below are some of them:
Trekking gorillas in the Volcanoes National Park. Rwanda is among the only three countries to have mountain gorillas besides Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. These endangered species are said to be sharing 98% of their DNA with Human beings. Visiting gorillas in their natural bedding in the high mountain is a lifetime experience that one should not miss when coming to Rwanda. In the same volcanoes you can trek golden monkeys of the same family with gorillas, mountain hiking in one of the Mountains like Mount Muhabura, Mount Bisoke, Mount Kalisimbi and Sabyinyo.
Game drive in Akagera National Park is another option for participants of CHOGM summit in Rwanda. The Akagera Game Drive is the only savanna park in Rwanda known to accommodate big five animals namely lion, leopard, black rhinoceros, African bush elephant, and the African buffalo as well as other animals like zebras, giraffes, and various bird species. It is also another destination not to miss out when in Rwanda.
Nyungwe National Park, is one of the oldest rainforests in Africa with about 85 mammal species, including 13 primate species which stand for 25% of all African mammals. Also, Nyungwe accommodates about 320 bird’s species. It is a good place to enjoy the Africa Fauna and Flora. In addition, the forest has a canopy walk which is a 90 meter suspended bridge that offers occasions of exploring the forest on top trees.
The above are just a few on the list, but there are also other places including local markets and art craft centers for shopping of souvenirs, city tour, Kivu Lake for relaxation on the beautiful beaches and Islands. For participants in the CHOGM summit in Kigali they will also be blessed with visits to other destinations not only in Kigali but also in other places of the country. It can be a trip before the CHOGM, during breaks or after the summit.
You may ask yourself if you need a tour operator to help you organize your trip to Rwanda for the CHOGM summit in Rwanda. It’s possible that you can organize your trip by yourself since most of the services and information on Rwanda are available online including the hotel rooms and park entrance costs and booking. But there is other crucial information that needs to be considered while travelling to Rwanda. You will need to know which hotel you are going to be staying in that is close to the venue of the event you are going to attend. The CHOGM in Rwanda will be made of different side events and forums at different venues. You need to know which hotel offers easy accessibility to a given venue and arrange convenient transportation. Also some attractions have a limited number of entrance permits like gorillas (96 permits per day), Golden monkeys (30 permits per day and chimpanzees (16 permits per day),… involving a tour operator is necessary to make sure that your journey to Rwanda is well organized. All you need is to have a professional tour guide who will take into account your time, budget And interests to come up with a convenient itinerary, whether a one day, a two days or three days tour.
Enclose Africa Safaris as one of the experienced tour operators not only in Rwanda but in the whole East Africa, will be a good choice if your next destination is in Rwanda. All you need to do is to forward a request and leave the rest in the hands of our tour consultants.
