Rwanda reached an awful turning point in its history with the massacre of nearly one million people in 1994, an atrocity perpetrated by one ethnic group on another. The attempted genocide of the Tutsi tribe by Hutu militias, who also targeted moderates of their own tribe, has since engraved the international perception of Rwanda in bones and blood. But although such human horror was not new to Rwanda beforehand, and although there's a likelihood that the hatred between the two groups will simmer away for a long time to come, the country has come a long way since putting inhumanity on display nearly seven years ago. Much of Rwanda has been rebuilt by its inhabitants, the economy has been resurrected, and travellers can now safely navigate and enjoy the majority of the country's spectacular mountain landscape.

Urban centres such as the capital Kigali and Butare have forged ahead with their rehabilitation, giving rise to new places to stay, eat, drink, dance and meet the local population, while the shoreline of Lake Kivu has sprouted relaxing new facilities for visitors and the hordes of remaining NGO staff alike. Meanwhile, the country's captivating natural features offer some hard-to-beat experiences, from the mountain gorillas in the newly reopened Parc Nacional des Volcans to the hundreds of species of trees and birds in the magnificent rainforests of Nyungwe. While Rwanda remains at relative peace, the opportunity to engage with the 'Land of a Thousand Hills' should not be passed up.

Warning Mention of the name 'Rwanda' used to evoke images of the amazing mountain gorillas of the Parc Nacional des Volcans and breathtaking mountain views. Now it prompts media-sculpted memories of the attempted genocide of the Tutsi tribe in 1994 - a brutal, unrelenting and allegedly premeditated slaughter by extremist Hutus that left nearly a million dead. The years since the genocide attempt have been extraordinarily difficult for Rwanda, with reciprocal massacres of Hutus by those seeking vengeance on the architects of the 1994 bloodshed, refugees numbering over a million housed in border camps controlled in some cases by the very militias they sought to escape, and civil war in neighbouring Congo (Zaïre) from which Rwanda has struggled to extricate itself.

Today, however, the country is arguably in the best shape it's been in for nearly a decade: the search for justice against the organisers of the Tutsi genocide is now predominantly concentrated in a court set up for that purpose in Tanzania; large numbers of refugees have returned to Rwanda and the rebel cabals in the border camps broken up; the economy has returned to pre-1994 levels; and a fresh agreement between the warring parties in Congo (Zaïre) is threatening that country with peace. Rwanda and the region of Africa it's in may never be completely trouble-free, but though caution still needs to be exercised and the latest information regularly sought, it is currently safe to travel around most of the country.

That said, travellers are advised to steer clear of the border with Congo (Zaïre) (with the exception of the Parc Nacional des Volcans, which is OK to visit at this time). The new ceasefire sounds great in principle and some of the countries that have been involved in the conflict (including Rwanda) have begun pulling their troops out, but it's still way too early to declare the situation there safe. Burundi remains a potential ethnic powderkeg and travel to that country can in no way be called a good idea - recently, a bus travelling from Kigali to Bujumbura was ambushed and 20 passengers (including an English national) were executed.