Opportunity for a different type of tourism

Burundi, also known as “The heart of Africa”, is a landlocked country located in the African Great Lakes Region of Eastern Africa, sharing borders with Rwanda to the North, Democratic Republic of Congo to the West, and Tanzania to the East and South. Located in the universal time zone (UTC: +02:00), Burundi has no direct access to continental waters. Located approximative at 1,100 km from the Indian Ocean, and is more than 2,100 km from the Atlantic Ocean. Burundi’s lowest point is the Lake Tanganyika at 772 m and the highest point is Mount Heha with 2,670 m. In the regional dynamisms, Burundi and Rwanda are the closest nations from their unknown dates of foundation to the context of their state’s foundation.

For many years, Burundians and Rwandans built similar civilizations. Till recently, historical and economic trajectories of Burundi and Rwanda remained close to each other. Burundi shares a rich cultural heritage with Rwanda from the kingdom era since their creation in the 16^th Century. Kirundi (mother tongue of Burundi) and Kinyarwanda (mother tongue of Rwanda), remain sister languages. The Rwanda-Urundi constituted one Belgian colonial rule until their Independence Day on July 1^st, 1962. For many years after colonization, the two countries had embarked on same historical trajectories until the 1990s with the Genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and the political turmoil triggered in 1993 and ex. ended to 2003. The management of ethnic competition to power in the two countries has defined diverging paths toward their economic and political developments.

Rwanda has built an economic empire inspired by huge worldwide sympathy triggered by the genocide leading to a strong tourist attraction for learning purposes. On the Rwanda’s national parks with Volcanoes and Akagera national parks as popular tourist destination, Rwanda has added numerous historical sites to inspire on humanity development. On the other hand, Burundi has almost failed to raise the importance of its economy even after the integration of the East African Community block. Since 2010 to date, political radicalism has led to corrupt and bureaucratic practices and extremely narrowed the s pace for constructive debates stemming from diverging and innovative ideas. Where Rwanda rallied Rwandans on nationalist civilization driven by a strong economy with an undivided focus on tourism and high-class service industry, Burundi still suffers from poor yet vital infrastructures for modern economies including roads, electricity, and internet.

Yet Burundi is well positioned in the region with the Lake Tanganyika as the western border with Democratic Republic of Congo and Southern border with Tanzania. Burundi is transit path for visiting the continental Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for their diverse natural resources and mineral deposits and the renowned Republic of Tanzania for its attractive tourist sites including the Mount Kilimanjaro.