Health & safety
Travelling Safely in Rwanda: Roads by Daylight, Rules Kept, Cover Arranged
Rwanda is a small country of steep green hills, travelled mostly by road, and a visit usually joins Kigali to the parks: the volcanoes of the north-west, the rainforest of Nyungwe and the savanna of Akagera. The days that ask the most of a traveller are the long drives on winding roads and the treks on muddy mountain slopes, so the care a trip needs is largely a matter of timing and preparation. The country keeps its rules firmly, from the ban on plastic bags at the airport to the morning each month when most services close.
Updated 2026-10-05
Before the trip
The first thing to read before the trip is the current travel advice of the traveller's own government. A travel clinic, visited well before departure, advises on malaria tablets and on the vaccinations the route calls for; a yellow fever vaccination certificate is required of travellers coming from a country with a risk of transmission, one of the rules of entry to Rwanda. Medical facilities in the country are limited, and a serious illness or injury is treated by flying the patient out to Kenya or South Africa, so travel insurance that covers medical evacuation by air is part of the preparation.
Everyday precautions
After dark, care is taken on foot, and transport for the evening — back from a restaurant, or to the airport for a night flight — is arranged in advance rather than looked for in the street. Car doors stay locked on the move, in town traffic and on the open road alike. Large sums of cash are not carried, and valuables stay at the accommodation where possible; what goes along for the day, a phone and a camera among it, is kept out of sight.
On the road
Traffic in Rwanda drives on the right, on roads that wind over the hills, many of them unlit. Driving standards are poor after dark, so journeys between towns are made by daylight: a drive to the volcanoes, to Nyungwe or to Akagera sets off early enough to arrive before nightfall, which this close to the equator comes at about six in the evening all year. Most visitors travel between the parks in a car with a driver; a visitor who drives carries an international driving permit together with the home licence. Of the vehicles on the road, the shared minibuses and the motorbike taxis are the ones most often involved in accidents.
Rules a visitor meets
Three rules apply at entry. Plastic bags are banned in Rwanda and are taken from luggage on arrival, so packing and shopping go in cloth or paper bags instead. A drone is declared to customs on arrival and may be held until departure, and flying one needs a permit. Vapes and e-cigarettes may not be brought into the country.
Photographing some government buildings is illegal, so a camera stays lowered around official buildings. The penalties for drug offences are severe. Same-sex relations are not illegal, and attitudes can be conservative.
Altitude and the gorilla trek
Altitude sickness is a risk on the high summits of the Virunga volcanoes, not on an ordinary visit to the country. On a gorilla trek in Volcanoes National Park, a visitor with a cold or flu does not go out: it is a rule of the park, because a human illness can pass to the gorillas. The walk to a gorilla family can be short or take most of a day on steep slopes that turn muddy in the rains, so boots with a good grip and a reasonable level of fitness make the day easier.