A tiny central African country that’s comparable in size to Maryland, Rwanda has a population of about 13.5 million. Rivalry between two ethnic groups, the Tutsi and the Hutu, culminated in the genocide of 1994, during which about 1 million Tutsi were murdered in the course of 100 days. An improbable degree of reconciliation has been achieved, and today, the country is peaceful. The Virunga Mountains rise to nearly 15,000 feet where the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo converge. On the Rwandan side, the cloud-draped slopes are famous as the backdrop for Dian Fossey’s “Gorillas in the Mist.” More than 35 years after her death, in 1985, the tangled forests contain around 400 of the world’s approximately 1,000 mountain gorillas.

“Our guide stopped us from stumbling into an enormous silverback sitting just four yards away, contently chewing a stick of wild celery."

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