If you've searched online for health insurance that covers expats in Rwanda then you are probably for looking for established UK based health insurance providers that will cover your medical expenses in Rwanda.
Living as an expatriate in Rwanda you want to avoid any unwanted and unexpected medical costs. In some countries these can run into hundreds of thousands of pounds for very serious medical conditions.
Our advice when shopping around for health insurance that covers expatriates living in Rwanda is to speak to a insurance broker. Health insurance is incredibly complex and if you want complete certainty that Rwanda is covered by your policy you should talk with a health insurance broker who can explain which providers will cover medical costs for expatriates in Rwanda and which will not.
There are many advantages to using a broker but the largest by far is that you're using their insurance training at no cost. They are paid by the insurer (Aviva or Bupa etc) rather than you so it costs you no extra to use their services.
- Do you live in many different areas? Some will give you a cheaper premium than offers. A insurance broker will be able to advise whats best.
- Do you have a hobby that may invalidate your insurance claim? A broker will know this critical information.
- If you are a couple and one of you has claimed on your policy this year would it be cheaper to separate you both onto two different insurance policies?
- You've lean't you're at risk of developing a certain condition and want to know which policy provider offers the largest amount of cover for it. A broker will know this instantly saving you so much time and effort.
You can call around every health insurance provider on the market and ask if they provider cover for expats in Rwanda, however this will be a very time consuming process. Each insurer will ask for your medical history because its not normally a simple yes or not if a medical condition is covered or not.
Its far far quicker to speak to one health insurance broker which will know which providers on the market offer cover for expats in Rwanda and under what conditions they do or don't cover it.
Rwanda Information
Tourism in Rwanda is the largest source of foreign exchange earnings in Rwanda and was projected to grow at a rate of 25% every year from 2013-18. The sector is the biggest contributor to the national export strategy. Total revenues generated from the sector in 2014 alone was USD 305 millions. The sector has also attracted direct foreign investments with major international hotel brands setting up shop in the country including Marriot Hotels & Resorts, Radisson Blu, Park Inn by Radisson, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, Protea Hotels by Marriott, Golden Tulip Hotels, and Zinc. With its new world-class convention center Rwanda is set to become a regional and international conference hub owing to ever improving conference facilities, an excellent and expanding transportation network, and straightforward immigration procedures such as the ability for online visa applications, visa-at-gate policy for all Africans, and a one tourist visa policy for the EAC.
Tourism in Rwanda is rapidly increasing. To further place Rwanda on the world map as a first-class tourism destination, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) signed a three-year partnership deal with London-based association football team, Arsenal Football Club, and a two-year partnership with French association football Giant Paris Saint-Saint Germain F.C. to help build the country's tourism industry. This has lifted overall tourism numbers by 8% according to Rwandan officials.
Rwanda being located in East Africa has extensive natural beauty. Tour groups are led by an experienced guide who specialises in teaching others about the landscape and wildlife of Rwanda. Expeditions visit volcanoes, waterfalls, and rainforests that are home to many different African animals.
Rwanda is home to a huge diverse population of animals including mountain gorillas and the world's largest natural park for hippos with some 20,000 are believed to live there. Although Rwanda is still a developing country, it has quite a few hotels and its new international interest in tourism is helping economic growth.
Volcanoes National Park, part of the larger multinational Virunga Conservation Area, is a stop center for all Rwandan gorilla safaris and shelters many mountain gorillas. Being a roughly two-hour drive from the Kigali International Airport makes it the most accessible gorilla national park in the world. Sharing a border with Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this national park in Rwanda is home to a growing number of critically endangered mountain gorillas. Experts estimate that there are about 600 gorillas in the park, which is a significant increase from around 240-250 individuals in 1981. Besides gorillas, Volcanoes National park is a home for golden monkeys, a variety of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects among other creatures which together make a complete Rwanda safari package. Volcanoes National Park is named after the chain of dormant volcanoes making up the Virunga Massif; Bisoke with its verdant crater lake, Sabyinyo, Gahinga, Muhabura, and the highest at 4,507 meters, Karisimbi.
Trekking at Volcanoes National Park typically lasts between four and eight hours, most of which is spent hiking through bamboo forests, meadows, and swampland. Guides from the national park service will eventually lead you to one of the habituated gorilla families. Visitors typically spend an hour observing the creatures as they eat, care for their babies, and interact with each another.
One of the oldest rainforests in Africa, Nyungwe, is spectacularly beautiful and rich in biodiversity with a total 1,068 plant species, including 140 orchid species, and also 322 species of birds including red-collared babbler, along with 75 mammalian species such as the serval cat, mongoose, congo clawless otter, and leopard to name a few. Most tourists come to this rainforest to track chimpanzees, as well as 12 other primate species, including the L’Hoest’s monkey endemic to the Albertine Rift. The park is also home to the only canopy walk in East Africa, with it being roughly a 90-minute hike from the Uwinka Visitor Center. Visitors walk across a 91-meter long suspension bridge dangling more than 50 meters above the verdant rainforest, getting a dizzying view of the treetops and mountains in the distance.
Gishwati Forest is part of Gishwati-Mukura Forest National Park. The Gishwati Concession is managed by Wilderness Safaris in collaboration with the Forest of Hope Association and Rwanda Development Board. Gishwati Forest was opened to the public on the 1st of December 2020. Most popular activities are Chimpanzee tracking, hiking and birding. The only accommodation in the park is the Forest of Hope Guest House which has two twin rooms and a campsite.
A roughly two-and-a-half-hour drive from Kigali is Akagera National Park. Managed by the African Parks Organization, Akagera National Park is located in eastern Rwanda with 2500 km2 (one of Central Africa's largest protected wetlands) of mainly Savannah land. The park is named after the Kagera River that flows along Rwanda’s eastern boundary with Tanzania. The river feeds into Lake Ihema and other smaller lakes in and around the park. The park protects an African savanna landscape of acacia and bush with patches of open grassland and a dozen swampy lakes. It is home to elephants, buffalo, giraffe, zebras, leopards, hyenas, lions, and several antelopes like bushbucks, topis, oribis, water-buck, roan antelope, duiker, klipspringer, impala, and world largest antelope, the cape eland. Visitors can watch schools of hippos and Nile crocodiles basking in the sun near Lake Ihema. The common primates in Akagera national park are olive baboons, vervet monkeys, blue monkeys, and bush babies. Visitors can also see the environment make a shift from savanna plains, to wetlands, and to lakes.