Northern Province
Northern Province: Virunga highlands with mountain gorillas, Musanze tourism gateway, volcanic agriculture, DRC border dynamics.
Northern Province encompasses the Virunga volcanic highlands where Rwanda meets Uganda and DRC—terrain that hosts the mountain gorillas generating much of Rwanda's $620 million tourism revenue. Musanze, the provincial capital, serves as the gateway to gorilla trekking and the volcano park system. The province also contains Rwanda's most fertile agricultural land on the volcanic soils.
This is borderland territory: proximity to DRC brings both economic opportunity (cross-border trade) and security concerns (periodic rebel activity). The province's contribution to Rwanda's 8.9% GDP growth comes through tourism and intensive agriculture, though it remains overshadowed by Kigali's service sector dominance.