Fodor's Expert Review Red Rocks Intercultural Exchange Center

A 7-km (4-mile) trip from gorilla-tourism hub Musanze, this cultural exchange center offers an eclectic mix of diversions for the post-primate safari crowd and independent travelers alike. Get your cultural fix via an extensive itinerary of activities that includes classes in weaving traditional baskets, dance and drumming, painting with a local artist, brewing banana beer, or cooking local cuisine. Red Rocks can also arrange cultural heritage and wooden-bike tours, or a homestay with a local family. The extensive grounds include a boma fire pit, a gift shop run by a local women’s cooperative, a bar, an outdoor dance pavilion, and several campsites. Fifty percent of revenues from Red Rocks’ activities are channeled to the communities. The annual Red Rocks Cultural Festival celebrates culture and conservation throughout the week leading up to the Kwita Izina gorilla naming ceremony, which takes place in the first week of September.