DANGER IN NORTHERN RWANDA

We enjoy a goat skewer, fries and Gatanu beer by the deadly Lake Kivu, just south of the Congo border. 

Wait, is overeating dangerous? 

Despite common misperceptions, Rwanda has been safe for visitors for years. Yet, in a small town at the Congo border near Lake Kivu in the far north, there are actually a few ways you could get an express ticket to the afterlife:

• First of all, there's the lake itself. Under the deep waters of Lake Kivu a giant bubble of killer methane and carbon dioxide lurks and is expanding by the day, just waiting for the chance to escape to the surface, as a similar bubble did in 1986, killing more than 1,000 people. Lucky for us, it wasn't our day.

• Then there's the political unrest less than a mile away in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Political instability and violence in the DRC has been threatening to slip across the invisible border into Rwanda, as it did late last year. 

• And last but certainly not least, there's the active Muhavura Volcano (photo at right). It's crater has seen recent rumblings, but scientists don't expect an eruption anytime soon. Of course, aren't volcanic eruption predictions about as accurate as weather forecasts?

Either way, we made it out safe and sound, just like thousands of other visitors each year. And we did it without even choking on our skewered goat or french fries. Now there's a tale of survival. 

MODERN RWANDA?

Rwanda's capital, Kigali, sits high on a hill. In the foreground, a man in the parking lot of the Genocide Memorial,
digs through gravel in search of what, we could never find out.

For most of us what little we know of the African republic probably came from the Oscar-winning movie Hotel Rwanda. The film highlighted atrocities that took place during the bloody genocide nearly two decades ago, when over one million men, women and children were brutally murdered in three months. 

We are still haunted by the stories and images we witnessed in the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre. It's impossible not to be inspired by the courage and warmth of the people encountered both there and throughout the country, who've overcome so much. 

While scars both visible and otherwise remain, much progress has been made since 1994, including investment of billions of dollars in international aid. Rwanda now is considered a model for developing countries, with economic stability, a modern healthcare system, and one of the best road systems in Africa, as we experienced during a week-long visit. 

A man sells fresh loaves of bread as Liz looks on from a bus window. 

Kip gets a "Welcome in Rwanda" at the Tanzania border crossing.