Mount Heha

The country's highest point rises gently by great-peak standards - Mount Heha's 2,684 metres top a whaleback of montane grassland and heath above the Congo-Nile crest - but the climb collects Burundi on the way up: eucalyptus and banana villages around Ijenda, terraced hills in every direction doing their thousand-shades-of-green routine, and from the rounded summit a panorama that on clear mornings runs from Lake Tanganyika's silver sheet below to ridgelines fading into Congo and Rwanda. It is a walking mountain - stout legs, no ropes - and local guides turn the day into a hill-country introduction.

What you'll find

• The summit panorama - Tanganyika below, three countries of ridges.
• The terraced approach - Burundi's green hills at their most patterned.
• The crest grasslands - heath and proteas along the divide.
• Ijenda's hill life - the highland villages and their markets.

When to go

June to September, dry season, gives the clear mornings the panorama needs - start early, as cloud builds by midday; the summit air is genuinely cool. The rains make paths a mudsport.

What to expect

Trails are unsigned village paths - a local guide is both courtesy and necessity, arranged in Ijenda; the day is long but technically easy. Facilities are none: carry water and food.

Nearby

Ijenda, the crest road viewpoints and Bujumbura an hour below.

Key facts