The town
Rusizi was once an important trading gateway, and the fading facades along its older streets still show it. It is slow-paced and low-density now, valued more for the setting than for anything in it. The busier, more industrial Kamembe sits alongside, with an airport running regular flights to Kigali — which makes this the one place on the circuit where you can fly out instead of driving back.
The drive in
The road from Kigali runs through some of the most photogenic country in Rwanda: extensive tea plantations, banana fields, brickworks and rural villages, then over the ridge through Nyungwe itself. Doing this drive in daylight is worth planning for.
Why base here
Rusizi is the practical lakeside base for Nyungwe — close enough to reach the park's western trailheads early, and a considerably more comfortable place to spend an evening than the forest resthouse options. It also puts you at the Bukavu crossing if a day trip into DR Congo is on the cards, subject to current border conditions.
On the lake itself: short boat trips, a sandy beach, and the southern end of the Lake Kivu shoreline drive north towards Karongi.