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Travel and Tourism in Burundi
Travel alerts, currency, climate, transit, health, and safety information for visitors to Burundi.
Practical Information
Travel alert status, currency, climate, and transit details.
- Travel Alert Status
- Level 3: Reconsider Travel
- Time Difference
- UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- Currency
- 1665
- Climate
- Though less than 5°F south of the Equator, the entire country has a pleasant climate. equatorial; high plateau with considerable altitude variation (772 m to 2,670 m above sea level); the average annual temperature varies with altitude from 23 to 17 degrees centigrade but is generally moderate as the average altitude is about 1,700 m; average Bujumbura, on the northeastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, averages 73°F. Daytime temperatures are in the mid to upper 80s: In the highlands, temperatures are cooler, in the 60s and 70s, arid at night, and occasional frost occurs. The short rains occur from October to December, and the long rains from February to May. During the dry seasons, a haze obscures, otherwise spectacular views of the Mitumba mountains of Eastern Zaire, and the air becomes dusty. During the rainy season, the temperatures cool slightly. Rainfall is only occasionally torrential and comes in brief, intense showers, rather than steady downpours. More violent weather, including hailstorms, occurs chiefly in the highlands. Rainfall averages 30 inches in Bujumbura and 47 inches in the uplands.
- Ethnic Groups
- Hutu (Bantu) 85%, Tutsi (Hamitic) 14%, Twa (Pygmy) 1%, Europeans 3,000, South Asians 2,000
- National Holiday
- Independence Day, 1 July (1962)
- Geographic Coordinates
- 3 30 S, 30 00 E
- Location
- Central Africa, east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Airports
- 8
Health and Safety
Medical facilities, vaccinations, disease risk, and sanitation conditions.
Medical facilities in Burundi do not meet United States standards. You should carry an ample supply of properly-labeled prescription drugs and other medications with you, as certain medications and prescription drugs are unavailable or in short supply. The sterility of equipment is questionable, and treatment is unreliable. Ambulance assistance is non-existent and emergency services are all but unavailable. Hospital care in Burundi should be considered in only the most serious cases and when no reasonable alternatives are available.