Social media influencers help revive tourism in Burundi

Deus-Dedit Niyiburana, a tour guide, showing how chimpanzees play on one of the old trees in the Kibira National Park. - Photos: AFP

Burundi. The name does not immediately evoke centuries-old forests sheltering elusive chimpanzees, or sandy beaches lined with palm trees that stretch along one of the largest lakes in the world.

Instead, the small, landlocked nation located in the heart of Africa’s Great Lakes region has often been synonymous with poverty, ethnic violence and most recently, a political crisis that prompted 400,000 people to flee the country.