Gitega's Highland Landscape: Africa's Dense Hill Country
Burundi is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa — and around Gitega, every hill is terraced and farmed in a landscape of extraordinary human-geographic intensity
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Terraced Highland Farming
Every hill around Gitega is terraced with banana groves, cassava, beans and sweet potatoes — the density of cultivation reflects Burundi's extraordinarily high rural population and land pressure
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Banana Plantation Culture
The banana (umutsima) is central to Burundian life - eaten green as a staple, fermented into urwarwa beer and used ceremonially; the groves around Gitega are productive family economies
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Viewpoints over the hills
Gitega is at 1,800 meters - the view from the hills surrounding the town over the rolling highlands of central Burundi, with fog in the valleys at dawn, is striking
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Ruvubu River Scenery
The Ruvubu River — the main tributary of the Nile system in Burundi — flows through the highland landscape east of Gitega; the river valley is a landscape of wild beauty among the cultivated hills
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Tea Estates of the Highlands
The tea estates of Burundi's highland provinces – which produce an internationally traded highland tea – create geometric patterns of dark green on the hillsides that contrast with the wild valleys
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Highland Market Day
The weekly market in rural highland centers around Gitega brings farmers from the hills — a colorful collection of produce, livestock and the social life of Burundian rural communities