RWANDA - ( Repubulika y'u Rwanda )

Rwanda (Kinyarwanda: u Rwanda), formerly Ruanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda (Kinyarwanda: Repubulika y'u Rwanda; Swahili: Jamhuri ya Rwanda; French: République du Rwanda or République Rwandaise), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley where the African Great Lakes region and East Africa converge. One of the smallest countries on the African mainland, its capital city is Kigali. The entire country is at a high altitude: the lowest point is the Rusizi River at 950 metres (3,117 ft) above sea level. Rwanda is located in Central/Eastern Africa, and is bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the east, and Burundi to the south. It lies a few degrees south of the equator and is landlocked. The capital, Kigali, is located near the centre of Rwanda. It is highly elevated with its geography dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the east, with numerous lakes throughout the country. The climate is temperate to subtropical, with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons each year. Rwanda has a population of over 12.6 million  living on 26,338 km² of land, and is the most densely populated mainland African country.

The population is young and predominantly rural, with a density among the highest in Africa. Rwandans are drawn from just one cultural and linguistic group, the Banyarwanda, although within this group there are three subgroups: the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The Twa are a forest-dwelling pygmy people and are often considered descendants of Rwanda's earliest inhabitants. Scholars disagree on the origins of and differences between the Hutu and Tutsi; some believe differences are derived from former social castes within a single people, while others believe the Hutu and Tutsi arrived in the country separately, and from different locations.

There are 670 bird species in Rwanda, with variation between the east and the west. Nyungwe Forest, in the west, has 280 recorded species, of which 26 are endemic to the Albertine Rift; endemic species include the Rwenzori turaco and handsome spurfowl. Eastern Rwanda, by contrast, features savanna birds such as the black-headed gonolek and those associated with swamps and lakes, including storks and cranes. Recent entomological work in the country has revealed a rich diversity of praying mantises, including a new species Dystacta tigrifrutex, dubbed the "bush tiger mantis".

The first stamps used in the area now known as Rwanda were stamps of German East Africa which was the colonial power in the area until 1916 when Belgian troops seized the territory during the First World War. Stamps of Ruanda-Urundi were then used until independence. The first stamps of independent Rwanda were issued on 1 July 1962. The National Post Office (French: Office national des postes, Kinyarwanda: iPosita Rwanda) is the company responsible for the postal service in Rwanda. As of 2009, Rwanda had nineteen post office branches. 

During April 2010, the Office National des Postes announced, through the Universal Postal Union, that several fraudulent issues of stamps were circulating. The Office National Des Postes was granted a monopoly for thirty years in 1992 by the Parliament of Rwanda, then known as the National Development Council. Private services do business in the country despite the government's protests. Atraco, Sotra Tours, Okapi, Virunga, and Muhabura Bus have been named by the postal service as companies operating illegally. As of October 2009, a law was being drafted to crack down on illegal courier services.

This Registered Airmail Cover sent by Deo, when he traveled to Kigali. Rwanda not issued variety of stamps since many years , so I bought some old stamps and prepared the cover to look colorful. The left side two different high value stamps series  are the only stamps available from many of the post offices.

Another cover from Rwanda by Deo ! This cover sent on the same day when the previous cover sent, but reached late because sent as normal airmail. Previously in some period they issued stamps in the name of 'Republique Rwandaise' .Now they use English name Rwanda . The letter sent on April 15, 2015 and received on May 05, 2015.