The headline day trip from Bukavu is Kahuzi-Biega National Park for gorilla tracking — best treated as a full-day or overnight outing through a tour operator. Closer to town, the village of Mudaka on the road to the park has a market and a couple of viewpoints over the agricultural hills. A boat trip on Lake Kivu can be arranged through the lakefront hotels: half a day's puttering between the headlands and the small islands, often with a swim included. Across the border in Rwanda, the town of Rusizi has a more relaxed lakefront and is reachable as a single-day round trip if your paperwork is in order.