Tourism in Rwanda: take it or leave it?

Traveling to Rwanda may not be everybody's dream, but it was certainly mine! It's located in the heart of Sub-Saharan Africa, so it's not overrun by tourists. It has a warm climate, friendly people, fabulous nauture, and it’s safer than almost anywhere in the world. My kind of place.

Unfortunately, flying from The Gambia to Rwanda isn't as straightforward as you might expect. There are direct flights to Kigali from Europe and other places, but everyone who has been to Sub-Saharan Africa knows the intracontinental connections are terrible. Frankly, I was a little freaked out about my four-leg journey that took me from The Gambia to Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Ethiopia. But I reached Kigali safely and had fairly positive experiences with the likes of ASky and Ethiopian Air.

Part 1: Kigali 

Getting into the country and paying the $50 visa-on-arrival fee was easy. The KIM hotel, where I stayed five nights in total, provided a complimentary airport pickup. From the taxi, as we drove through the winding streets of hilly Kigali, I could see thousands of city lights illuminating the fast-growing city. It was so quiet, so clean, and green! The hotel is located in a popular tourist neighborhood called Kimihurura with lots of other hotels, restaurants, coffee shops, and government buildings, all spaced out nicely and surrounded by flowers and greenery. In the morning, I went for a run on a brand new, public outdoor track (!) and took some money from a nearby ATM. I immediately felt comfortable.

About the KIM hotel I would say this: it looks nice, but some of the amenities are so-so. The breakfast and the coffee were particularly disappointing on some days, and the advertised gym is not on-site. Worse, when the desk clerk walked me over to the gym the staff wouldn't let me in until a phone call to the manager was placed. On the positive side, my bathroom shower had the best pressure I've felt in years, the outdoor restaurant and bar were pleasant, and the pool is strikingly beautiful. I heard about better and cheaper hotels nearby but stuck with KIM due to its proximity to Tugende, the meeting point for my travel group, where I ate most days and jealously eyed the paddle courts (because I had nobody to play with). 

Fun fact: you can also stay at Hotel Rwanda, from the movie!

Bike tour around the city

Tugende advertises itself as the place to be for cyclists. The Dutch side of me immediately wanted to go for a bike ride, so I asked the bar tender if I could rent a bike for the next day and hire a tour guide along with it. They offered me a challenging ride in the hills, which might be the type of sporty activity they normally offer, but I wanted to see the city. I didn’t know what I expected in terms of pricing, but I was shocked that the bike rental alone would be $60. Was that for an e-bike, perhaps? Nope, an e-bike would set me back $100. I wasn't sure if that would be worth it or what the tour guide would charge. Or if the bartender was even a proper tour guide... 

I'm always happy to support the local tourist industry by paying fair prices, but I also learned not to take the first offer you get, if possible, especially if it isn't accompanied by a price list or any form of credentials. Instead, I went online and found Baja Bikes, which connects tourists with bike tour providers in 200 locations. There were no reviews so again I had little to go on, but the price tag of $39 for an accompanied tour on an e-bike sounded a lot better than what I'd been offered at Tugende. The meet-up place was about a mile away, which I could easily walk. I paid for it online and told the bartender I'd changed my mind. Thankfully, the tour turned out totally legit. It was awesome. It was provided by Nuttin To Do, a wonderful grassroots company started by a young Yemeni guy called “Shark” that I wholly recommend. 

By the way, you definitely need an e-bike if you want to see Kigali because it's all hills! A regular bike would have been a nightmare. E-bikes make it effortless to go anywhere you want, from the higher up vantage points and the car-free Muslim neighborhood, where we had some delicious food and juice, to the various genocide memorials.

Genocide Memorials

The bike tour brought me to the Belgian Peacekeepers Memorial, which is a museum and memorial site for the ten Belgian peacekeepers who were killed during the first hours of the 1994 genocide. It was nice, and impressive, but it didn’t prepare me for the genocide museum I was to visit a week later. I’m really bad at that kind of stuff. 

In the genocide museum, tears were gushing out of my eyes within 10 minutes of entering. I skipped the “children’s section” altogether and raced through the part where they describe some of the other horrendous genocides that have taken place elsewhere (Cambodia, Armenians, etc.). I spent most of the time outside in the garden reflecting in silence, without the help of images of death and despair.

I’m ashamed to say it, but they have an awesome gift shop there. Perhaps it was a bad case of retail therapy, but I bought a whole bunch of beautiful local baskets and paintings. Prices were surprisingly reasonable for a museum shop. 

Part 2: Lake Ruhondo

The real reason I came to Rwanda was to run an ultra race, which involved camping by Lake Ruhondo up north. We took an extremely bumpy bus ride into the hills that lasted 3-4 hours. The lake was gorgeous and the run/hike was scenic. We passed dozens of villages, which were as pittoresk as they were clean. It was fascinating to see the little kids in their communities and witness the back-breaking work of their parents. Women tilling the land with hoes, young men pushing overloaded bicycles up the steep hills. 

We were strongly discouraged from swimming in the lake due to parasites. So, as far as I can tell, there’s not much to do there besides hiking and relaxing. 

Part 3: Safari Akagera park

The two key highlights of Rwandan tourism are gorilla watching and visiting Akagera national park, which has the “big five.” I didnt see the gorillas because I didn’t have much time and I hadn’t done my research. I spoke to others who had and learned that it’s quite expensive in Rwanda (less so from Uganda or DRC) but a very special experience. I saw their pictures and videos showing them interacting with the gorillas—no fence in between!

Akagera park is beautiful and quiet. Just as I had imagined a safari would be. Besides our group of twelve I only saw four other people during the 30 hours we spent inside the park. We were very lucky to spot lions and rhinos as soon as we drove inside in our special jeep with large windows and a pop-up roof. We proceeded to see many other animals, also during a thrilling boat ride where we navigated scary crocodiles and potentially aggressive hippos. The highlights for me were a large pack of white rhinos we followed walking through the bush, a little baby zebra that running circles around his mom like he’d had too much sugar, and spotting a couple of majestic birds. We saw everything we hoped for except leopards who are very hard to spot and usually only at night. 

Camping overnight was fine and allowed us to go deep into the park, which is quite stunning. I was surprised to learn that giraffes and white rhinos were only introduced in the park recently though, gifted by Kenya and South Africa respectively. They’re not native to Rwanda. They

also fixed their previous poaching problems, which had caused their black rhino population to (nearly) go extinct. 

So? Let’s go?

Overall, I’d say Rwanda rates very high in the areas of nature and safety. It’s affordable and tourists are clearly very welcome. I’m not too sure about the food scene and local culture yet, though as I mentioned, it’s definitely great for shopping souvenirs and decorations! And coffee!!

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