The real Rwanda!
Rwanda is spectacular to behold. A winding succession of steep, tightly terraced slopes stand out from the roadside settlements and solitary compounds. Fresh red clay and black loam are evidence of recent hoe work. Eucalyptus trees, green tea plantations and banana plantations are spread all through
By Denis Dibele
Rwanda is spectacular to behold. A winding succession of steep, tightly terraced slopes stand out from the roadside settlements and solitary compounds. Fresh red clay and black loam are evidence of recent hoe work. Eucalyptus trees, green tea plantations and banana plantations are spread all through.
On the hills are countless attractions like rain forests, broad swells of savannah and volcanic peaks like sharp teeth. As you continue, the skies lift the hills while the terrain takes on a ragged look.
Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city is built on a ridge. It is a small attractive city with incredible variety of trees and shrubs. From various points on the highlands, one can view the neatly cultivated terraced city side. The mountains and hills seem stretched forever.
Something of interest between Uganda and Rwanda is the Kampala-Kigali, Kaguta-Kagame syndrome and the UPDF and RPF going to Kabila’s Kisangani and clashing, leaving many soldiers dead. That aside, the currency (Rwanda francs), the language (French and Kinyarwanda) and the keeping right, not common with the commonwealth countries was somehow inconveniencing to me. I am Anglophone and could not adapt to the francophone lifestyle of pecking the ladies on the cheek.
It is said this country is gifted with a rare breed of the “daughters of Eve†that will send the men turning heads and drooling. My sister once told me never to go to Rwanda with a lady for the obvious reason that “Rwanda has beautiful ladies and a man need not go with a lady to a place that has plenty of ladies.†But to my disappointment, for the fortnight I spent there, I saw not a lady that would send my stomach grumbling. But I would simply say I occasionally saw “some ladies.â€
With names like Bimenyimana, Ndagijimana, Ntakirimana, even the late president was Habyarimana, I wonder why the current president is not Kagamemana? Okay God is referred to as Imana in Rwanda.
For the time I was there, my photographer “baptised†me Dibelemana. Funny world! while the last five letters of those names make up the name of God in Rwanda, and while Biblically manna was God-sent food, in Uganda, you would be a laughing stock to have a name with letters in that order.
Getting out of Kigali city and going to the countryside was a fascinating experience. I passed through the mountainous terrain and steep valleys to get to Butare town in the south. In the town is Butare National University, Rwanda’s intellectual centre, and the National Museum. Down further south are Cyangugu, Kibuye and Gisenyi towns, on the shores of Lake Kivu, which provides the vital link between Rwanda's two main tourist sites –– Nyungwe Forest National Park in the south and Volcanoes National Park in the north.
Together with my photographer, we travelled through the three towns in a 1997 Japan- Rwanda cooperation Onatracom bus that was fit for the garage, owing to its dangerous mechanical condition. However, travelling by bus is the most reliable means of transport for those connecting from one village to another.
The official sitting capacity of the bus was 69 passengers, but our conductor would at any bus stop add extra passengers. We could have been over 100 passengers. The bus corridor was packed with luggage and passengers. All sorts of stenches filled the stale air in the bus. Getting to Gisenyi province was a nightmare.
As we were setting of from Kibuye bus stop where the driver had stopped to add more passengers, there were sparks from the engine and suddenly plumes of smoke had filled the bus. There was panic as passengers screamed and dashed out of the bus which had no emergency doors. If it had caught fire, all passengers would have possibly died.
Looking at the number of passengers scampering for life, my colleague and I chose to stay still in our seats. I was convinced that if the bus caught fire, it would not explode immediately, so to avoid harm, we sat and waited as the rest of the passengers squeezed through to door find their way out.
Children were passed through the windows and the luggage followed suit. Within minutes, the driver had sorted out the engine business and we were back on road on the rough rocky murram for a five-hour journey. Most passengers were murmuring in Kinyarwanda about how we did not join in the panic –– I could tell this from the expressions on their faces.
Then suddenly, the bus the hind tyre burst, and what a blast it was! All passengers had to move out so that the tyre could be replaced. We sat in under the scorching sun for about 30 minutes. Back on the road to Gisenyi, we agreed to book ourselves into a fancy hotel if we ever got there in one piece, to make up for the terrible journey.
After about five hours on the road, we got to Gisenyi. And true to our word, we booked ourselves in the luxurious Kivu Sun Four Star hotel for two nights. Gisenyi is Rwanda’s most popular and developed resort town on the shores of Lake Kivu, a tranquil beach line. We spent days on the beach, occasionally strolling down the soft sandy beach, swimming in the lake and simply unwinding.
Rwanda is spectacular to behold. A winding succession of steep, tightly terraced slopes stand out from the roadside settlements and solitary compounds. Fresh red clay and black loam are evidence of recent hoe work. Eucalyptus trees, green tea plantations and banana plantations are spread all through.
On the hills are countless attractions like rain forests, broad swells of savannah and volcanic peaks like sharp teeth. As you continue, the skies lift the hills while the terrain takes on a ragged look.
Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city is built on a ridge. It is a small attractive city with incredible variety of trees and shrubs. From various points on the highlands, one can view the neatly cultivated terraced city side. The mountains and hills seem stretched forever.
Something of interest between Uganda and Rwanda is the Kampala-Kigali, Kaguta-Kagame syndrome and the UPDF and RPF going to Kabila’s Kisangani and clashing, leaving many soldiers dead. That aside, the currency (Rwanda francs), the language (French and Kinyarwanda) and the keeping right, not common with the commonwealth countries was somehow inconveniencing to me. I am Anglophone and could not adapt to the francophone lifestyle of pecking the ladies on the cheek.
It is said this country is gifted with a rare breed of the “daughters of Eve†that will send the men turning heads and drooling. My sister once told me never to go to Rwanda with a lady for the obvious reason that “Rwanda has beautiful ladies and a man need not go with a lady to a place that has plenty of ladies.†But to my disappointment, for the fortnight I spent there, I saw not a lady that would send my stomach grumbling. But I would simply say I occasionally saw “some ladies.â€
With names like Bimenyimana, Ndagijimana, Ntakirimana, even the late president was Habyarimana, I wonder why the current president is not Kagamemana? Okay God is referred to as Imana in Rwanda.
For the time I was there, my photographer “baptised†me Dibelemana. Funny world! while the last five letters of those names make up the name of God in Rwanda, and while Biblically manna was God-sent food, in Uganda, you would be a laughing stock to have a name with letters in that order.
Getting out of Kigali city and going to the countryside was a fascinating experience. I passed through the mountainous terrain and steep valleys to get to Butare town in the south. In the town is Butare National University, Rwanda’s intellectual centre, and the National Museum. Down further south are Cyangugu, Kibuye and Gisenyi towns, on the shores of Lake Kivu, which provides the vital link between Rwanda's two main tourist sites –– Nyungwe Forest National Park in the south and Volcanoes National Park in the north.
Together with my photographer, we travelled through the three towns in a 1997 Japan- Rwanda cooperation Onatracom bus that was fit for the garage, owing to its dangerous mechanical condition. However, travelling by bus is the most reliable means of transport for those connecting from one village to another.
The official sitting capacity of the bus was 69 passengers, but our conductor would at any bus stop add extra passengers. We could have been over 100 passengers. The bus corridor was packed with luggage and passengers. All sorts of stenches filled the stale air in the bus. Getting to Gisenyi province was a nightmare.
As we were setting of from Kibuye bus stop where the driver had stopped to add more passengers, there were sparks from the engine and suddenly plumes of smoke had filled the bus. There was panic as passengers screamed and dashed out of the bus which had no emergency doors. If it had caught fire, all passengers would have possibly died.
Looking at the number of passengers scampering for life, my colleague and I chose to stay still in our seats. I was convinced that if the bus caught fire, it would not explode immediately, so to avoid harm, we sat and waited as the rest of the passengers squeezed through to door find their way out.
Children were passed through the windows and the luggage followed suit. Within minutes, the driver had sorted out the engine business and we were back on road on the rough rocky murram for a five-hour journey. Most passengers were murmuring in Kinyarwanda about how we did not join in the panic –– I could tell this from the expressions on their faces.
Then suddenly, the bus the hind tyre burst, and what a blast it was! All passengers had to move out so that the tyre could be replaced. We sat in under the scorching sun for about 30 minutes. Back on the road to Gisenyi, we agreed to book ourselves into a fancy hotel if we ever got there in one piece, to make up for the terrible journey.
After about five hours on the road, we got to Gisenyi. And true to our word, we booked ourselves in the luxurious Kivu Sun Four Star hotel for two nights. Gisenyi is Rwanda’s most popular and developed resort town on the shores of Lake Kivu, a tranquil beach line. We spent days on the beach, occasionally strolling down the soft sandy beach, swimming in the lake and simply unwinding.