Ms.
Rica Rwigamba, head of tourism and conservation within the Rwanda Development
Board, during her visit to the World Travel Market in London last year made it
plain to stand visitors and the media, that Rwanda had a lot more to offer than
‘just gorillas’. While admittedly Rwanda is still best known for the gorilla tracking, an adventure activity carried out in the ‘Parc de Volcanoes’ in the West of the
country along the common borders with Uganda and the Congo DR, RDB has in
recent years made a determined efforts to opening up new areas and attractions,
to offer visitors a wider range of tourism products.
The
effort has largely paid off with more and more visitors coming to Rwanda and
spending more time in the country, in the process pushing the tourism sector to
the top of the economic performance list.
A
canopy walk at Nyungwe Forest National Park, said to be the first in any of
East Africa’s rain forests, the expansion of tracks and viewing points in this
particular park, the partnership with ‘African Parks’ which is now managing the
Akagera National Park and investing over 20 million US Dollars there to improve
infrastructure, but also the introduction of suitable boats to take tourists on
trips along the shores of Lake Kivu, have all made an immediate impact on the
tourist itineraries now offered to visitors, keeping Rwanda at the cutting edge
of the East African tourism sectors.
It
was also ascertained that the average stay in country has now gradually moved
towards the 6 day intermediate target, and with the recent start of KLM
flights, operating from Amsterdam via Entebbe to Kigali five times a week, more
and more tourists are expected to visit ‘the land of a thousand hills’.
Kigali round about; Modern structures
are sprouting up; Centenary house is among the new structures
If one is assigned to depict Kigali
City to people who have never been here, and he’s supposed to tell it as it is,
he would easily be indicted of exaggeration or even risk losing his writing
job.
No one would believe him, he would be
rubbished as a fascinated dreamer describing a fairyland city. As for people
who live in it, some don’t notice the beauty of their city until they visit
other cities outside Rwanda.
Thus the common saying, “One can’t
know what they’ve got till when it’s gone”.
Kigali is an attractive city during
day and a sleeping beauty in the night. It is characterized by well manicured
roads and pedicured sidewalks and clearly marked lanes. Street and security lights
(that work), green turf, palm trees and flowers give it a lovely arresting
look.
The roundabouts and the magnificently
created fountains put a marvelous magic touch to this vibrant city.
The cleanness of this city is beyond
description; it’s also easier to find a polar-bear in the desert than finding a
polythene bag in Kigali and Rwanda at large.
They do not allow polythene bags in
the country, so, there are no roadside eyesores that continue to rustle and
float around in the wind like you can find elsewhere.
Like officers on duty, poles that hold
trash cans stand erect on all road sides in the entire city. The cleanliness of
Kigali is partly made easy by the Rwandan culture of not eating in public,
Rwandese believe that eating should be done in appropriate places.
Another facet that makes Kigali an
amazing city is the sociability of the people. There is no hostility, violence
or edginess that you find so common in other countries.
Asking for direction, unlike other
cities where if one doesn’t turn a blind ear when you ask him for direction
before asking for a’ little something’, people in Kigali will get out of their
way to give you the right direction, if possible even accompany you, to make
sure you don’t get lost, not because they have a lot of time or are trying to
impress you, but I guess that’s how they are wired naturally.
Another rare thing about Kigali and
Rwandan citizens is their obedience to traffic laws. It’s a well known-open
secret that in most African countries nobody follows traffic rules, not even
pedestrians, but in Rwanda traffic laws are respected and of course this is
made easy by the fact that traffic lights are in working order and
zebra-crossings are well marked and repainted at any sign of fading, traffic
officers also doing a terrific job 24/7.
But although this is the case, here I
don’t give our drivers 100% credit. I believe they should add a little more
respect to zebra-crossings. Pedestrians also need to know and practice their
rights here.)
Kigali city is also a bicycle free
city! The only bicycles you can spot in Kigali are sports bicycles, bicycles
were gently pushed to city suburbs and were replaced by motorbikes, operated by
qualified riders in uniforms.
It’s also a rule to have a helmet both
for the passenger and for the ‘motari’. It’s also believed to be easier to see
a refrigerator in an Eskimo’s igloo than seeing a taxi-Moto in Kigali ferrying
two passengers.
Another thing that makes Kigali worth
writing about is the security. Whether on leisure or business, day or night you
can walk anywhere without fear of being mugged or your purse being snatched
Let alone petty thefts, car thefts,
burglary and bank robberies in Rwanda are only read in Grisham novels and seen
in movie scenes.
There are army patrols, police patrols
and community security patrols. These can be seen patrolling peacefully without
bothering a soul! Today, one can’t be wrong when one says Kigali will soon be a
match for any Western city.
