Rwanda is one of the upcoming destinations in Africa offering travelers with a once in lifetime experience. Located in Central Africa, Rwanda has a lot to offer including numerous attractions that cannot be found anywhere else in the whole world! From great experiences like meeting the great apes in the wild to unique authentic cultural experiences, a lot await you on your safari to Rwanda. Over the past two decades, many travelers have visited this relatively small landlocked country. Therefore you are also called upon to explore and enjoy these unique features and attractions for yourself so that like others you get stories to tell to the world.
If you are looking to taking a safari in Rwanda, why not try a cultural tour! A cultural safari in Rwanda will enable you interact with the local community, learn more about Rwanda’s people, their history traditions and customs. By taking a cultural tour, you will also embrace the development of responsible tourism in Rwanda and as will support the local communities;
The culture of Rwanda is varied. Unlike many other countries in Africa, Rwanda has been a unified state since pre-colonial times, populated by the Banyarwanda people who share a single language and cultural heritage, eleven regular national holidays are observed throughout the year, with others occasionally inserted by the government. Also, every week the follow the Genocide Memorial Day on 7 April is designated as an official week of mourning.
Umuganda
Also known as community work with the purpose to contribute to the overall national development was reintroduced to Rwandan life in 1998 as part of efforts to rebuild the country after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Presently, the Umuganda takes place on the last Saturday of each month from 7a.m. and lasts for at least three hours. If you happen to be in Rwanda on the last saturday of the month, don’t forget to do community work with the locals! Umuganda has made Rwanda clean and Kigali is one of the cleanest cities in Africa.
Kwita Izina
Each year, Rwanda celebrates its baby gorillas by having an official naming ceremony, referred to as kwita izina, in which local citizens and international guests are chosen to give names to all the gorillas born in the previous year. The ceremony has its roots in a traditional Rwandan baby-naming practice for humans, but this new tradition has been adapted so as to honour these animals and demonstrate nationwide support for and attention to the country’s conservation efforts.
The Genonocide Memorial Sites
Rwanda was struck by the most disastrous incident to ever happen to humanity – the dangerous 1994 Rwanda Genocide which was the civil war between the Hutu against the Tutsi that left many people homeless, dead, orphan, widows and widowers. There are several sites that were put in place to actually commemorate this dangerous Genocide war which include Nyanza site, Ntarama site, Murambi site, Gisozi site, Nyamata, Bisesero and Nyarubuye site. These sites have skulls of people that were killed from there and many other things for remembrances. Close to one million people died and it is believed that this war happened for about 100 days, travelers are always interested in visiting these sites.