We entered Rwanda after a non-stop 8 hours drive from Kampala. From the minute we cross the border from Uganda, we realize how different everything about this nation is. Initially, we needed to do away with all the polythene sacks we had carried in light of the fact that they are illegal in Rwanda. The roads are dizzyingly meandering and we continue being stopped almost every 30 minutes by traffic police. It took a while for Ugandans who were visiting Rwanda for the first time to get used to the bus being driven on the right. We are in Rwanda to go to the Gorilla Naming Ceremony, which takes place every year.
The greatest tourist earner for Rwanda is the gorilla trekking activity which is done in Volcanoes National Park, which earned them over $300 million in 2013. The stories about Rwanda being clean are real, and the sense of community cleanliness is entrenched in their social fabric, even in the constitution. Every last Saturday of the month, between 8 am and 11 am, everybody is required to take participate in cleaning. The one way of understanding Rwanda as it is today is by visiting the Genocide Memorial centers. Of those who survived, many of them took refuge in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Kenya.
Rwandese talk French, Kinyarwanda and now English, yet many of them are even now attempting to speak the latter fluently. But what I got to know is that some of them people speech good Kiswahili, having lived in Kenya, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. One local clarified to me that when the Rwandese started returning to Rwanda, Kiswahili was considered the language of the privileged, and everyone wanted to learn it. The late additions to the tourist attractions in the country are the Musanze Caves. They were launched this year to the general public and those who want to visit them are charged $50. An exploration of these caves takes one hour and we also decided to go it.
We didn’t cover all of the caves on the grounds that they are deathly dark and scary. However, that is the thrill of the adventure. I can’t help but notice how similar our cultures are. The Rwandese likewise use grass to weave mats, and baskets with conical covers. Their carvings, jewelry, and fabric prints are so like those of some of the Ugandan tribes.
We had very little time in Rwanda and we didn’t explore all the attractions in the country, but we decided to arrange a serious 3-day gorilla safari in Rwanda in the next year and we will use African Jungle Adventures Ltd one of the leading tour and travel company operating in both Uganda and Rwanda.