I was in Rwanda from Monday night through Friday morning. My main adventures were on Wednesday for gorillas and Thursday for coffee. Both lasted all day and gave me a chance to see quite a bit of Rwanda. Locals call it Ronda. There were so many cool things to see! For example, these trees below – the bark was so interesting. And the people were gracious, proud of their country, and so helpful. Women would be out early sweeping sidewalks and streets. There was absolutely no trash anywhere. Anywhere! Even on mountain roads or bumpy dirt roads with huge potholes….no trash. People spoke highly of political leadership and even though many times I was the only white person I never felt weird, uncomfortable, lost, or targeted as a woman alone (especially an obvious US traveler).
It was so eye opening to see how people get around over there (East Africa). These people work HARD and carry insane amounts of stuff on their bikes, uphill, with seemingly no gears on their bikes. Can you imagine carrying this stuff on a bike?? These are just some examples – I saw sooo much stuff being carried on bikes. Lots of mattresses! Speaking of bicycles, women do not ride bikes casually here like the men do. I don’t know why, I guess modesty since most wear dresses? Just a cultural thing according to Irere.
This man below has TWO doors strapped to his bike….WHAT!? And there’s a dude catching a ride underside the truck. At night, in the dark. WHAAAAT I know we complain about traffic here but really, yall, this is nothing! In downtown Kigali (capital) there would be intersections with no stop lights. Everyone came together like a herd of animals in cars, going every way possible. But nobody honked. Nobody got pissed. They were all about an inch apart from each other and just figured it out!
I did stay in a really beautiful place called the Yambi Hotel. It’s officially a hostel so it was $40 per night!!! WHuuuuuuut!? Look at it, it was beautiflul! I did have to share a bathroom but it was not crowded so I didn’t even notice anyone else was there in my area. The bottom pic is where they served breakfast. Never ever did I think I would purposely visit Rwanda. I’m sure most of us remember the genocide and awful things that happened back in the 90s. They have come such a long way in a really short amount of time. They are a thriving, progressive, beautiful country and I would go back in a second!
When you land at the airport in Kigali, Rwanda they give you a rose to welcome you. How classy! They also had a “on your honor” bar where you literally write a check mark next to what you pulled from the fridge. It was added to your tab at the end. They also had security at the gate. Security was everywhere….I never felt unsafe or threatened. The only place that was questionable was driving in traffic in the main part of Kigali. We think we have traffic here – hahahah!! There were busy intersections with NO lights. Everyone just pushes through at the same time in all directions. Nobody beeps, nobody is pissed, they just figure it out. Plus they have about a thousand motorcycles to tend with that go in & out of everything. Need to go around on the sidewalk? no problem. Need to have multiple motorcycles go around you on both sides simultaneously? No problem. We were constantly within a couple inches of another person, car, or motorcycle literally all the time. There’s no picture that could capture what that was like. I closed my eyes a lot and hoped Irere knew how to navigate. It was nuts!
When leaving Rwanda to go to Kenya to start the second leg of my trip, I had to go back to Kigali airport to fly over to Nairobi. The hotel arranged for transportation the night before and he took me to the airport. I know we *think* we have security at various places in the US…..but this was next level. Literally anyone who comes onto the airport property will be screened by security. For example, if you were to drop someone off for a flight YOU would have to go through two levels of security! And then the person flying has several more layers to go through. Here’s what happens:
- Everyone’s cars are funneled to a security point
- In groups of about 15-20 at a time, ALL luggage & bags are removed & put on the curb.
- All people (drivers included) are routed to a metal detector while cars are parked.
- At the same time people are being screened, working dogs sniff all the bags. Once people are cleared and the bags are cleared, you can go back and get the bags, reload the car and drive forward.
- Then we park. My driver takes my bags to the front door but he can’t go further.That’s where we part.
- I am questioned at the front door (only one entrance)where am I going, where’s my passport.
- then I start the inside line….again, passport and flight info
- I sit and wait until someone literally comes out & yells like the town cryer and announces that it’s time to move to the appropriate line for security. It’s a specific line, not just any line.You can’t just pick. This line is for more security – luggage screen and metal detector
- Then I move to the gate where I am screened… AGAIN.
- Once at the gate you can’t leave for coffee or any other reason. There is a bathroom available but nothing else. But by this point you only have less than 30 minutes until you are called.
- But not called to the plane yet! First to a large bus that takes you to the tarmac where you orderly board the plane in groups designated not by your ticket but by the guy leading the charge.
- Now….you can fly!
I genuinely loved Rwanda! It was beautiful, thoughtful, soulful and joyful even with their atrocious history of genocide. I do wish I had made it to the genocide museum, as several locals asked me about it. I couldn’t do everything. I do hope to visit again and I’ll be sure to do that along with so many other things. I’m so thankful my fear of “what-if” didn’t get in the way. It was a beautiful start to the trip!
CHANDRA GREEN 