Rwanda in 24 Hours

Reception area. King's Palace Museum, Nyanza/Shayera Dark

The East African country truly lives up to its ‘Land of a thousand hills’ nickname. Enveloping Kigali, Rwanda's capital, and beyond, are verdant, terraced hills standing in juxtaposition with clear, blue skies as proof of nature’s majestic artistry. Here, the general rule that nature invariably yields to human settlement and urban development doesn’t seem to hold true as concrete and nature co-exist like commensals with no apparent sign of a struggle.

One striking characteristic of Kigali is its spotless streets and roads. Public bins are present on street corners, and thanks to the 2008 ban on non-biodegradable plastic bags, gutters flow unobstructed. What’s more, the mandatory sanitation exercise, umuganda, on the last Saturday of every month, has no doubt helped Kigali claim its spot as Africa’s cleanest city.

Dustbins are scattered across the city/Shayera Dark

Another distinguishing feature of Kigali is the absence of mammoth traffic jams that are common in large cities across Africa, making touring the city in a taxi or on one of the ubiquitous motorbikes a breeze.

Motorbikes outnumber taxis and are a popular mode of transportation in Kigali/Shayera Dark

As a relatively small country, Rwanda’s places of interest are in close proximity to each other. So with less than 24 hours on your hands, you can easily visit the following attractions.

Ethnographic Museum, Butare

Butare, the former capital of Rwanda until it gained independence in 1962, is a two-and-half-hour bus ride from Kigali City and home to the Ethnographic Museum (formerly the National Museum), a repository for Rwandan culture and precolonial history.

The King’s Palace Museum, Nyanza

The King Palace, one of Rwanda’s six museums, is a twenty-minute bus ride from Butare. The museum’s vast grounds houses three bee-hived shaped huts ensconced by a circular wall of grass. The biggest hut, a reconstruction of the king’s palace, is differentiated from the homes of commoners by three wooden poles on its roof. Inside the hut, partitioning mats demarcate the hearth, the king’s bedroom, a welcoming area that became the children’s bedroom at night, and the women’s area.

In yesteryears, criminals who touched the pole at the entrance of the palace were automatically forgiven/Shayera Dark — In yesteryears, criminals who touched the pole at the entrance of the palace were automatically forgiven/Shayera Dark

Intricately woven mats once used as floor coverings and partitions for rooms in traditional Rwandese homes as well as various uduseke, the famed traditional food storage containers made from sisal fibres, banana leaves or raffia, are among the antiquities on display. demonstrate Rwandan craftsmanship and ingenuity.

Mats used as partitioning screens and floor coverings/Shayera Dark

Behind the grass wall is a grazing area for the traditional long-horned cows, inyambo, and a stall for calves. In ancient times, these treasured cows were decorated with beads and paraded before the king during ceremonies.

A short distance from the ancient palace is the modern one where King Mutara III Rudehingwa resided. Built in 1932, the long rectangular building has an open courtyard, cemented floors and glass doors encased in wooden frames. Faded velvet chairs, carved wooden beds and ornate cupboards lend credence to the lavish presence that once was, even though some of the furniture was looted during the genocide. Furnishings in three adjoining living rooms reflected the status of admitted visitiors. Foreign dignitaries were received in the innermost and most opulent of the rooms, local officials in the second, and commoners in the third and least decorated.

Inema Art Centre, Kigali

Founded in 2012 by brothers Nkuranga and Nkurunziza, the centre is a collective of 10 resident artists whose paintings hang in its gallery. Art buyers and anyone interested in contemporary Rwandan art and craft will not be disappointed by the selection of paintings and sculptures on display. What’s more, you can watch artists in real time create their masterpiece.

Rocky man, colour wheel and a frame of empty paint buckets/Shayera Dark

Chez John/Shokola, Kigali

To fully experience a country is to indulge in its cuisine. And Chez John is just one of many restaurants in Kigali where Rwandan dishes like Ibitoke (steamed banana) and manioc (cassava) are served. The brochettes (Rwanda’s acclaimed kebabs) come with a side of fried potatoes and pili pili, a fiery chilli sauce in oil.

Caveat: The food took forever at Chez John/Shayera Dark

However, if you’re not adventurous and would rather eat non-Rwandan cuisine, visit Shokola. The restaurant, situated opposite the US embassy, sits above the national library and offers vantage views of the city from the patio. Enjoy a generous serving of beefy, juicy pitas with fresh tomato tree juice while being caressed by the cool Kigali breeze.

Pita and sour cream go together like Obama and Biden/Shayera Dark

View of Kigali from Shokola/Shayera Dark

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