Categories
Northern Rwanda Travel

Gisenyi

A skyline that is usually dominated by the distinctive volcanic outline of Nyiragongo, whose active crater often belches out smoke by day and glows ominously at night.

Categories
Kigali City Travel Uncategorized

The Great Black Music Exhibition

I saw that of all the African cultural practices, only music, dance and religion – immaterial arts – were preserved and reinvested with the power to bring people together.

Categories
Southern Rwanda Travel

Cathedral of Butare

With the wedding party gone, the expansive air on top of us felt radiant; like it was still singing songs of love. The pillows that the bride and groom knelt on stared back…

Categories
Kigali City Travel

Ntarama Memorial

Here I am, seated next to a Burundian who is new on this route and only knows where he is getting off, a bus that is really moving, an undecided battle between the rain and sunshine outside, and a racing heart…

Categories
Kigali City Travel

Kandt House

Her Kinyarwanda is musical; this I hear as she calls out for the 7-month old crocodile at the backyard pond, almost like a girl playing with a doll.

Categories
Southern Rwanda Travel

Fatima

Its spire rises above almost all else. Perched atop one of its approaching hills, the spire is a landmark that one would hardly miss from most areas surrounding the main road into Muhanga.

Categories
Kigali City Travel

Ivuka Arts

The gallery is built along a hill slope, requiring one to descend a flight of very steep stairs. As if in an effort to distract from the descent, sculptures adorn the side of the stairway wall.

Categories
Southern Rwanda Travel

Ethnographic Museum of Rwanda

At the reception we meet a couple of beautiful young mushanana-adorning guides laughing at a joke that’s been in the air for quite a bit, their smiles slightly waning.

Categories
Southern Rwanda Travel

Kabgayi Cathedral

Then I see four men carrying a stretcher, the load on it covered by shukas similar to those I saw wrapped around the women on bikes. I think the load is a dead body.

Categories
Kigali City Travel

Nyanza – Kicukiro Memorial

The road south to Nyanza-Kicukiro is mostly straight but quite hilly and hot. No tree is visible on either side of the road. It’s also noon and already 28°C outside.