Rwanda ... A serene adventure. Peer through a mist-shrouded bamboo skyscraper into the questioning eyes of a magnificent silverback mountain gorilla.
We have along winding country roads and paths through an ocean of terraced slopes and curvaceous forested hills. Paddle a traditional dugout canoe down a tranquil sparkling lake lined with palm-fringed beaches and rustic fishing villages. Hike mysterious jungle trails animated by the chatter of monkeys and liquid babble of garish tropical birds. Sit quietly on a reed- fringed lakeshore where hippos bathe and elephants slake their thirst. Drink in the ancient rhythms of Africa spellbound by the Intore Dancers.
EXPERIENCE RWANDA
In the colonial times, the thrilling beauty of Rwanda 's rolling mountainous landscape earned it the sobriquet “The land of Thousand Hills”. After independence, this small central African nation leaped to fame as the land of “ Gorillas in the mist” adopted home of Dian Fossey and the most important refuge for the rare mountain gorilla. In the late 1980s, Rwanda established itself as a popular holiday destination with a bustling tourist circuit. Then as today gorilla tracking in the Virungas was the country's premier attraction, supplemented by the mesmerizing savannah and plains wildlife of Akarenga National Park , the incredible biodiversity of the extensive Nyungwe rainforest, and a range of mountain and lakeshore around the expansively beautiful Lake Kivu .
Then came 1994 and the genocide that caused Rwanda to leap from glossy travel supplements to grisly news. By 1995, however, the country been restored to near normality, and today it has reclaimed its rightful place as one of the world's finest adventure and eco-tourism destinations. The mountain gorillas are still there, every bit as awe inspiring as ever, as are the elephants of Akagera and the Chimpanzees and monkeys of Nyungwe. Rwanda is also one of Africa 's top birding countries, with an incredible 670 different species recorded within an are comparable to that of Wales , or Belgium . And this nature lover's paradise remains, for all it has been through, a truly welcoming country, whose attractions are complemented by comfortable facilities, fine food, and a rich cultural heritage.
THE PAST IS PAST
The earliest known inhabitants of Rwanda were pygmoid hunters-gatherers, ancestral to the modern Twa people who today comprise only 0.25% of the national population. Some 2000 years ago, agricultural and pastorals migrants from the west settled in the area.
Oral traditions recall that prior to the 15 th century a ruler named Gihanga forged a centralized Rwandan state with similar roots to the Buganda and Bunyoro empires in neighboring Uganda . Comprised of a cattle – owning nobility and agriculturalist serfdom majority – the precursors respectively of the modern-day Tutsi and Hutu – the powerful state was able to repel all early attempts at European penetration.
Rwanda became a German colony following the 1885 Berlin Conference, although it would be full decade before a permanent German presence was established there. In 1918, Rwanda was mandated to Belgium , which implemented a system of indirect rule that exploited and intensified the existing divisions between Tutsi an d Hutu. In 1962, under Prime Minister Gregoire Kayibanda, Rwanda became an independent republic, and attainment marred by frequent clashes between the newly dominant Hutu majority and historically more powerful Tutsi minority, culminating in the slaughter of an estimated 10,000 Tutsi civilians in late 1963. In 1973, major General Juvenal Habyarimana ousted the repressive Kayibanda regime, and over the next 20 years, the country's political situation became ever more complicated due to simmering ethnic tensions exacerbated by events in neighboring states, several of which harbored significant numbers of Rwandan refugees. On 6 th April 1994 , Habyarimana died in a mysterious plane crash, sparking an already planned genocide. Two days later, in an effort to prevent genocide, the exiled Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) invaded the country, capturing Kigali on 4 July and forming a Government of national unity under president Pasteur Bizimungu a fortnight later. Within three months, the genocide was all but over. An estimated one million Rwandans had died over that period, and twice as many had fled into exile.
THE FUTURE IS NOW
Rwanda is a nation rehabilitated; a country whose truly past is past, whose present is peaceful and politically stable, and whose future beckons ever more brightly with each passing year. The millions of refugees have been repatriated, while the main instigators of the genocide are undergoing trial at the Arusha Tribunal in Tanzania and in the Gacaca Courts in Rwanda . The victims of the genocide have been laid to rest in mass graves whose frank austerity affirms the government's will to confront the recent past without extracting undue political mileage from its role in ending the genocide.
Since coming to power, the RPF has adopted reconciliatory policies designed to forge a sense of national, rather than ethnic, identity. The autocratically divisive political structures that once denied the minorities a political voice have been replaced, for instance with the implementation of cellular councils that involve local communities in important decisions at grassroots level. The economy has achieved a consistently high annual growth rate over recent years resulting in the rapid expansion of Kigali and the construction of new Hotels and lodges countrywide. And the return of tourist has played a significant role in fostering the economic infrastructure and prosperity that nurture future political stability. Pivotally, June 2003 saw the formal signing o a new national constitution, paving the way for Rwanda 's first democratic presidential and parliamentary elections later that year, and marking the end of the post-genocide transitional phase with a decisive step into a democratic future. |
