Rwanda - Land of a 1000 Hills...

An uneventful border crossing took me into Rwanda...

It's one of those countries which is associated with a single word - in Rwanda's case the word is...

But there is a lot more to Rwanda than its violent history - this is the land of "milles collines"  Land of a thousand hills and my first stop was to check out a few of the volcanic ones in the north of the country.  



Parc des Volcans is home to active volcanoes and also to Rwanda's mountain gorilla population.  I had already checked out the  hairy ones in Uganda do it was strictly hiking..


Rural Rwanda was much like Uganda - subsistence farming - growing basic crops like millet and maize and the daily chores of carrying food and water long distances 

Of there's something I like as much as a mountain it's a lake and Lake Kivu on the border with the Congo is a beautiful place to canoe or just take in the view..

Having relaxed it was time to take on a bit of history and culture.  Rwanda has a small collection of museums but they are well done which is pretty rare for a developing country. It was interesting to see how Rwanda has developed - particularly the Rwandan monarchy and the years of Belgian colonialism. Those colonial years from the end of the second world war until independence in the early 60's are when the seeds of the 94 genocide were born..

Visiting Rwanda and not paying attention to what occurred in 1994 would be a mistake - the genocide memorials were terribly sad places to visit but important to see.. 

Before colonialism Rwandans lived in harmony - The Belgians felt it would be a good idea to issue national identity cards with either Hutu or Tutsi on them. You were a Tutsi if you had more than 10 cows a Hutu if you had less.. Those cards were the way the militia and Rwandan Army (who were Hutu) identified Tutsi..


The 30 years that followed independence were filled with much violence, murder and ethnic cleansing but nothing compared to 1994 when 1 million people were murdered in 100 days..

Visiting the memorials leaves you incredulous that man can sink to such a level - Hutus killed their next door neighbours,  

Hutu doctors killed their colleagues and patients,  Hutu Catholic priests killed members of their congregations in their own churches, Hutu husbands killed their Tutsi wives..

Nobody was spared - not women, not children not even tiny babies..




And what did our Western governments do.. very shockingly we did nothing.. we just let it happen.. compare that with the way we rushed into Iraq..

The hotel that was "Hotel Rwanda" 

Incredibly however the Rwandans have made the most amazing recovery - it's truly unbelievable - as unbelievable as the genocide itself. In 1994 the country's infrastructure was in ruins  - now they have better roads, housing and utilities than Uganda and Tanzania. Hutu and Tutsi are again living as neighbours - the level of forgiveness and reconciliation beggars belief..

 Could you live in the same village with someone who murdered several members of your family..? There were so many people who killed that it has been impossible to prosecute everyone..

So a sobering end to my short time here. At once devastatingly sad but at the same time incredibly inspiring - and such an amazingly beautiful country