Cultural Tourism in Rwanda

For years, Rwandese have adapted a fusion of western and Rwandan styles that the country’s finest designers negotiate and create daily. The designers have been known to clearly depict the rich sense of style with beadwork and patterns of the Rwanda heritage.

To celebrate the young creatives who are putting Made in Rwanda fashion in map, Vist Rwanda and Arsenal teamed up with Collective Rw to put Pierre Emerick Aubameyang, Hector Bellerin and Reiss Nelson to the test and challenge them to create their own looks from range of apparel and accessories produced by Haute Baso, House of Tayo, Inzuki Designs, K’tsobe, Moshions, Rwanda Clothing, Uzi Collections and more.

Rwanda shares these designs and styles with the world on fashion shows of the Kigali Fashion Week and the Rwanda Cultural Fashion Week held annually for a whole week showcasing different Rwandan designers on many international platforms.

Many festivals and events are being held to promote the culture of Rwanda like the famous Kwita Izina baby gorilla naming Ceremony held in Volcanoes National Park with aim of promoting conservation in the region. Attendees of this function engage in a weeklong series of activities in line with the mountain gorillas, meeting the rangers and a number of stake holders of tourism in the region.

The Kigali Up Festival is another cultural showcasing festival in Rwanda where music from all over the world is played. The festival was first started in 2011 and has far become the biggest music festival in the country and the Rwanda Film Festival where movies from all over the world with Africa inclusive are showcased every July annually for 10 years now. This festival is held in Kigali but a mobile cinema moves to several towns and villages in Rwanda.

Rwanda’s culture and heritage is dominated by the cultural villages in different spots of the country for example the Kigali Cultural Village that is a set up space showcasing the local producers’ products both artifacts and food stuffs and also trade them to people visiting the cultural village.

This Rwanda Cultural Village also holds a number of workshops, events and festivals beside the daily showcase.

From artefacts dating back to the olden days to contemporary art, Rwanda’s Museums and galleries make for an interesting insight into that which makes Rwanda and its people who they are.

Rwanda has 6 museums making up the Institute of National Museums of Rwanda, each of these museums have different history to share and they are home to some of the oldest and most treasured artifacts from years earlier.

A reconstruction of the traditional royal resident, the king’s Palace is a beautifully-crafted thatched dwelling shaped like a beehive. At the back of the palace are a dew long-horned Inyambo cattle, descended from the King’s herd, whose keepers carefully tend and sing to them, keeping a unique tradition alive.

The museum was a gift from Belgium’s King Badouin in the late 1980s, the Ethnographic Museum now houses of Africa’s finest ethnographic collections. The Museum has seven galleries displaying historical, ethnographic, artistic and archaeological artefacts accompanied by several visual aids, giving visitors a rich insight into the Rwandan Culture.

Inaugurated on the 10 th anniversary of the Genocide against the Tutsi, the Kigali Genocide Memorial at Gisozi is where 250,000 victims have been buried. This memorial also serves to educate about how the Genocide against the Tutsi took shape and examines genocide in the 20 th Century.

Formerly the Presidential Palace Museum displays contemporary artworks from Rwanda as well as abroad. The Museum seeks to provide an insight into the originality of Rwanda creativity.

Richard Kandt was the first colonial governor of Rwanda on behalf of Germany until the early 1900. At present, the Kandt House Museum in Kigali comprises three main parts. The first part presents Rwandan life in all its aspects – social, economic and political – before the colonial period. The second part traces the experience of the Rwandan people during the colonial period and the third part covers the history of Kigali, before, during and after the colonial era.

Based near Lake Kivu, this small museum is designed as an educational centre for our visitors, many of them local. Its purpose is to help people understand and safe guard their environment and ensure integrated and durable development.

While on your Rwanda Safari, be sure to integrate your Rwanda Safari with visit to the local villages to the native Rwandans and learn about their beliefs and norm. Visit the Iby’iwachu cultural center while in Volcanoes National Park. Join the dances on the Intore dance, the traditional dance of the Rwandan people, dress up in Omushanana which is the cultural wear for Rwandans.

Also known as the “Gorilla Guardians Village”, the Ibiwacu Cultural Village is arguably the most visited cultural site in Rwanda. The cultural site is found in Musanze district and was founded by a former warden of the Volcanoes National Park, the warden wanted to build a cultural center that would offer employment to former poachers while also showing tourists everything good about the culture of the people.

While at the Ib’iwacu Cultural Center, tourists can enjoy watching how the Batwa pygmies hunted, traditional Intore dancers, learn how to cook Kinyarwanda dinner or enjoy traditional beer.

There is also an opportunity to dress like a King or Queen and live in a thatched palace.

Experience Rwanda Culture with Hope Africa Tours.