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JOURNEYS BY DESIGN
| Rwanda: Overview |
When you realise the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.
Dian Fossey
Known as the Land of a Thousand Hills, Rwanda is a small and intensely
beautiful country whose sweeping grasslands rise up from the plains and
lakes of the eastern borders to meet a mountain range that runs north
to south. Intermittently broken up by plateaus and highland, it is a crucial source of water for both the Congo and the Nile.
Originally home to the Pigmy Twa (who still make up a tiny proportion of the population), Rwanda was settled first by the Hutu, whose main source of subsistance has always been agricultural, and later by the cattle-owning Tutsi. While, as the whole world knows, there has been a history of difference between the Hutu and the Tutsi, a difference highlighted and exploited by Rwanda's colonists, there have been great periods of peaceful co-existance between the two - so much so that intermarriage is the norm, and any differences that may have once defined one from the other have been swallowed up by time, the development of a shared culture, and by the consistent mingling of genes.
This said, in times of instability, the need for ethnic belonging, real or manufactured, becomes the food upon which propaganda feeds, and then there is violence, the worst of which took place in 1994, when nearly a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred over the course of three to four months. The resultant displacement of people, the unimaginable loss suffered, and the subsequent collapse of a sense of national identity will take longer than the time that has passed to heal.
Even so, Rwanda has changed beyond all recognition: taking its cue from South Africa's truth and reconciliation forums, many of the guilty have faced relatives and friends of their victims; a belated but welcome indictment of several of the genocide's chief architects has finally taken place in international courts; the Rwandan government insists on its citizens being known as Rwandans, and not Hutu or Tutsi; the international community has been involved in economic aid, and efforts to lift families and communities out of poverty are beginning to show reward; and, finally, signs of a more diversified and urbanised economy are beginning to be seen.* The future looks good - very good if a solution to the ethnic, economic and political problems persisting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo can be found.
Indeed, so successful has the present government been, it has once again begun to invest heavily in its tourist industry. Its ace in the pack, of course, is the mountain gorilla. One of the only places in the world where this rare and incredible animal continues to thrive, Rwanda's Parc National Des Volcans, with its protected forests, its mountain slopes, is today a world class destination. Every year, in June, it celebrates Kwita Izina, a centuries old Rwandan naming cermony which, for the last thirty years, has been extended to new arrivals among the mountain gorilla community. Designed to highlight the ongoing plight of the mountain gorilla, it is an event that attracts international attention.
However, as wonderful as it is, the mountain gorilla is not all that brings discerning travellers to Rwanda: Lake Kivu, beautiful and possessing a number of stunning lakeside towns, has in its beaches an asset that betters even those of Lake Malawi; in the southwest Parc National Nyungwa Forest, with its high altitude montane jungle, is perfect primate country; and in Kigali, Rwanda has a diverse and vibrant capital.
So, if your interests include extraordinary beach locations, gorillas and a country that is both beautiful and welcoming, then Rwanda is very much worth considering - in its own right, or as part of an exciting and varied central and east African itinerary.
*Indeed, for those interested in really looking into the whys and wherefores of the 1994 genocide, these last two points - both concerned with poverty, family and the environment - are considered by some to be more significant than ethnic differences. Jared Diamond's book Collapse is very good on this.
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