Rwanda in review

I said goodbye to Rwanda with some sadness. I wish I had allowed myself more time to explore; the villages, the city centre; the people and their culture but I said to everyone that I will return in 10 years as I am curious to see how much further this wonderful country will go. 

I expected to find a basic and backward African country. It wasn’t. 

Kigali is clean (spotlessly clean), modern with great infrastructure, divine people, many amenities and easy to get around. The country has enough tourism to keep it going but not enough to ruin it. I barely saw other white people other than at the gorillas and that is limited numbers. 

The more rural areas were less westernised and more basic but still clean and with the most important of all - electricity, phone and internet even in the most basic of places. 

A few things that I havent mentioned before:

I didnt see any old people. This is because
the majority of the oppressors fled the country after the genocide - they were generally in the older age group then and now most have died, are still in jail or never returned.  
A huge percentage of those slaughtered were also of the older group and those slaughtered because they supported the Tutsis were also older. 
So there is now a country with a young forward looking population and those who lived through the genocide are now young enough to make a difference. 

Despite the duty free shops being full of duty free smokes I didnt see one smoker. I was told it is a rarity for a local to smoke and there are no electronic cigarettes here either. 

Pre genocide there was one university, in Kigali. Now there are 12.  Some state funded and others private but in a small country it means that everyone has the opportunity to stay close to home and go to Uni. 

Everywhere I went I noticed heavy security. Xray machines outside hotels, supermarkets, museums etc. Everywhere you looked policemen stood guard and they were heavily armed as well. At hotels all vehicles were checked inside, out and underneath. 
Going to the airport there was a check point where we had to get out of the truck as it went along a moving conveyor and xray checked. We were xrayed and frisked. Pretty impressive. 

My short stay in Rwanda was over. I wish I was here for longer. 

I’m checked in with no drama and have made my way on to my ‘direct’ flight which has a stop in Burundi. Not sure how that works but oh well. 

The flight is half empty so I spread across two seats, enjoyed what was the best donut I have ever had (purchased from a bakery near the hotel) , and relaxed for the 20 minute flight to Bujumbara, Burundi. 

To be continued in next post .....

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