http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Rwanda en-us Tue, 21 May 2013 03:13:40 +0000 Tue, 21 May 2013 03:13:40 +0000 RwandaOverview of 1994 Rwandan GenocideHotel RwandaApril 6th 1994 was the first day of a genocide in Rwanda that would last for one hundred days and kill up to 800000 people. The Tutsis were killed by the Hutu militia. Approximatley 10000 people died in extremely violent ways each day using clubs machetes and various items such as garden tools.Rwandan president Habyalimana and Burundi3 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-782989.html In 1994 Rwanda irrupted in genocide in which the Hutu tribe began a massive killing of the other local tribe called the Tutsis. This violence occured when the Rwandan president was assainated by either Tutsis rebels or his own Hutus as an excuse to start the killings. For about one hundred days after the assaination the country was in complete anarchy as no outside forces intervined and up to a m http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/Gisenyi/blog-782352.html The Rwandan civil war and genocide in 1994 greatly harmed and exacerbated its economic development and poverty respectively. The tensions between the Hutu and Tutsis the 2 ethnic groups in Rwanda leading up to the civil war started back in 1962 when the then dominant Tutsi were overthrown by the Hutu who had greater numbers. In the 199039s the tensions had grown so much that the UN sent 2 http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/blog-782300.html Hotel Rwanda depicted the tragic scenes of mass killing of Tutsis by extremist Hutus. The Tutsis rebels were seen as the forces of good trying to just defend themselves against the massacre of their own ethnic group. The country lost one tenths of its population due to the pointless killings of the extremists. Some extremist Hutus even killed their own politicians who attempted to form peace trea http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/blog-782264.html Hotel Rwanda depicted the genocide in 1994 as a brutal civil war between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups. In the beginning locals were convinced the conflict between the groups would die down but instead it only escalated when the President39s plane was shot down.Hutus began hunting Tutsis like it was their job they literally stopped working just to kill the other ethnic group and made it http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/blog-782260.html http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/blog-772720.html We had just come back from Rwanda I called Tonny.How was it he asked.Good beautiful. I think interesting is about the best word to describe itbut a bit boring I hadnt thought that it would be ridiculously unfair a label for such a fascinating beautiful country so I dont know how he knew that that was at the back of my mind. We only went for about 10 days but my http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/blog-768819.html Hello So this is going to be quick I apologize that it39s not going to be my best writing. It39s been an exhausting few days traveling. I was supposed to get to Kigali at 130 am but didn39t get in until 4 and then my baggage never arrived so I had to make a claim. I was met by Emma an employee of Big Beyond and was brought back to a hotel in Rwanda. I had to pay 50 for a room to http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-765080.html Today Anne climbed a volcano and I received an armed escort out of the park.After arriving at the Volcano National Park and conducting a brief meetandgreet with the guides and 5 other hikemates we set off to the base of Bisoke. On the way we were treated to an extensive Rwandan massage getting repeatedly tossed out of our seats and joked about how small the volcano was in relation to Kilimanj http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-760707.html This morning was the longawaited gorilla trek and it did not disappoint We made our way through the forest to reach the location of one of the gorilla families the second largest family in Rwanda. It was a completely different terrain than yesterday39s volcano trek but just as muddy. Good thing the hotel staff cleans our bootsAnyways back to gorillas. There were 23 gorillas in the family http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-760695.html So we made it to Musanze today for our volcano trek at the Parc national des volcans. I actually felt pretty safe while I was there and hopefully I will feel the same way tomorrow for the gorilla trek. Might be because we were accompanied by 6 armed members of the RDF.The Bisoke volcano is about 13000 feet high but we started at an altitude of 8000 feet Rwanda is high in the sky It took us http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-760468.html So after 24 hours of travel which isn39t as bad as some of the horror stories I39ve heard we are in our hotel in Kigali. Luckily both flights were relatively calm keeping Anne39s white knuckle moments to a minimum. The most excitement we encountered was when a lady collapsed from exhaustion in the Montreal airport.I felt quite important when we came out of the baggage claim area to se http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-760255.html SaturdaySeptember 29I took no photos in Kigale. There was so much to digest after the obviously heartbreaking Genocide Memorial and reminders were everywhere in the shape of amputees some begging.Men on crutches with one leg.A woman with only one finger.Boys whose ages I can match to children I know with only one arm.I felt myself unconsciously cringing at the sight tears welling in my eyes that http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-753148.html ltstrong stylemsobidifontweight normalgtMonday September 10Yesterday we could stay in the motel of the maraine de Evelyne. Her maraine was already awake at 6 am to go to the daily church at 6.45 am. At 7.30 am she was back at the motel to look if we were already awake which we were not. Eventually we woke up at 9.30 am. After a quick shower we went downstairs to return the key. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/blog-744131.html Saturday 8 septemberFinally weekendToday we could sleep a little bit longer but not that long because we said to 39tantine Myliam39 we would come to her match football.At 7u30 we woke up washed us and took a breakfast. The match would start at 9u altough that was what Myliam said. When we arrived at the stadium there were other people playing a friendly match and others were training. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/blog-742972.html ltstrong stylemsobidifontweight normalgtThursday 6 september Again a new day. Maybe youre wondering why this blog is in EnglishWell if it was in Dutch some people couldnt read it and because almost everyone knows a little bit of English Evelyne said it would be better to write in English and my French writing is bad PToday was practicly the same as yesterday. In the mor http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/Gisenyi/blog-742724.html Welkom opnieuw bij een nieuwe blog .. Het heeft weer een tijdje geduurd maar je weet wel waarom ondertussen.Ik zal er direct invliegen met het vervolg op de voorgaande blog. Dinsdag 4 septemberNa ons dagelijks ontbijt vertrokken wij Tante Myliam Eve en ik richting Gisenyi hospital om Eve af te zetten. We namen de moto omdat het sneller zou gaan. Een moto is hier het meest gebruikte verplaatsi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/Gisenyi/blog-742310.html The bus down to Butare from Kigali was fairly eventful especially by Rwandan standards. In Rwanda unlike most other countries in the region buses run to a timetable irrespective of how many people are on board. Another unique feature is the traffic police who are there to uphold the rules of the road as opposed to other countries where the sole purpose is to eke out some sort of bribe. So as http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Sud/Butare/blog-741943.html I left Kigali to go check out Gisenyi or Ruhengeri. Since 2006 the Rwandese government has started a programme of renaming a lot of the provinces and towns. This can lead to quite a bit of confusion when looking for a bus to a town that is no longer known by that name anymore. Im not sure of the reasons for the renaming of the towns but someone told me that some of the names have either Hutu http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/Gisenyi/blog-741942.html They call Rwanda the land of a Thousand hills but as I travelled from the border to Kigali I couldnt help but think about the hundreds of thousands who had been brutally hacked to death on these very roads only 18 years previously. Rwanda will evoke memories of some sort of atrocity in most peoples minds but a lot dont realise that atrocity doesnt even begin to explain what occurred http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Ville-de-Kigali/Kigali/blog-741931.html