Blogs from Butare, Province du Sud, Rwanda, Africa

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 our driver sped through the mountain passes on the way to Butare, we were stopped by some traffic police for quite some time, where the driver was eventually let off with a warning. About 10 minutes later, we came to a sudden halt as we sped through some town. I looked out the window and saw some guy stumble over after being clipped. He ... read more

The drive from Bujumbura to the border is about 3 hours along a pot holed road, our taxi driver turns up with a red bull in his hand and another opened ready to go. As in many countries around the world which have a large number of pedestrians and ad-hoc vehicles, the car horn is used freely, I would say excessively. It is used to warn people that you are approaching so not to step out, to alert people you are approaching so get out of the road and even the hard shoulder, to alert other vehicles you want something, just to say hello, whatever you can think of. On our journey we pass many military and police men stopping traffic for checks, we are pulled over at one point but the taxi driver just beeps ... read more

Many thanks to our new friends Joe and Jenny for taking us on a day trip to Butare. Butare is near the Rwanda/Burundi border and around a 2.5 hour drive from Kigali. We stopped off at the National Museum and a craft store. We had lunch at a hotel/restaurant that Joe knew about (he works for USAID and has been around many parts of Rwanda for work). The restaurant had exceptionally good French onion soup. On our way back, we found a pottery "factory" which is run by a church and disabled people but it had closed for the day. We were able to take a few pictures of the piles of wood used for the kilns. That is for sure a return trip destination. While driving we also found out the local driving customs to ... read more

It's funny that that's how it's described, because million is the common estimation of the number of those who were murdered in the genocide in 1994. Rwanda had captured my heart. It's a country with all contradictions possible: Green prosperous agriculture, hugh green coffee and tee plantations and on the other hand unimaginable poverty. optimism and belief in the reconciliation process but also cynicism and disbelief it could work (depends on whom you're talking to) great hospitality to foreigners but still there is a feeling of suspicion and that everything and everyone is controlled. A traditional society where old people are considered to be the wisest, when there are villages with hardly any elderly people. Rwanda got straight in to my heart. In Tanzania I've started smiling, not only lips but all organs are involved: I ... read more