Through the Nyungwe Nziza Project, conservationists want to make it easier to visit the Park (courtesy photo)

Nziza Project, located in Rwanda’s Nyungwe forest has been named winner of the British Guild of Travel Writers’ top Globe Award (BGTW), at the Guild’s prestigious annual awards dinner in London’s Savoy Hotel on the night of November 04.

Sited in south-west, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) project was praised for harmonising tourism, wildlife, environmental and agrarian development in one of Africa’s last surviving patches of primeval pre-Ice Age rainforests. The project was described as one of the world’s richest and most diverse eco-systems and home to 25 percent of all of Africa’s primates.

In presenting the award, Guild Chair Roger Bray said: “Nyungwe Nziza is a model tourism project for developing countries whose benefits will long outlast this or subsequent governments.”

The Nyungwe project also came first in the awards’ Wider World category where the two runners up were central Georgia’s Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, nominated by Peter Lynch, and San Antonio, Texas’s Morgan’s Wonderland, nominated by Mary Moore Mason.

The former project, sited in the largest true wilderness area in continental Europe, has opened up accommodation, bridges and foot, bike and horseback trails to the public in the last few years, and the latter project is the world’s first theme park designed specifically for physically and mentally disabled people.

Other major awards –all given to tourism projects completed in the past three years – went to Greenwich’s Cutty Sark Restoration and to France’s Loire à Vélo cycle trail.

The BGTW also presented travel writing and photography awards, selected by an outside jury, to its own members during the evening, which was attended by some 300 top travel industry and media representatives. It was sponsored by the city of Las Vegas, which presented an array of glittering entertainment.

The runners up were Glasgow’s Riverside Transport Museum, nominated by David Prest, and Edinburgh’s Extended and Improved Museum of Scotland., nominated by Paul Wade. The former is an outstanding collection of vintage cars, ships and boats set in a bold Zaheer Habib-designed building and the latter, the UK’s most visited attraction outside London, has integrated two adjacent museums into one, adding 16 new galleries and displaying 8,000 objects for the first time.

The third category – for the best new European tourism attraction – was nominated by Gillian Thornton and honoured the completion of the safe, 800km Loire à Vélo cycle trail from Nevers to the Atlantic after 10 years of work by two French regions and six départements.

The runners up were France’s totally revamped Toulouse Lautrec Museum, set in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Albi, and the Museum aan de Strom (Museum of the River) in Antwerp, Belgium. Nominated by Kathy Arnold, the first attraction contains the world’s largest collection – some 1,000 paintings – by world-renowned artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The second attraction, nominated by Stuart Forster and housing some 450,000 historical artefacts and works of art, has helped regenerate what had been the abandoned docklands north of central Antwerp.

The mountain of Rubavu prepared for tourism

In a meeting that took place on 26/10/2012, the Rwanda association or hotels, bars, restaurants and lodges in the district of Rubavu advised the people to always show things that they do to develop tourism.

The district of Rubavu is one district with many hotels and lodges but these hotels and lodges are not known because the owners do nothing to advertise them. This becomes a problem to tourists since they will not know where they are going yet there are people to receive them.

Apart from the big hotels, with well-known names, other hotels that do not advertise themselves get few people, and this is because they do less in promoting themselves.

The president of the association of the owners of hotels, bars, restaurants, and lodges, Denis Karera said that “working together as an association is very good and since one person with many people can be able to refer others to someone else because of the good working conditions”.

Karera added on saying that “advertising their work is good since it helps them get known by people yet this is done by few of them. He added on saying that “this together with good service delivery will help them get their customers that visited back. Good service delivery is one thing that is being emphasized by this association in this district”.

  The district of Rubavu has a lot of tourist attraction apart from Lake Kivu, and the Congo border, since people with hotels, bars, restaurants, and lodges have other different things they do that promote tourism as said by Beniot Munyakindi an employee of RDB in Rubavu district were they have the mountain of Rubavu that is being prepared for tourism activities and also the one of Nengo that has the history of the world war 2.

Best Western Eco Hotel opened its doors two months ago. It is located in the middle of the town of former Kibuye now Karongi. Investors in Karongi prefer to locate their hotel business on the lakeshores of Kivu but Best Western Eco Hotel owner chose to make a difference and put it in the heart of Karongi town.

Apart from restaurants and food stores, Best Western Eco Hotel is the only hotel located in the central town.

The investor who the idea is Nahayo Vincent, the owner and Director General of Nyungwe Chimps Travel Agency (NCTA), also Legal Representative of Rwanda Environmental Awareness Project (REAP).

In an interview with www.sightsofrwanda.com, Mister Nahayo explained why he prefers his hotel in the middle of the town: “Not all people are equal financially speaking, of course it’s good to sleep by the lakeside but I don’t think everyone needs it! I preferred to run my business in the central town to facilitate access to my customers. Before you start a business you need to first of all study your market. I’ll give you an example, you’ve just arrived from Kigali and you need a place where to rest without making extra travel. You know all hotels here are located by the lakeshores. Imagine you arrive in Karongi at night and you’ve not provided for extra transport fares. What will happen then? I guess you’ll definitely need to go to the nearest hotel. That is how the idea crossed my mind and I started my hotel business here in Kibuye town.”

Concerning the name of the hotel, the owner says he chose ‘Best Western Eco Hotel’ based on two main points: the word Western to indicate the location because his business is in Karongi district, which is part of the Western Province. The hotel is also part of a large business he runs in the Province including a campsite in western Rusizi district. The campsite is currently under development at a peninsula in Lake Kivu. Besides, Nahayo Vincent says he’s also finalizing the construction of another hotel in the same district. The businessman tells more about his campsite business:

“Most Rwandans slept in tents in exile as a result of the 1994 genocide and war, so they have a relatively harsh memory about tents, but let’s talk about those who didn’t have that experience. How many years have you slept indoors? In fact try a tent it once and you’ll see the result. We call them tents but those used for camping are actually designed for that particular purpose. They’re fully fledged with sleeping bags and ventilations to let you breathe fresh air from camping site.”

Best Western Eco Hotel in the town of Karongi (former Kibuye)

Nahayo’s campsite project will be extended to Karongi district, where he has already purchased a land at Mpembe. The second part of his Hotel name is Eco. He says this is in line with his passion to promote environment.

“You see, the hotel is in a busy town next to the bus station. You can imagine the smokes from the exhaustion pipes polluting the air. So I’ve envisaged to plant trees that will help provide fresh air around the hotel. Moreover, the rooms are painted with environmentally-friendly paints.”

The shape of the building follows Rwanda’s geographical situation and the location of its parks. Nahayo says this is an add-value component as he points out:

“The building comprises three parts. One facing the South, the second one facing the North and the third one looking East. We have Nyungwe Park in the south, the Volcanoes National Park in the north and the Akagera National Park in the East. Furthermore, the 10 hotel rooms in the southern part of the building bear 10 names of 10 species of primates found in Nyungwe Park.”

On top of Hotel and campsites businesses, Nahayo have plans to start package tour business:

“Package tour or package holiday is not common in Rwanda but people do it without knowing. It consists of transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided like a rental car, activities or outings during the holiday. Package holidays are organized by a tour operator and sold to a consumer by a travel agent. Some travel agents are employees of tour operators, others are independent.”

Nahayo has extended his business to further innovations where he employs local motorcyclists who attract customers to his hotel (Best Western Eco Hotel) in Karongi. Each motorcyclist who brings one customer earns a 500Rwf airtime, and if they bring up to 10 people per day they get a 5,000Rwf incentive. It’s a very effective way since there are no other means of public transport around the town but taxi motorcycles.

The tariffs at Best Western Eco Hotel are reasonable compared to services which include bedrooms with television and wireless internet for free.

A tourism company, ‘Gazella Safaris’ has embarked on emphasizing tourism in Rwandan society especially youth starting in Bugesera district and proceeding to other parts of Rwanda.

Marie Claire Ingabire, Director of Gazella Safaris asserts that tourism is all about relaxation and pleasure but many Rwandans never spare time to eye their country’s treasures.

“It’s not having money that makes whites tour our land, but because they understand the importance of travelling and touring. Even those without a lot of money spend time saving to visit countries tourist attractions,” she narrates.

Ingabire reveals that they have introduced the program to the four schools in Bugesera district that is Nyamata High school, ETO Nyamata, GS Catholique and GS EPR.

“We formed “tumenye ubukerarugendo” clubs, which are responsible for sensitizing other students on the importance of tourism,” she adds.

Augustin Mudahunga, Assistant Director of Gazella Safaris

Assistant Director of Gazella Safaris, Augustin Mudahunga says that Rwandans are not much into tourism just because they do not understand how and what to tour.

“We have different bird species and a lot of lakes in Bugesera district, why is it that Rwandans do not appreciate nature when it’s not expensive?” he wonders

It’s for this matter that Gazella Safaris has embarked on sensitizing all people the advantages of tourism and to start from the attractions available in their areas of residence, Mudahunga points out.

He adds that ever since sensitization began in four schools, students have toured Kigali city before the end of the term.

Gazella Safaris is supported by Rwanda Development Board (RDB) in “Domestic Campaign” program, which aims at promoting tourism among Rwandese starting from Rwanda.

After heavy rains that contained storms destroyed the memorial site for 1994 genocide against Tutsi in Gikuyu village, Ninzi cell in Kagano sector in Nyamasheke district, reconstruction process is under way.

Supervisors of the reconstructions are Nyamasheke district authorities according to Marie Noella Nyirahabimana the officer in charge of culture, youth and sports in the district.

Reconstrrenovatingucting this genocide memorial site will be worth Rwf1.5 million which was agreed upon by the district and Kagano sector after conducting a study on this memorial site.

This memorial site was destroyed during the night of the 18^th.Sept.2012 after being hit by a nearby tree with one part of the roof being completely destroyed.

Some of species of birds that are visited

Rwandans are being called upon to visit birds so that they can see the different types and also the beauty of Rwanda.

Jean Pierre Rwasa,the head of Terintambwe Tourisme Bugesera cooperative[TTBC],a cooperative concerned with birds tourism, said that “the tourism done in Bugesera district is most times done by foreigners and therefore asks Rwandans to also come for it.

“We do not want this tourism to be done by foreigners only, but Rwandans also should come for it since they are many types of birds that they have not seen and they can get to see the from here, “said Rwasa.

Jean Pierre Kangabe one of the leaders of tourists of birds, said that since they started birds’ tourism  in Bugesera district in 2011,there have been few Rwandan that go to visit.

Bird species that are not found anywhere in the world

He adds on that “Rwandans have now known what tourism is since they visit parks of different types, but they have not done much bird tourism. They should come and we show them the different types of bird they have not seen, that are mainly in western countries, and other parts of the world, and are now here in Rwanda”.

To visit these birds foreigners pay 10,000Rwf per person while Rwandans pay Rwf3000 per person ,adding on that the best time to visit the birds is in the early morning hours like at 5:30am-7:00am and also at 5:00pm.

TTBC was started with an aim of promoting bird tourism and it works in four sectors which include Rweru, Rilima, Gashora and Juru.

Since tourism started in Bugesera district, 200 tourists have come to visit the bird park but Rwandans are really few yet even most of them that come are just escorting the foreigners.

Some of the birds that are visited mostly include, ibishuhe, Nyirabarazana, amafundi, imisure, imisamanzuki among others.

Bugesera district comes the first in bird tourism in Rwanda. It has mainly birds of the water and seasonal birds, because of the swamps around with about 200 types of birds.

A section of the Murambi genocide memorial site in Southern Rwanda (Photo by Flikr/leepitts)

Four of the largest memorial sites for Rwanda’s 1994 genocide against Tutsis have been lined up for consideration to be granted the UNESCO World Heritage status.

Rwanda’s ministry of culture wrote to the UN agency on June 15 asking it to look into giving global status to the sites including; Gisozi (Kigali), Nyamata in Bugesera (eastern Province), Bisesero – in western Rwanda and Murambi, in the South.

We have now established from government sources that UNESCO wrote back on September 21 with indication that the process for consideration had been launched.

The four sites have been placed on what has been called the ‘tentative list’, suggesting there are high chances they could be selected.

The Gizozi site is famously known globally as the Kigali genocide Memorial site where some 300,000 victims are laid to rest. Last year, more than 42,000 foreigners visited the site.

The Mutambi site in Southern Rwanda where French troops based there splashed lime into mass graves where some 45,000 Tutsis had been dumped. Murambi was a technical school that turned into a slaughter ground.

By the time the site was redeveloped recently, the bodies had not decomposed. At the moment, the remains of full human structures are visible for visitor to see. Survivors of the massacres at Murambi report that French soldiers played volleyball on the mass graves.

As for Nyamata site, located some 30km outside Kigali, is where up to 30,000 Tutsis were left for dead by genocide militias using bombs, guns and machetes. Before the massacre, the site was a catholic church. But within a few days, the tens of thousands that had sought refuge there were no more.

Inside the Nyamata complex, there are cloths of the victims and many other personal belongings – all of which show human brutality, mass rape, brutalization of women and the use of HIV as a deliberate weapon of genocide.

As for the Bisesero site in western Rwanda, is where at least 30,000 victims perished. Tens of thousands of Tutsis sought refuge at this location because it was up in the hills believing they had escaped the militia.

They were regularly attacked by thousand of interahamwe with reinforcements from the French military based in the area at the time. Despite fighting back with stones and sticks, they could not hold back the fire power of the government militia forces.

The management of Rwanda Development Board (RDB) said that in the 3 months the act of fencing the Akagera National Park will be finished and will cost more than Rwf2 Billion.

Three Buffalos resting in muddy area as taken picture unaware, Photo Internet

An agreement to Fence the Akagera park was set upon as a solution to the problems of animals especially buffalos, elephants, hippopotamus that would escape from the park  and destroy people’s farms and crops in  Nyagatare, Gatsibo and Karangazi districts neighbouring the park.

Télésphore Ngoga, RDB’s in charge of conserving national parks said that the problem of animals destroying people’s farms had taken a very big step and sometimes they would even kill people.

Fencing this park will be done about 110 Kilometres and this will be done in 3 months only and in a way of protecting people’s lives and properties, animals that had escaped the park were taken back using the sound of helicopters that scared them away towards their habitat.

A Research firm-Euromonitor International has identified some African countries that are likely to see strong growth in tourism, and could possibly be lucrative destinations for investors in the tourism industry.

These countries are Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. According to Euromonitor, Rwanda is emerging as a well-known destination on the world tourism map recording a 3% increase of inbound tourists in 2011 to reach 723,000.

In 2011, the majority of tourist arrivals came from other African countries. Arrivals from the African continent were led by the Democratic Republic of Congo(16.5%), followed by Uganda (13.5%) and Tanzania (7.4%). Rwanda’s core overseas markets include the US (3.6%), Belgium (2%) and the UK (1.5%).

According to Euromonitor, Rwanda is also ready to implement the East African Community single tourist visa, which will allow tourists to travel freely across the region.

Tourism is the largest foreign exchange earner with $251 million earned in 2011. The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) has revealed that for the first semester of 2012, Tourism revenues have increased by 11% compared to the same period last year in 2011. The tourism sector is estimated to have generated US $128.3m compared to US$115.6m generated in the same period last year.

One of the country’s most popular attractions is its mountain gorillas – which has attracted many tourists in the country and RDB has promoted the activity through the annual Gorilla Naming Ceremony (commonly known as Kwita Izina).

Rwanda is, however, trying to diversify its tourism offering, for example through the 150 metre high canopy walkway, the Congo Nile Trail and bird watching routes.

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The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) has revealed that for the first semester of 2012, Tourism revenues have increased by 11% compared to the same period last year in 2011. The tourism sector is estimated to have generated US $128.3m compared to US$115.6m generated in the same period last year.

In addition, RDB wishes to inform and reassure tourists and the business community that it is safe to travel to the Volcanoes National Park in Northern Rwanda despite the on-going conflict in the neighbouring country of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rica Rwigamba, Head of Tourism and Conservation at RDB said that Rwanda’s tourism progress is attributed to peace and security: “Visitor safety is guaranteed as usual. We would like to reassure visitors to Rwanda that it is business as usual here and that it is extremely safe and secure to travel to and within the country. In addition to the all-in-one experience in Rwanda from diverse wildlife in the national parks, to the magnificent scenery, amazing climate and the rare mountain gorillas; peace and security continues to be a magnetic pool for visitors in Rwanda.”

Rwanda also hosted an estimate of 493,744 visitors in the first semester 2012 corresponding to an increase of 22% compared to 2011 in the same period and recorded a remarkable 16% increase in leisure visitors as well as an 8% increase in business visitors.

In terms of investment promotion, in the first semester only (January to June), the Tourism sector has so far registered projects worth US$ 184.1m. These projects are expected to create 1,328 jobs.

Rica Rwigamba, Head of Tourism and Conservation at RDB said that “There was a noticeable increase in revenues, visits and value of registered tourism investments as well as projected jobs created in the first semester. We believe that if we continue to achieve as reflected by the results in the first semester, we will indeed surpass our targets and more importantly, this will drive growth and generate wealth for Rwandans.”

Rwanda’s  tourism and conservation efforts  are also reflected in the commitment to the contribution towards the communities’ welfare under the revenue sharing framework, RDB recently increased the price of gorilla permits to 750$ which will consequently also increase the contribution to the communities as well as the activities in conservation. Indeed, Rwanda places conservation and community development at the core of the sustainable tourism agenda.

In addition to the current room capacity of more than 6500 today, the government is encouraging more investment in accommodation facilities, hotels and restaurants in order to match the ever increasing visitors’ number.

Tourism is the largest foreign exchange earner with $251 million earned in 2011.