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Visit to the Land of a Thousand Hills

In September this year I was privileged to travel to Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills, for an eLearning Africa Conference: www.elearning-africa.com. This conference was preceded by an e/Merge Africa development planning meeting that was held at Corina K Guest House in Kigali from 20-25 September. 



Land of a thousand hills
Photo credit: Gabriel Konayuma

Getting to and arriving in Kigali

This was my first trip to Rwanda. Travel started at around 02 00 hrs from Kenneth Kaunda International airport in Lusaka using RwandAir. The flight was via Harare. The flight was smooth and the onboard experience great. This was my second time using RwandaAir having used the airline in July when I travelled to Johannesburg from Lusaka. I recommend the airline to budget travelers without compromising quality.  We landed at Kigali International airport at a few minutes to 06 00 hrs. immigration formalities were smooth and in no time I had collected my luggage ready to begin my 10 day exploration of the land of a thousand hills. Andrew the manager of Corina K Guest house was on hand to receive me and drove me to the guest house. On my way to the guest house I noticed the many hills in the city and the cleanliness of the city. I noticed the many motorbikes too. 



Rwandese traditional dance during eLearning Africa Conference
Photo credit: Gabriel Konayuma

Settling down in Kigali
On the first day, I spent a good part resting (to catch up on lost hours of sleep), meeting and catching up with team members from the e/Merge Africa team and getting a local sim card and exploring the area around the guest house and eating freshly cooked meals. For those of you that have stayed in guest houses and hotels for a long time, you will know that you easily get fed up of the menu offerings when you have stayed for a week or more. That was not the case at Corina K Guest House. The chef made sure that his creativity especially on how he made vegetable salads and ensured each meal was accompanied with fruits made us enjoy the meals. Even when I moved to Hotel Okapi in the town centre, the breakfast served was delicious and nutritious with fruits always being served at each meal. Andrew, the manager at Corina K Guest house also took me for some great lunch at some much sought after restaurant in Kigali CBD. See photos below. 


Photo Credit: Gabriel Konayuma
Sightseeing in Kigali

During my stay in Kigali, I visited a number of interesting places such as Inema Art Centre, Bunume Hotel with lovely breathtaking views of Kigali, Kigali City Tower, Kigali Heights, Kigali Convention Centre, Christ’s Church Rwanda and the Kigali central business district. Kigali has a lot of beautiful buildings with new ones constantly being constructed. What struck me about Kigali was the cleanliness. It is easily Africa’s cleanest capital city, along with Windhoek of Namibia. The city has well maintained parks and green gardens. There are also policemen at all traffic lights to ensure motorists and motor bike rides observe the law at traffic lights. On most days I got round the city using motorbikes referred to as ‘motos’. Both the driver and the passenger wear helmets (See photo below). The drivers try as much as possible to ensure passengers reach safely to their destinations.



Photo Credit: Gabriel Konayuma
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