The Kigali City Tour

Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, well known for its cleanliness, safety and greenness. Kigali City is ranked by many indexes as one of the top destinations in Africa and the world. Many tourists have testified to having enjoyed the cleanliness, green environment and hospitality. Kigali is ranked second preferred city in Africa after Cape town of South Africa by the International Congress and Convention Associations. Kigali City also is ranked the cleanest city in Africa due to the banning of plastic bags and other non-biodegradable materials that are the main cause of dust in many parts of Africa. When travelling to Kigali, make sure you are using reusable packages, otherwise you will be asked to leave them at the airport.

The good organization and respect to laws and rules has been one of the impressive features on the city compared to other cities. Thanks to the government efforts to mobilize the general public to build a green and safe city with a well-known slogan “Kigali nzizaikeye, isukun’Umutekano” translated in English as: The beautiful Kigali, safe and clean”.

Kigali city tour has seen a tremendous transformation in recent years where the city went from a very small old city to the todays’ modern city. It is worth to have the Kigali City tour to testify the changes that the city has undergone from the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. When on a Kigali city tour, you will be able to visit many parts of the city from the old part of the city to the new Kigali city part.

The community engagement is a key to the city cleanliness and security whereby every Saturday of the end of the month, all businesses are closed and all the Kigali population gather in “Umuganda” translated as a community gathering to clean the city and at the end of the cleaning each village sits in a meeting to discuss issues affecting their community and to find solution to them.

The car free day is another chance not to miss out when you plan a Kigali city tour whereby twice a month on Sunday some of the roads of Kigali are only open to pedestrians for a walk and jogging as well as cycling.

When visiting Kigali, there are many sites you can visit including memorial sites, art and craft museums, public places and shops among others.

The Kigali Genocide Memorial is a point to start with when you are on a Kigali city tour whereby you will be able to learn from the history of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi whereby one million people were killed in no more than 100 days. The memorial site gives an opportunity to pay tribute to the 250,000 bodies of the victims of the Genocide laid to rest in mass graves. At the center you will also have a presentation on how the genocide was prepared, perpetrated and implemented. You will learn the after genocide journey until the todays, safe Rwanda.

A visit to the old Kigali and the new Kigali is also another item not to miss on your Kigali City tour. Kigali city has recorded a lot of changes mainly in the last 25 years. You will find new and big buildings emerging in the city center. They are mostly hotels, business buildings and apartments. Behind the tall buildings, there are other places that did not change or that changed a bit for the cleanliness and refurbishment but kept the original form as it was in the beginning. The places like Nyamirambo, Kimisagara and Nyabugogo will give you an insight in how the old Kigali was organized and the people living in the area are still living the same mode of life and interactions as it was before. This would be a different view when seeing the places like Gacuriro, Nyarutarama and the city center when new residential and stores have been regularly added.

To end your Kigali city tour, don’t forget to visit the art galleries and local markets to learn from the art of craft making, a lot of galleries and craft shops are found in the city to showcase the art work of hands of young men and women with an ancient touch of making and be able to buy souvenirs to take home as memories of this life time experience.

The above are just a sample of the sites to visit when you are on the Kigali city tour, other sites are also available like the Art and craft museum, the Nyandungueco Park, Umusambi village which is a sanctuary for rescued cranes among others.

When planning for a memorable Kigali city tour, allow us to help you as our tour experts will be able to recommend places you can visit with consideration of your budget, time and interests. We will be more than happy to assist you.