A Three-Day Trip

Road Trip

The day after we arrived back from our Safari Weekend and trip to Nyarubuye, we left on a three-day trip to the western side of Rwanda. As I mentioned before, Rwanda is not a large country, but because of the mountains, and the lack of bridges, there is no such thing as a simple drive from A to B. The “as the crow flies” distances in Rwanda have little to do with the reality of the twisting turning roads that are necessary to get up and down the mountains that sit between A and B.

We headed to a town called Butare, which was in the middle of changing its name to Huye. This is a little strange because sometimes it is referred to as Butare and sometime Huye. I was told that the name change has something to do with the genocide, and a way to make a break with the past.

We stopped at a small town called Nyanza were there was a museum comprised of the former imperial palace of the king of Rwanda, from when the kings were all Tutsi. There we wandered through the king’s palace, which was very nice. The furniture was all art deco, and that style is always pleasing to me. The palace was quite nice, not at all like an English palace. This was really a very large house with a huge verandah. The house was built in a U shape with a fence closing the top of the U. All of the rooms opened into an interior courtyard, and there were extensive and beautiful gardens inside the courtyard and beyond the fence at the top of the U. I enjoyed the visit.

Right next door to the imperial palace was a recreation of the old-style royal palace, such as the Tutsi kings used a long time ago. This was an elaborate straw hut-style building, but which had many rooms. It was not your average one-room African straw hut. Actually, I remember way back in 1963 when I was in grade 3, we were learning about Congo (formerly Zaire, now called the Democratic Republic of Congo) which had only just gained its independence from Belgium. Until 1960 it was called Belgian Congo. We learned about these straw huts and I can remember drawing them in my workbook. As a schoolgirl way back then, I believed that all Africans lived in such housing. Now, here I was face to face with quite an elaborate and jazzy straw house. It was almost as wide as my house in diameter and had interior rooms around the outside of the structure and a large central room. The straw was woven and wrapped and bundled in a very artistic way. The guide told us these houses would keep out the water during the rainy season and that they were quite cozy. There were also other straw huts of other sizes on display as well, and these would have been occupied, in the past, by the king’s brewer, and the king’s cow milker. We took some photos, which I will post along with this entry.

When we were finished at the Imperial Palace museum, we went to the National Museum in Huye. There we wandered around the exhibits. I learned many things about Rwanda. There was an outdoor part to the museum, actually a workshop where there were people, young women, weaving traditional baskets. It was explained to us that these young women were orphans of the genocide. They were living on the streets begging and were at risk for sexual exploitation. They would beg on the streets during the day and then walk miles back to their villages every night. The museum director had the idea that he would bring the girls in off the street and apprentice them to learn how to weave traditional baskets. Now the girls are weaving together in a workshop and supporting themselves with their skills. I bought a basket from a young woman named Francoise. I paid 10,000 Rwandan Francs for it, which is the equivalent of $20. This is the price that Francoise asked. I asked for a photo with her and I have posted it just before this post.

We stayed in a wonderful little hotel in Huye. It looked like a little village. Linda and I had a great room with our own bathroom. It was not as luxurious as the game lodge, but it what it lacked in luxury it made up in charm. I just loved it, and I was sorry that we were only staying for one night. I had a shower in the morning. It was a little cold, but it was great. I think I can find some pictures of it that other people in our group have posted.