Rwanda Cultural Tours Safaris | Dance, Norms & Clothing

Rwanda Cultural Tour

A Rwanda cultural tour offers deep dives into history, art, and daily life, featuring visits to the poignant Kigali Genocide Memorial, traditional villages like Iby’Iwacu for dance and crafts, bustling markets such as Kimironko, royal palaces in Nyanza, and experiences like communal activities (Umuganda), local food, and contemporary art galleries, blending historical reflection with vibrant modern culture for an immersive understanding of Rwanda’s resilience and traditions.

Museums for Rwanda Cultural Tours

For Rwanda cultural tours, key museums include the Ethnographic Museum (Huye) for traditional life, the King’s Palace Museum (Nyanza) for monarchy, the Kigali Genocide Memorial for remembrance, and the Rwanda Art Museum, alongside sites like the Kandt House Museum for colonial history, offering deep dives into Rwandan heritage, governance, and artistic expression.

Museums hold the history of the country the purpose for which they were formed. Several artifacts are kept in museums in memory of the past events that shaped present-day Rwanda. Here are the top museums to learn from the history of Rwanda;

1. Kigali Genocide Memorial

Kigali Genocide Memorial has three permanent exhibitions that portray an outcome of violence. The largest of the exhibitions documents the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, the other is a children’s memorial, and the third exhibits a history of genocidal violence around the world. This is one of the best educational spots for the history of Rwanda. (Rwanda Cultural Safaris) There are several cultural sites in Rwanda, some indifferent museums as well as a lot that can be learned on a visit to the Rwandese communities.

The genocide memorial of Kigali is one that should be included either at the start or end of your safari in Rwanda. A 1 Day Kigali city tour is also one kind of tour in which you can visit the memorial. It’s a perfect option if you want to understand the events that unfolded in 1994 during the Rwanda genocide.

2. Nyanza Genocide Memorial

Situated in Kicukiro, a suburb southeast of the city centre and approaching the airport, this memorial offers minimal attractions aside from the tiled tops of four mass graves thought to hold the bones of the 4,000 Tutsis who sought sanctuary in the grounds of the Ecole Technique Officielle (ETO), as well as multiple unmarked wooden crosses.

After ten Belgian soldiers were killed at Camp Kigali, the remaining forces withdrew, leaving the Tutsis unprotected until they were transported to Nyanza and slaughtered. Tell the moto-taxi driver you’re going to “urwibutso rwa Nyanza ya Kicukiro” if you’re taking one (RFr1000 from town).

Though the largest genocide memorial is in Kigali, the event reached all parts of the country and the Nyanza genocide memorial is one of the museums. It is found on the grounds of Kigali’s Ecole Technique Officielle holding more than 10,000 graves of the Tutsi who were massacred during the genocide. Today, several concrete memorials mark the spot and are the popular site for annual genocide anniversary commemorations.

3. Ntarama Genocide Memorial

Eastern Province (Cyugaro Village, Rugarama Cell, Ntarama Sector, Bugesera District).

Due to its dense forest cover and swampy, tsetse fly-infested areas, Bugesera was historically less populated than other parts of Rwanda. After the turmoil in the northern section of the country from 1959 to 1962 forcedly transported Tutsis to the Bugesera region, this area became increasingly inhabited.

Period of Initial Violent Conflict, 1959–1962,

The government decided in 1959 to assemble internally displaced Tutsis from Ruhengeri, Gisenyi, Gitarama, and Gikongoro prefectures and deposit them in the Nyamata Refugee Camp after violence broke out in those areas. On November 22, 1959, this was done. The availability of both land and infrastructure led to Nyamata’s selection.

Poor living circumstances and a longing to return to their homeland made the transplanted Tutsis unhappy. At the United Nations General Assembly that was held on December 11th and 12th, 1960, they voiced their concerns and asked for the closure of the refugee camps. Despite repeated appeals, the head of the UNHCR at the time could not grant the refugees permission to return home and harvest their crops.

4. Nyamata Genocide Memorial

On April 11, 1997, the Nyamata Genocide Memorial, one of six National Genocide Memorial Sites in Rwanda, was desacralised by the Roman Catholic Church and turned into a memorial honouring the victims of the genocide. In addition to a single grave, the church also contains the clothing and personal effects of the victims. Behind the chapel are mass graves that include the remains of 45,308 people who were victims of the genocide. The annual memorial service for the victims slain at this site is held on April 11th. Nyamata guide Leon Muberuka states that the death toll includes both those slain within the church and those whose bodies were recovered from the surrounding region. The grounds where the memorial stands were formerly part of the Nyamata Parish.

5. Murambi Genocide Memorial

On April 21, 1995, the Murambi Genocide Memorial was dedicated. Murambi, site of a new technical school, became a haven for Tutsis fleeing the genocide in their region. About half a hundred thousand people, including those from the surrounding area, were murdered at the technical school; now, Murambi is one of six national genocide memorial sites. It is estimated that only 34 individuals from this location managed to survive the Holocaust. The victims of the Murambi tragedy are commemorated annually on April 21st.

6. Kandt House Museum

Before the turn of the century, Richard Kandt served as Germany’s colonial governor in Rwanda. The current Kandt House Museum in Kigali is divided into three primary sections.

In the first section, we learn about pre-colonial Rwandan society, economy, and politics.

In the second section, we learn about the colonial era through the eyes of the Rwandan people. Until the Belgians assumed control in 1916 as part of the League of Nations Mandate during World War I, the Germans governed Rwanda following the 1884 Berlin Conference. This covers the life and works of Richard Kandt in Rwanda.

Part three delves into Kigali’s past, covering events leading up to, during, and after the colonial period. Soon after Rwanda gained its independence in 1962, Kigali was designated as the capital.

7. Presidential Palace Museum

Contemporary artworks from Rwanda and around the world are on show at this new museum, which was formerly the Presidential Palace Museum.

The museum’s mission is to showcase Rwandan innovation in all its uniqueness. As it traces the evolution of art from antiquity to the present day, it ponders the ways in which contemporary and classical ideas can coexist.

There is still flight wreckage from the presidential jet that crashed on April 6, 1994, in the garden, and it will be preserved as a historical landmark.

This is one of the popularly visited memorial places for tourists interested in learning about the history of Rwanda. The palace is the former home of the last Rwandan president before the 1994 Genocide – Juvenal Habyarimana.  The then-president was shot on April 16th, 1994 and incidentally, his 60 passenger jet crashed at his own home compound. The remains of the jet are still there but most importantly is the very controversial history of this place that the guides fully elaborate to you at each spot around the house.

Craft Centers And Markets

Rwandan crafts are unique and can be bought in different markets. Imigongo or cow dung paintings are the typical Rwandan craft produced by a local co-operative in the Nyakarambi village. 

The works are unique with earthly designs dominated by black, brown, and white whirls with several geometric shapes. Other crafts include weaving and basket making which is a traditional art where dry containers are made for food storage.

One of the oldest forms of art in Rwanda is pottery. With good quality clay potteries are widely made and used for cooking and storing liquids.

Umuganda

Umuganda isn’t a cultural site or something of a sort but is a culture in Rwanda when Rwandese from all walks of life come together to work for the good of their neighborhoods. Umuganda can literally be translated as “coming together in common purpose to achieve an outcome”. This happens every last Saturday of each month as all Rwandese set aside their personal businesses during morning hours. On this day all shops and other businesses are closed, buses are non-operational and several other activities are at a standstill as each individual is expected to put in their efforts in public works projects like cleaning up, planting trees, building houses for the vulnerable and much more. This tradition has made Rwanda the known cleanest town in Rwanda. Umuganda does affect some tourist activities like a Kigali city tour and therefore it’s advisable to be keen on the last Saturday of the month when planning a Rwanda Tour.

Rwanda Cultural Tours offer indeed the best way of understanding the dark past that the country was able to transform from in a short time and as well learn about the traditions of the country.