Day 12

Since the day I felt that I had acclimatised quite enough, I decided to have a ‘to do’ thing every day. Today I went south, to a city called Butare. This is the last big city you pass before heading towards the jungle of Nyungwe National Park.


Mwami Palace
En route we passed the small town of Nyanza which, according to my travel guide, was once the first permanent royal settlement of the country. Until 1961, Rwanda still had a mwami or king as leader.


The traditional palace and house were restored to form the Rukali Palace Museum. The 20USD entrance fee and the long walk from the main road to this place put me off a bit and I decided to go straight to Butare. Cause in the end, much more than this can’t be said about the Royal palace and the small town. There were said to be some plans to make the area more attractive for tourists, but I couldn’t bother to go and check it out. Sorry!


Cathedral
Once I got to Butare, it was all a bit confusing. Assuming I had arrived at the center of Butare, I got off the bus but was pushed back into it as they told me this stop wasn’t the center. Thanking them for their kind help, I found myself 5 minutes later in the middle of a big road in front of the University campus. They assumed I was looking for the University Center since this town is called the ‘intellectual’ capital of the country for a reason. The first secondary school opened here in 1928 and the National University in 1963. Apart from the many other technical schools, training schools and colleges, this place is also a religious center.


The Cathedral was built in memory of Queen Astrid of Belgium, who died in a car-accident. It’s the biggest cathedral in the whole country. My travel guide even uses the word ‘immense’ and some claim they’ve never seen anything bigger. You have to understand my big disappointment when I got to the place, as to me, it was nothing more than an ordinary church. At the time of my arrival, a school of children was attending mass, but they got a bit distracted by the muzungu in church so I left as quick as I got in.


National Museum
For the first time in two weeks I took on the risky challenge to crawl on the back of a taxi-moto, a very popular means of transportation around here. The drivers are recognized by their moto obviously and the official green vest. Law obligates them to wear a helmet and Carry an extra one for their passengers. For 400 RWF, they took me to the other side of town where I visited the National Museum.


This is everything the book says: an incredible collection of exhibits on Rwandan history and culture. It opened in 1988 as a gift from the Belgian King Boudewijn I (or as they prefer to say in French, King Baudouin I). It covers everything from prehistory to present day, from Geology and Geography to population, handicrafts, tools, occupations and much more. This was probably the most interesting part of my one-day visit.


Genocide
Butare was one of the last cities to hold against the upcoming attacks and killings during the genocide, but was eventually severely hit. During the 100-day killings, about 40 000 to 60 000 people were sheltered in a church and in there slaughtered to death. One of the mass graves contained 27 000 bodies of victims of which 1800 are on display in a place called Murambi, Gokongori. It’s about 42 km south of Butare, but I will try to visit this memorial on my way to Nyungwe National Park in a few weeks time.


Tomorrow I’ll be heading to Kigali with Lydie, spend the evening with Karim, a nice Rwandese-Belgian guy I met on the airplane and stay the night at a Belgian home. This weekend I’ll be on safari in Akagera National Park. Eager fans will have to wait a couple of days for more adventures in this exciting place.


Muramuke!


Wednesday 9th March – Butare 25 degrees