2 Days Rwanda Cultural Tour
The 2 Days Rwanda Cultural Tour offers you a great overview of the local culture of Rwanda to help you appreciate the local people and their ways of life. You will have a great experience interacting with the local people around the villages, giving a helping hand with some of the day to day activities or a Community project meant to empower the locals and on sustainable livelihoods.
Expect to visit Iby’Iwacu Cultural Village, a unique cultural Itinerary setup on your way to visit the volcanoes National Park for Gorilla Trekking, If time allows, We will also visit the Nyamirambo Women’s Center to give you another thrilling insight into the culture, history, and daily life of the Rwandan community.
Day 1: Visit the Iby’Iwacu Cultural Village.
On this day you will be picked up by 7:00 am, presumably after having your breakfast, and transferred to Nyabigoma, Kinigi, Musanze district, Northern Province which is roughly a two hours drive from Kigali town, you will enjoy a lovely beauty of the unwinding rolling landscape of Rwanda countryside that makes it famous as a country of a thousand hills, you can ask your driver guide to explain to you some of the eye-catching along the way or stop for photography as you proceed. In a short time, you will be in the hearts of Iby’ Iwacu cultural village, a beautiful project employing and empowering the community and providing alternatives to poaching. You will later be joined by a local guide who will greatly welcome you to the village and takes you through an insight into the cultural history of Rwanda. The guide will take you through some of the programs such as visiting the huts, tasting the local brew, marriage ceremony, storytelling, and rap it with hilarious, fantastic dancers and drummers, who will showcase their traditional dance before you, and you can join. Lunch combined with local food will also be arranged and served within the day, and later in the afternoon, drive back to Kigali for your overnight. Accommodation options: Marriott hotel (Luxury hotel) or Quiet Heaven Hotel (Standard hotel). Meal Plan: L – D.
Day 2: Visit Nyamirambo Women’s Center.
After your relaxed breakfast, you will be transferred to Nyamirambo Women’s Center to visit the cultural center where you will have hands on Sisal Basket Weaving Workshop, walk tour around, and Traditional Cooking Class with Aminatha. You will also visit the art and craft gallery where you will have a chance to purchase traditional African costumes. In the later afternoon, you will be transferred to your booked accommodation or airport for your flight.
End of the 2 Days Rwanda Cultural Tour.
The 2 Days Rwanda Cultural Tour includes.
- Transportation on a 4 x 4 safari vehicle
- En route lunch
- Accommodation and meals as specified.
- Visit to the related cultural center
- Service of an English speaking driver guide
- Entrance fee
- Bottled mineral water
- Cultural visit
The 2 Days Rwanda Cultural Tour package excludes expenses of personal nature like: Air fare, Visa, drinks, laundry, tips to local guides, telephone, porter fee while trekking, personal insurance, personal shopping bills and cigars.
- Museums & Art Galleries.
- King’s Palace Ethnographic Museum
- Kigali Genocide Memorial
- Rwanda Art Museum
- Kandt House Museum
- Museum of the Environment.
- Visit Festivals & Events.
- Kwita Izina Events
- Kigali Rwanda Film Festival Hobe
- Rwanda Festival Fashion.
- Rwandan Culture and Traditions.
- Discover the real Rwanda in a nutshell
- Learn the Culture and People of Rwanda
- Get hands-on experience from locals
- Ask anything during this Cultural tour
- Can be 100% personalized to your wishes
- The best way to participate in activities in a local Rwanda Homestead
- Local safety regulations are put in place to ensure your comfort
During this 1 day Kigali city tour, our Guide/Driver will lead you to the following sites and major tourist attractions: –
Mount Kigali: This will probably be the first place you will visit. It is not actually a mountain but the tallest of the many hills in Kigali. Mount Kigali has the highest point in the city enabling visitors to get amazing views of the city, the countryside and beautiful hills. On top the hill is a restaurant and a company organizing horseback safaris.
The Natural History Museum: The Natural History Museum (Formerly known as the Kandt House) is a Museum of history and former house of Doctor Richard Kandt. Kandt is the one who came up with the name Kigali. The Museum is found between Mount Kigali and Mount Jali. Kandt was a famous German explorer who built the very first modern building in Rwanda. The Natural History Museum is the place to go to if one is interested in learning more about the history of Kigali and the era of colonization in Rwanda. It is the oldest modern building in Rwanda. Through the Museum exhibitions and information from the resident Guides, you will learn that Kigali begun as a colonial outpost in 1907.
Kigali Convention Center: This is where all the major conferences, meetings and exhibitions are held. The center is close to Kigali International Airport and can accommodate 2,500 people. The center is also home to a five-star accommodation facility known as the Radisson blue hotel with 292 rooms. Other facilities at the Kigali Convention Centre include shopping malls, arcades, small business and offices. It is the perfect place to go to if one wants to visit a modern shopping arena, find good accommodation or mingle with Rwanda’s affluent class.
The Presidential Museum: After visiting the Kandt House, the next stop is the Presidential Museum. This Museum was the state house or residence of Rwanda’s two former presidents. The Presidential museum is connected the 1994 Rwandan Genocide in many ways. When President Habyiramana’s plane was short, it landed straight in the compound of presidential house. A larger part of the tour is centered around the life of president Habyarimana. It was the shooting of the presidential jet and death of Habyarimana in April 1994 that triggered a genocide that had been planned for a long time but not put in effect. You will also get to learn about other events leading to and after the Rwanda genocide after visiting this Museum.
Campaign against Genocide museum: This relatively new museum helps inform visitors about the role of the Rwandan Patriotic Front in ending the 1994 genocide. The Museum is found at the Parliament House.
Kigali Genocide Memorial Site: This site is one of the many built around the country to remember over 800,000 people who lost their lives during the 1994 genocide. This particular genocide memorial site is found in Gisozi were about 2500 people are buried. The Site has three main exhibitions – One focuses on general information about the 1994 genocide while another is a memorial of the innocent children who died during the same genocide. The third exhibition covers genocides that occurred in the different parts of the world. As a visitor, you will learn about the situation before, during and after the genocide through documentaries, videos or personal presentations. The whole experience can be very touching but nevertheless important to educate people about the horrors of genocides so that it never happens anywhere else again.
Craft Centers: After visiting the Kigali Genocide Center, the driver/Guide will take you to visit the best artisan shops in Kigali where you can buy souvenirs and take back home as a memory of your time in Kigali. The best artisan centers are Inema Art Center, Ivuka Arts studios and Caplaki. Buying souvenirs in centers like the Caplaki Handcrafts Co-operatives is a good way of supporting the local population and especially the women who are involved in making the art pieces.
A major City Restaurant: This tour involves visiting one of the top city restaurants to taste local Rwandan food during lunch. If you want the more international cuisines, you are free to choose them over the local food. Dining at a local restaurant offers opportunities to meet the local people. Lunch may instead be taken at the Hotel des mille collines depending on how the tour goes.
Kimironko Market: The best place to learn about the culture of a new place is in their markets. Kigali has many local markets where residents go to shop for local items and food stuffs. Kimironko is one of the most popular for shopping spices, herbs, vegetables, fruits, salt, meat and fish. You will also find individuals selling different art pieces and more.
Nyamata church: This is one of the many genocide sites found in the different parts of the country and one of the most prominent in Kigali. About 50,000 people were killed inside this church. They had sought shelter in this church hoping that they would be spared by the interahamwe. Unfortunately, the church turned out to be a death trap as the killers spared no one. On a visit one can still see skulls, bones, blood-stained clothes, national identity cards and machetes that were used by the interahamwe. A mass grave can be seen outside the church were most of the victims were buried.
Hotel des mille collines: Also referred to as Hotel Rwanda, Hotel des mille collines played a major role during the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Over 1,000 residents were hidden safely within the hotel by the management as uncontrolled killings continued outside. The hotel has excellent international and local cuisines. There is also the daily buffet consisting of local food like Ibijumba and Amateke. The driver may take you to have lunch at this classy hotel as you learn about the significant role it played during the genocide.
Lake Nyarutarama: If you want to mingle with the local people and communities living outside the main city center, the driver can arrange to take you to this lake. Some of the city residents go swimming and fishing in this lake. Lake Nyarutarama is one of the birding destinations in Rwanda and you can catch sight of species like the African Hobby, Bat Hawk, Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater, Cisticolas, Little Bee-eater, Red-backed Shrike, Red-chested Cuckoo, Spot-flanked Barbet, Squacco Heron, Sunbirds, Swamp Flycatcher, Yellow-billed Duck and so much more.
- Akagera National Park entry fees
- All activities on the itinerary
- A professional english speaking driver/guide
- Transportation to and within Akagera National game park
- All Taxes/VAT
- Roundtrip airport transfer
- Drinking water(On all days)
Tour Inclusives
- Service of a professional English speaking driver/guide
- Exclusive use of 4WD for all days of the Itinerary
- 1 x Gorilla Permit pp (Rwanda)
- Emergency Evacuation Insurance pp
- Park Entrance Fees
Tour Excludes
- Tourist Entry Visa
- International Flight Tickets
- Travel Insurance
- Items of Personal Nature
- Tips and Gratuities