Rwanda Recap

Rwanda has it together a little more than most of the countries I've been to. Kigali is reasonably cosmopolitan; cafes, nightlife, cheap internet.. it has it all. The rest of the country isn't quite caught up yet, but it is on it's way. The roads are excellent (paved and sans potholes), and they appear to enforce traffic laws. And the buses are great. They even run on a schedule! One time I got on a half-full bus and it departed when it was supposed to despite the fact that there was not only breathing room, but actual empty seats. Miraculous. If you are investing in East Africa, I recommend Rwanda.

It really isn't that backpacker friendly though. I didn't have a good guidebook, I may have missed out on some hidden gems, but overall I don't think I am the clientele that the country is looking for. They charge outrageous prices for national parks. Not just $500 to spend an hour with mountain gorillas, but 75 to go on a hike.. And I don't really have a problem with them taking money off wazungu, but it would be nice if there was some level of service provided and they weren't trying to nickel and dime you for extras the whole time. Once you got off the beaten track a little bit there isn't much to do or see. Kigali and Butare (a nice little university town) had a lot of white people running around (a lot of aide dollars are definitely flowing), but in the countryside I was usually the only mzungu. There was a lot of staring (not just kids). Rwanda does not have an overabundance of things a tourist might be interested in, and what little there is, is expensive.

It was an interesting place though. The countryside is beautiful, even more heavily cultivated than Ethiopia, nice, cool, green terraced hills, and the food was pretty good. The genocide of course was always in the back of my mind as well. I couldn't help but think about how old each person I met was 15 years ago. To their credit the country really does seem better off then their conflict free neighbor, Tanzania. But being within spitting distance of the D.R.C. the specter of conflict was still present (there really was a noticeably heavy amount of air traffic going in and out of Goma).

Then their was the French issue. I really felt like an ignorant tourist most of the time I was there. I couldn't speak a word of the local language (Kinyarwanda ), and if a person spoke a little of a colonizers language, they were usually francophone. They couldn't understand, I have white skin, but I couldn't speak French.. They are trying to move to English in the schools, but they are not there yet. Outside of Kigali and Butare, people spoke very little English. I realize, I, not them, am to blame for being mono-lingual.

Overall I think Rwanda would be a pleasant place to live (especially if you have a cushy USAID job), but it shouldn't be first on your East Africa list to visit (Uganda, where I am now is a backpacker paradise btw). The ATM situation is a good microcosm for the country as a whole. In every other country I've been to, ATMs that accept Mastercard and Visa are ubiquitous, even in small towns, and they have been my source of currency throughout my trip (love my Cambridge Savings Bank card that doesn't charge any ATM fees). However in Kigali (the most expensive place I've been) I had to get a cash advance (with the accompanying fee). After an extended search I am confident that there is not one ATM in Rwanda that accepts foreign cards. I can only assume this is because the government is trying to gouge credit card companies with some tariff or another. I understand their desire to make money off rich foreigners, but even I (registered green) think the free market could do some good towards this end.