Kigali City Tour
When you visit Rwanda, a city tour of Kigali is usually put on the safari menu. A Kigali City tour can be made before Rwanda wildlife tour or safaris or after as the itinerary may be designed. During the city tour, you will visit some of Kigali city’s sights, sounds and monuments that teach you more about the country’s past.
On the menu of a Kigali City tour always include the emotionally moving well built Gisozi Genocide Museum. At this museum, its where more than 250,000 Rwandese mainly Tutsis were massacred during the horrific 1994 genocide that engulfed the entire country. The remains of the victims are buried here. This genocide has several segments of exhibitions, like information regarding the Rwandan genocide plus the genocides around the world including the the Children’s Memorial.
At this genocide museum, there are massive graves in the compound that welcome any visitor with ugly memories of death. Inside the museum, are facial photos of some of genocide victims, visible bones and information about the brutal incident that claimed about a million lives in this small African country, Rwanda. You will also tour the Juru Park for a stunning view of Kigali city, the neighbouring hillside plus the countryside. This is one of the points in Kigali city with highest altitude. In case you are an ardent lover of some souvenirs, visit the Caplaki Handicrafts Co-operative to buy some traditional and modern handicrafts that are locally made.
You may also visit the Presidential Palace Museum. This museum is found 4 kms from Kanombe Airport and its the residence of the former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana (1973 to 1994). When his presidential plane was brought down on 6th April 1994, it fell directly in his presidential compound. This incident killed him, Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart then, Cyprien Ntaryamira whom he had offered a lift from Tanzania. Up to now, the plane scraps are still visible in the compound. The assassination of Habyarimana sparked off ethnic tensions and clashes in the country and subsequently ignited the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. While in Kigali city, you will see first hand, post-genocide visible expansion and development of the city at a very fast rate.