Although all societies have got their own different cultures and believe, there those that are more interesting and having a cultural tour would be worthwhile. What makes a culture more fun is the fact that people’s culture and its history can be reflected and not only in their hearts and folklore but also in physical landscape that we can create and this makes the culture more attractive especially to the foreigners.
In the bid to avoid being over reliant on mountain gorillas for tourism, there has been efforts to diversify the tourism industry to avoid dependence on a single attraction. It is against this background, that a there is a proposal of a Cultural Tourism Village in Kigali spearheaded by the City of Kigali, Ministry of Trade and the Rwanda Development Board. The Head of Tourism in Rwanda Development Board, Rica Rwigamba says that foundations to support cultural tourism are being developed. “Rwanda has a rich cultural heritage and investments are being made to ensure the necessary infrastructure and the development of clusters, especially in strengthening the creative industries which include handicrafts, dance and music.
With in the Rwanda’s culture, there are different artifacts that one can look out for example, a Rwandan traditional chair or stool has proven to be ergonomically fit to the bodies of users; take the example of the “Bene Imana” amusing to all Rwandan with all the physiological, psychological, and social benefits that were eventually reaped. Culture tours can actually sometime be more thrilling than having a canopy walk in the Nyungwe Forest National Park.
They are portions of a land in which we live, with the help of other kinds of smaller portions of space, all the daily use artifacts, both physical like a chair and symbolic like a piece of music. And it is the sum of all the artifacts in a portion of a physical space that constitute a culture, and their evolution in time makes the history of any given people.
This then makes one wonder why people do not keep actively using those artifacts in the day to day lives, at home, at work and in leisure rather than having them stored up in national museums and other historical sites. For cultural tourism, you can visit a number of cultural sites and do community visits if you are to learn something about culture.
To supplement the popular gorilla safaris in the northern part of the country and chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe National Park, visitors can visit cultural sites like Huye- the national Museum, Nyanza royal palace – Nyanza became the royal capital of the country. The court became the home of the artistic and intellectual activities and was also a place for economic exchange. Today, a replica of the traditional Royal Palace sits at Rukari, The Museum of Rwandan Ancient History – Once the residence of King Mutara III Rudahingwa, this museum also sits at Rukari near to the Royal Palace, Rwesero Arts Museum.
Located across the valley from the Museum of Rwandan Ancient History and the Nyanza Royal Palace, the Rwesero Arts Museum displays contemporary artwork which testifies to the originality of Rwandan creativity, while not overlooking either tradition or national history, The Museum of Natural History -The Nyarugenge residence in Kigali City once occupied by German Richard Kandt has been turned into the Museum of Natural History. A scientist by profession, Richard Kandt was the first German Imperial resident in Rwanda and this museum is homage to his work. Iby’wacu cultural village situated near volcanoes National Park.
In all sites, visitors are exposed to Rwanda cultural demonstrations, gain techniques in art & craft, cultural entertainment, view traditional attires, and among others.
