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| A Rwandan kid... |
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| ...and a girl |
The twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo were fantastic - quaint and charming. The time biking and interacting with the locals along the eastern edge of Lake Kivu from Gisenyi to Kibuye was spectacular and a different experience because I generally do a lot of hiking on my travels in Africa.
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| Grilled corn with pepper sauce |
Outside looking in, it’s hard to imagine how beautiful the mountain scenery and the countryside in Rwanda is. This was not even taking into consideration the Nyungwe forests a little further south of the country closer to the border with Burundi which is considered the oldest of Africa’s montane forest and has one of the most distant sources of the Nile. Towards the border with Tanzania on the east lies the Akagera National Park which at 1,085 sq. km. is a fairly decent size national park which provides the typical safari experience more commonly associated with East Africa although it would be misleading to compare it with Tanzania or Kenya.
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| 50 Rwandan francs with the symbol of corn |
It would have been nice to have visited both Nyungwe and Akagera but I simply didn't have the time and when I had to whittle my itinerary I had to choose the gorillas & biking activity over the national parks. I feel a week is decent amount of time to explore Rwanda but certainly 10-12 days would be ideal.
The Rwandans were also very friendly with a distinct humble demeanor which makes it even harder to believe that there was such a thing as a genocide that happened in Rwanda a couple decades ago. Actually it’s been exactly twenty years on from that fateful day in April 1994 when the simmering conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis finally gave way to an astonishing one million people being massacred in just over a month.
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| A traditional Rwandan homestead |
I am no expert in history and anthropology but I did read a bit about the conflict before visiting Rwanda and in my independent observation the genesis of the genocide was due to historical subjugation of the majority by the minority. Perhaps I am over simplifying such a complex issue but in the history of Rwanda - and I am going back a few centuries here, the nomadic cattle herding Tutsis dominated power over the Hutus, who were the majority farmers, and a small population of the Batwa pigmies.
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| Inside the homestead |
History says that the hunter gatherer Batwa pigmies were the original inhabitants of the forests before the Bantu Hutus migrated and became sedentary farmers who were in turn superseded by the Tutsi cattle herders from North East Africa. What followed seems like a classic case of formation of different classes of society with very little mixing and some form of segregation with the Tutsi wielding the most power since the kings of Rwanda were all Tutsis.
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The colonial power Belgium muddled matters further but eventually the Hutus who were the majority rose up against the dominant Tutsi and began a process of reverse discrimination until it all boiled down to ethnic cleansing in the form of the genocide.
My intention is not to condone what happened in 1994 which is beyond reproach but to put things into perspective and understand the underlying reason why humans act in such ways. The class system is nothing new to me, in fact if there is one country that is a miserable example of the class system then it is India where I have to be honest discrimination still happens…but it is ironic that there is reverse discrimination also happening at the same time. Put in the factor of religion and regionalism and it's a volatile mix for a nation. It is mind boggling that India is still a free democratic nation. I digress a little but my point was that there are lessons from Rwanda’s history for all of us because it seems like things like segregation, racism, class system, domination of one class of society by another comes naturally to humans.
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| Waving good bye...in my case it was Rwanda |
Looking forward though, it is amazing what the president of Rwanda - Paul Kagame - has done to the country in the past decade or so. Nowhere did I see any signs of the destruction caused by the genocide other than the numerous memorials that are built to remind people not to let something like that happen again. There is a very poignant memorial in Kigali with stories and pictures of the innocent victims who lost their lives in the senseless carnage.
Today no one talks of being a Hutu or Tutsi with the intention that there will be no prejudice based on one’s tribe. The country is clean, efficient and according to reports ranks way higher than most African nations on indexes like corruption, transparency and development; an astonishing turnaround for a nation considering its recent past. I am in a good position to comment on it because I compare it directly with Liberia which sill has a long way to go to be even close to Rwanda.
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| Who's a Hutu & who's a Tutsi? you decided! |
A few years ago I had seen an interview on one of the new channels where the president Paul Kagame was put on the spot regarding issues like human rights, political freedom, etc. Back then and even now I believe he is accused of being an authoritarian. Good point…but seeing how far he has brought the country I can’t help but think that sometimes certain societies need an authoritarian leader. Political freedom and democracy is all well and good but if it does not help the society then really what good is it?
Perhaps this same tangent can be applicable in a corporate setting. Its not that I support authoritarianism…in fact I would really be uncomfortable in a “X type” management structure but perhaps in certain industries and in certain phases of the life cycle of a company a leader who is rigid might be beneficial to the ultimate stakeholder than someone who is a perhaps more democratic.
View Journet throiugh Rwanda in a larger map
Its funny I speak that because in my country the general elections have just concluded and there is strong indication that Narendra Modi might be the next prime minister. I see a strong parallel between him and Paul Kagame. He is often accused of being authoritarian among a few other accusations but considering the less than ideal state of the country (I am comparing India to China here) under the so called secular and democratic Congress party which has ruled the country for over 49 of its 67 years of existence through its nepotistic leadership I again can’t help but think that India might be better off by having an authoritarian leader with the right intentions. The key here is “with the right intentions” and “for the general good”. We shall know soon what my countrymen think of it.
I thought I was apolitical and this was supposed to be a travel journal but inadvertently I have deviated. Perhaps this is why traveling is so enriching because you not only see wonderful landscapes and wildlife or meet amazing people but also because there are those moments when while traveling you have time to think and contemplate what you saw and did and then draw parallels with you life and what affects you.
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