This morning we set out on the last leg of our journey through East Africa. The two hour drive to Kigali was much like drive to Gisenyi the day before: well-maintained mountain roads with plenty of curves, traffic of all sorts, a relaxed driving pace, and beautiful views. By lunchtime we were driving through the center of the city on the way to our hotel, just a bit off-center right next to the football stadium.
Our hotel, The Lebanon, was nestled nicely on the downslope of one of Kigali’s many hills. Immediately in Kigali we noticed how manicured and clean the city was. It was the first place in Africa that we’d seen much in the way of maintained public spaces like parks and plazas, along with many planted flowers and trees along thoroughfares. We also took note of the traffic congestion, which was rather significant, particularly considering its relatively small population of only 850,000 people.
After a brief rest, Jeff + TimB’Liz headed out to check out some sights and get acquainted with the city. Meeting up at the nearby Java House coffee shop first, we then proceeded to the Hôtel des Mille Collines, made famous for its titular role in the film Hotel Rwanda. To get there, we shepherded four boda bodas and directed them to the well-known location without incident. No, really!
Still very much a functioning hotel, you could tell they were walking the fine line of embracing their notoriety and still being a top-tier luxury hotel. We popped in past the layers of now-completely-normal-to-us security apparatus and stepped out back for a beer on the poolside patio. We were trying to remember if any of it was familiar to us from the movie, but later realized that the hotel itself didn’t appear in the film because it was filmed in South Africa. Similarly, the poignant (and highly recommended!) miniseries Black Earth Rising, set largely in Rwanda, was instead filmed in Ghana for logistical and political reasons. These are difficult stories to tell and involve hard truths that aren’t always available for open discussion in Rwanda, even today.
Next we decided to do some souvenir shopping, but the spots Jeff had in mind were some nebulous hand-wavy destination on the other side of the mountain into which the hotel was carved. Four more boda boda’s and mild gesticulation and instructions to “follow that boda!” were what got us started. Everything was going fine, except for Liz’s ride went exactly the wrong direction. Of course, there’s no stopping these guys and about five minutes later, Jeff, Tim and I are parked in front of a very nice array of shops and we have no idea where Liz is. A quick text to her and she let’s me know her driver is probably lost, heading to the wrong place, then radio silence. After five minutes, we’re relieved to see Liz pull up and we got to hear the full story.
It turns out, Jeff had said that the shops were near the Gloria Hotel, but the driver heard Gorilla Hotel. After realizing they were going the wrong direction, the driver turned around and went back to where we’d started. Of course, we were gone by then, but there were some guys selling maps and trinkets there who helped him figure out the difference between Gloria and Gorilla and the rest is history.
Once the group was reassembled, we began our first real souvenir shopping since we arrived in Africa. We learned that the small shops were each loosely, subdivided into sections run by individuals, probably renting space from the shopowner. While there wasn’t usually overlap in product between the vendors, it was as if you would go into a Kwik Trip and each aisle was run by a different person who had to paid separately. The sellers were all very polite, but definitely aggressive in their helpfulness. Several times, entire bins of product were emptied out and spread around for our perusal. Lots of beautiful crafts like baskets and woven items like placemats, along with your typical sort of trinkets like bottle openers and small stone animals, etc. We did our best to bargain, although it always felt a bit strange to work too hard lowering things because the prices felt so low.
It didn’t take long for this to mentally exhaust us, so we took our winnings and grabbed (you guessed it!) four more boda boda’s directed to the Ubumwe Grande Hotel, notorious for the best rooftop terrace bar in town. This time it was Jeff who was given the runaround, and he arrived about five minutes after us, confused as to how we made it there so quickly. One elevator ride and ten minutes later and we were sipping rosé on top of Kigali.
What a day! Exhausted, we went back to our hotel to recuperate. Later, we’d enjoy an exceptional meal at the Khana Khazana Nyarutarama Indian restaurant. On the way there, it was my turn to get lost, arriving flustered but safe. This day of boda boda excitement would prove to the straw that broke the camel’s back — any time the gang of four went out together after that we would get a taxi instead!
