Inganzo Art Gallery: Paradise for Youthful Artists
The post-genocide Rwanda saw many refugees coming back from the neighboring countries they had sought refuge in to reconstruct their country, battered for many years by ethnic conflict.
Among them was a new generation of visual artists who had spent their years outside the country. These youthful artists came back with artistic creativity they had learned outside the country, leading to creation of a booming art industry in the country.
Although in his mid 60s now, Epa Binamungu’s name is synonymous with the vibrant contemporary art scene thriving now in Kigali.
Birth of Inganzo Art Gallery
He established his Inganzo Art Gallery in the former Kigali Business Center (KBC) in Kacyiru 16 years ago, a neighborhood which began to draw in more affluent residents who were attracted by its great location and soon established a reputation as an artist community.
Epa Binamungu. The legendary artist says unlike some artists, he produces art “for the lovers of art” and not just for tourists. Having accomplished secondary school and later attended the Institute of Pedagogical Science University in 1975 in DR Congo where he majored in Biology and Chemistry, Binamungu decided to embark on his long desired art career, a choice that he says he has never regretted to this day.
Bringing visual art back to Rwanda
Binamungu says times following his return to Rwanda, at the end of the Rwandan Genocide against the Tutsi in 1995 weren’t easy, as people were still in shock, yet they didn’t recognize art at all.
“The few who seemed to develop interest used to ask me what I was drawing and this hurt me so much since it clearly showed a gap,” he explains. But he gathered more courage of always explaining to them concepts of his art, which worked out in turn.
Four years ago, Binamungu moved Inganzo away from the hustle and bustle of Kigali city to a serene rural environment at Masaka sector, Kicukiro district where he says is a center for youthful artists to come and explore their artistic talents and rapport with fellow artists.
Once inside Inganzo Art Center, the feeling one gets is that of being on an upcountry ranch without livestock. It’s all lush green – dense tree canopies all over, blooming flower gardens lining the neatly maintained lawns, and an abundance of fruit trees.
The art center has three parts. The “Inganzo In” is a modern gallery divided into various rooms where artists can showcase their finished products on the walls. The “Inganzo Off” is a big, white tented pavilion where artists can come, work and display their work while the “Inganzo Workshop” is where the artists produce their actual work.
“I have long nurtured a dream to have a place where artists can come together and just enjoy creating art in a serene environment. Inganzo Art Center welcomes the East African art community by providing a place for creative and innovative programming, spaces to create and display, and a schedule of art-related opportunities,” says Binamungu.
Since its inception, the new art center has hosted a variety of workshops and exhibitions for not only Rwandan artists but also from the East Africa region.
Inganzo Art Gallery rules 2017
In 2017, Inganzo hosted a group of 14 artists from Tanzania who were joined by 10 artists from Rwanda in what Binamungu says was to evaluate the artistic performance for the year and to artists from both countries to share their artistic ideas. Binamungu hopes to make this an end of the year annual event at Inganzo where artists from the region and beyond are going to come together and evaluate their performance for the year, while giving them a chance to bond and learn from each other.
Inganzo Art Center is also going to be an art research center and a residence for international artists who can come and develop creative ideas. “It was established for the seasoned artist and new talent to thrive,” according to Binamungu.
At the entrance of the Inganzo workshop is displayed a collection of carvings, statues, masks and figurines that Binamungu says he has been collecting all over the world during his over 40 years in the art industry.
Binamungu says unlike some artists, he produces art “for the lovers of art” and not just for tourists.
“Many artists display their artwork at strategic tourist attraction sites like national parks and even at the streets where they can easily be seen and bought by tourists. But having established myself in the industry, the choice of Masaka to build this center, away from Kigali, is an indication that clients will always come looking for you once you have established your name in the business,” says the veteran artist.
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Niyo Art Centre Gives Hope to Children with Horrible Past
It’s five O’clock in the evening. The first sounds of drums penetrate the quiet Kacyiru neighborhood, Kigali, where Niyo Art Centre is located.
Inside, a group of adults are standing behind five waist-high drums they beat furiously but happily, as some dozen children or so respond to the sounds of the African drumbeats with scintillating dance. There is also a group of singers that belt out songs to accompany the drums.
After about nine minutes, the sounds of the drums slowly fade, and the dancing children wipe their brows of sweat and their feet of dust, as they prepare for another performance. A group of five tourists huddled together in front of performance clap their hands in unison.
However, despite the glow in their faces after being lost in the frenzy of their performance, what is indiscernible is that these children have a past. A horrible past.
Some of them have hitherto spent their lives on the streets, and slept on empty stomachs. They have only known pain, hunger and suffering throughout their brief existence in the world.
Some of them come from indigent backgrounds, their parents too poor to afford their meals, not forgetting education. Some of them are orphans who have never experienced parental love.
But now, their faces are beaming with hope for the future, thanks to Niyo Arts Gallery. Founded by Pacifique Niyonsenga in 2015, the art gallery has become a cradle of hope for these children who now go to school and also have a roof over their heads, as opposed to their former life where the world was too full of void and hopelessness.
Niyonsenga, himself a former street boy until a benevolent hand, a Canadian named Bruno Soucy, became his close friend, plucked him off the streets and helped him get education, says the art gallery was established to help them use their talents in arts to assist these vulnerable children.
He had established a charity organisation in 2012 to help street children get education as a tribute to his Canadian benefactor.
Niyonsenga, a prodigious visual artist and a drummer, says the charity organisation started with only 28 children in 2012 but now has 120.
“We have made tremendous development since its inception. We have managed to take the children to different schools, buy them scholastic materials and rent them houses in Gasabo district, Kigali,” Niyonsenga said in an interview with Chwezi Traveller.
He says that Niyo Art Gallery has now established a reputation as a top tourist attraction in Gasabo district, Kigali, on its own merit because of the programmes they have initiated and attractive arts and handicrafts that can be found inside the gallery.
Niyo Arts Gallery now has 11 artists displaying their artwork there. He says he and the other artist at his gallery donate 40% of their artwork sales to educate and house the children. They have also managed to attract a group of donors that support their programmes.
“We have managed to take one of our children up to the university, 23 are in secondary school while 68 are in primary. It’s gratifying that when art lovers purchase our products, the proceeds go for good purpose,” says Niyonsenga.
Apart from operations in the gallery, he adds that they also do exhibitions and sales abroad where they raise up money to plough back to help the children.
He says that in 2017 the centre held 10 different exhibitions: two in the USA, one in Belgium, one in Netherlands and Six in Kigali. “We have also acted as ambassadors of our culture in different capitals around the world when we showcase Rwanda’s arts and crafts abroad.
Most people in the Western world know Rwanda because of the insidious genocide, and they get mesmerized when we go out there and show them the real Rwanda,” says Niyonsenga.
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Art Centre Ramps Up Conservation Efforts in Rwanda
Since its inception in 2011 in Nyakinama village, seven kilometers west of Musanze town, Red Rocks Rwanda has been the centre where different programmes geared towards ramping up conservation efforts in Rwanda are hatched.
On January 5, 2018, Red Rocks Rwanda will unveil another programme in Kinigi, the heart of Rwanda’s tourism industry, with the main purpose of sustaining the organisation’s conservation efforts around the Volcanoes National Park through art.
According to Greg Bakunzi, the founder of Red Rocks Rwanda, the new Conservation Art Centre, an art gallery that will be operating out of Butorwa 1, is targeting educational institutions teaching art as a component of conservation to harness tourism, conservation and advocacy programmes as part of his organisation’s mission to achieve sustainable development around the Volcanoes National Park, home to the critically endangered mountain gorillas.
Aside from engaging the local community in conservation,
tourism and sustainable development, Bakunzi hopes that his organisation’s latest initiative will ramp up Rwanda’s conservation efforts through art.
“Art has a big role to play in the preservation of Rwanda’s heritage. By bringing together a pool of talented Rwandan artists, we are able to show our commitment to raise the consciousness of the imperative challenges Rwanda faces as one of the top tourist destinations, and also offer solutions for conserving the environment.
Red Rocks Rwanda art and craft programme is among the many ways trough which we are going to win this fight,” says Bakunzi, who is also the managing director of Amahoro Tours, one of the top 10 travel firms in Rwanda, according to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the government agency in charge of promoting investment, export and tourism in the country.
In order for his new initiative to be successful, however, Bakunzi says that the new Conservation Art Centre will have to work hand-in-hand with industry players, well-wishers, volunteers and government agencies.
Bakunzi reveals that the artists at the centre will donate proceeds from their work to conservation efforts of their choice.
And Rwandan artists have welcomed Red Rocks Rwanda’s initiative. Augustin Hakizimana from Agasozi Art Centre says that Red Rocks Rwanda’s programme is going to help them market Rwanda’s remarkable attractions through art while at the same time contributing to conservation efforts.
“This is absolutely a great idea, and we are ready to join Red Rocks Rwanda to promote conservation. I have already given them my art pieces about conservation, which are now displayed at the new art gallery in Kinigi,” says Willy Karekezi, a visual artist based in the capital Kigali.
Read MoreRwanda’s Urwagwa Banana Beer Comes of Age, Now on the Tourist Map
You may ask yourself what a refined and polished tourist from New York who has jumped off the plane at the Kigali International Airport and traveled to Musanze has in common with a rustic and weather-beaten Nyakinama village when you see them walking and chatting together along a small strip of road behind the imposing buildings of Musanze Village Polytechnic, seven kilometres west of Musanze town, northern Rwanda. The answer is Red Rocks Cultural Centre.
Both have a common interest that can be summed up into learning from each other’s culture. Since its establishment in 2011, Red Rocks Cultural Centre has established different programmes that help in promoting tourism, conservation and community development, and in this regard it has also helped in promoting activities that help to bring people of different backgrounds around the world to share their unique cultural experiences.
Jeanne Sauer, a tourist from Germany, says when she came to Rwanda her main purpose was not to see the famous mountain gorillas in their natural habitat around the Virunga massif, but to experience what Rwandan people have to offer in terms of their culture.
“I had read about Rwanda and this is the country I had put on by bucket-list to visit one day. A quick Google search introduced me to Red Rocks and the amazing activities they provide there. I said this is a country I have to visit and here I am at Red Rocks, relishing my dreams,” she says.
The dream Sauer must be talking about is the various cultural activities that she found being carried out at Red Rocks. She says when she asked the staff about how she could spend her time enjoying the real cultural heritage of Rwanda, she was told that there are many activities that the local women here are engaged in, including making of authentic traditional Rwandan handicrafts, and of course demonstrating how to make the traditional beer.
“I wanted to have a first-hand experience of making the traditional beer. This is when they called a group of women who came with raw materials, precisely ripe bananas and the millet to help in making the final product,” she says.
Preserved and unchanged by a few die-hard loyalists, the brewing of Urwagwa – a local brew made out of crushed bananas – remains faithful to an ancient formula handed down over generations in Rwanda.
“The women, through their interpreter, led me through the whole process, and what I discovered is that it was not an industrial scale process as we know it but just putting your energy and effort into it,” says Sauer.
Like most traditional skills, the recipe and process for brewing Urwagwa is mostly handed down from father to son.
Jeanne Uwangabiye, a 52-year-old woman from Nyakinama village, says she picked the tips from his grandfather who would not substitute Urwagwa with any other beverages. She finds it appropriate to lead tourists through the process, which begins with obtaining ripe bananas and pressing them with grass to yield slightly clear juice.
The contents of the tank are then stirred and the leaves squeezed to remove residual juice which can effectively be obtained through using a small amount of water.
After that sprouted, lightly roasted or ground millet is poured on top of the juice which thereafter is covered in banana leaves and kept in a warm area for three days and this is why some times the mixture is buried in the ground to allow fermentation.
The process of fermentation happens because there are enzymes present in the sorghum which facilitate the breaking down of banana starch that is eventually acted upon by the yeasts and bacteria. Those who prefer enjoying the drink while it is as clean as possible may have to filter it prior to consumption.
“What I liked most about this experience is drinking what I had brewed with my own hands. It made me realize how life can be simple,” says Sauer.
Another tourist from the US, Fredric Fitzgerald, says he learned about the skills of making the traditional beer in a home in Nyakinama village when he went for a homestay.
“It was exciting to see how the people around there are able to use simple ingredients to make such stuff. And the taste was not all that bad!” he quips.
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New initiative to Help Hearing-impaired Travellers to Virunga Volcanoes
A new initiative that aims to tackle the myriad of problems faced by deaf and partially deaf travellers to the Virunga Massif, a chain of eight volcanic mountains that straddle Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo, has been launched in Goma, the chief city of DR Congo’s Eastern Province. The Virunga Massif is best known as the only home to the world’s remaining mountain gorillas, which are estimated to be numbering about 1,000 individuals.
The new programme, under the auspices of the Goma-based Virunga Community Programmes, is a collaboration between the former, Red Rocks Cultural Centre in Rwanda, Amani Safaris in DR Congo, as well as the African Sign Language Interpreters and Translations Agency (AITA) in Uganda.
According to Francis Ndagijimana, the coordinator of Virunga Community Programmes, the key aim of the initiative is to encourage the hearing impaired and hard hearing visitors to be integrated in conservation programmes and supportive efforts in community development programmes in Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo.
“The deaf face many problems cutting across all sectors of social, economic and cultural development. It’s time for those who care to stand up and care about their plight. Our programme is going to address many problems they face and ensure they enjoy what nature has to offer just like everyone else,” Ndagijimana said.
He adds that they have rolled out a host of initiatives to help facilitate the success of the programme, including training of tour guides in local sign language to help hearing impaired tourists enjoy the bounty of nature around the Virunga Massif just like any other person.
Ndagijimana affirms that people with disabilities like the deaf have similar motivations to travel as the rest of the population, but several tourists with disabilities face barriers to tourism participation, particularly in cultural, social and physical environments.
“The guides we train in local sign language will be specifically responsible to act as translators between the deaf tourists and locals, and we hope that this will eventually create some mutual understanding between the community around the Virunga Massif and visitors. Both parties have a lot to gain from each other,” he says.
Ndagijimana says that the programme recognises that tourism plays a key role in the wider economic, social and cultural development, and it has its own set of sectoral responses to the deaf that must be understood in each country’s cultural context.
The programme, according to Ndagijimana, also aims to encourage hearing impaired visitors to fully participate in community development and social interactions.
“Among our core objectives also includes acquisition of assistive devices for the deaf and partially deaf locals and tourists,” he adds.
According to the DR Congo National Union of the Deaf (DRCNUD), deaf people in the Virunga Massif face a complex web of problems, ranging from social, economic, cultural and developmental difficulties, negative attitudes by society towards deaf people, as well as communication barriers. Poverty further degrades deaf people’s attainment of dignity and unity and access to jobs and education in their communities and this limits their full enjoyment of the fundamental human rights entitled to all human beings.
DRCNUD was established by the deaf after realizing that their needs and concerns were ignored by the wider society.
“We can longer bury our heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich and pretend that deaf people have nothing of significance to contribute to the society. The societal stigma associated with being deaf should be a thing of the past,” Ndagijimana says, adding that his organization also aims to provide assistance to deaf schools of Goma in DRC, Cyanika School of the Deaf in Uganda, and Musanze School of the Deaf in Rwanda through purchase of scholastic materials peculiar to the deaf.
The programme is also going to provide material assistance to hearing impaired children between the ages of 5-16 to go to school and provide health insurance to hearing impaired kids.
Greg Bakunzi, the founder of Red Rocks Cultural Centre in Nyakinama village, Musanze district, northern Rwanda, says the new initiative is going to help deaf tourists not to feel left out of what the tourism industry has to offer around the Virunga Massif.
“I have been in the tourism industry for several years but there are unique problem deaf tourists face. Surely, something must be done,” says Bakunzi, who is also the founder and managing director of Musanze-based Amahoro Tours, one of the biggest tour companies in Rwanda.
Read MoreGishwati Mukura Gazetted into a National Park
Gishwati-Mukura Nature Reserve has officially become Rwanda’s 4th National Park after Akagera, Nyungwe and Volcanoes National Park. This park is known for its fauna and flora such as primates, chimpanzees and more than 60 types of trees.
Gishwati-Mukura National Park is located in Rubavu, Rutsiro, Ngororero and Nyabihu Districts in western Rwanda. Rwanda had only three national parks but the number increased from 3 to 4 parks with the law establishing Gishwati and Mukura National Park which was signed and published in the official gazette on February 01, 2016.
The objective of turning Gishwati-Mukura into a national park is to “ensure that the part of these forests that remains is safeguarded” as explained by Dr Rose Mukankomeje, Director of REMA. Dr. Mukankomeje also asserts that “the new park will contribute to the well-being of the surrounding population as they will find jobs in hotels, guide tourists and sell handicrafts to tourists who visit Gishwati-Mukura Park” .
This law provides that the two parks are composed of the Gishwati forest measuring 1,439.72 hectares and the Mukura forest measuring 1,987.74 hectares. The total area of Gishwati-Mukura Park is 992.48 hectares.
This has been extremely exciting news for Rwanda, and shows a great willingness of the government to help stabilize and protect these hugely important areas and turning the forest into a national park move has increased the number of parks in the country to four. The others are the game-rich Akagera, situated in savannah lowlands in the country’s east; Volcanoes, home to the famous mountain gorillas in the north; and Nyungwe rainforest in south-west, one of the world’s richest ecosystems that is home to several species of primates and birds.
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Canine Unit Takes Command
17 dog handlers have graduated after seven months of training to enable them to work with eight highly-trained tracker and restraint dogs in Akagera National Park. The canine unit will provide the law enforcement team with a significant boost in securing the parks and preventing illegal activities.
The eight dogs were a donation to Rwanda from the HGB Foundation early in 2015. They had previously been deployed in Central African Republic. With the dogs already highly trained, handlers were recruited to be trained and operate the canine unit. The intensive course consisted of theory and practical programmes on veterinary knowledge and care of a service dog, the theory of scent, bite work, reinforcement training, obstacle work and tracking in the field. It was important for the handlers to develop a relationship with the dogs so they can understand their signals and read their behaviours. For maximum effectiveness and efficiency, the dogs and handlers need to work together as a team.
Seven of the dogs are Belgian Malinois named Reza, Max, Bruno, Bronco, Gozer, Barrack and Tigo, the eighth is a Dutch shepherd named Duco. All are male and around 3-5 years old, highly trained and experienced in law enforcement for tracking and, where necessary, are also able to restrain an assailant until rangers are able to arrest him. While the dogs have remained in Akagera for the training period, in future they may be deployed across all parks in Rwanda to assist in anti-poaching activities and help to secure the integrity of the national parks.
Law enforcement activities in Akagera continues to show significant improvements with huge reductions in all illegal activities. Snare recovery has dropped from 1,997 in 2013 to just 141 at the time of writing in December 2015. Arrests of poachers has gone from 308 in 2012 to just 6.
These have reduced while patrol coverage has increased and the rangers have been trained and properly equipped to carry out patrols. With the recent return of lions, and the planned reintroduction of black rhino in the near future, the law enforcement team continue to be presented with new challenges and must be able to ensure the protection of the park and animals within. The canine unit will provide the team with a significant boost in anti-poaching efforts to carry on the protection and conservation of Akagera National Park.
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Akagera Lions Settle
After almost a month in the boma in Akagera National Park, seven translocated lions were release from their temporary enclosure on 27th July. These are the first lions to step foot in Akagera, and Rwanda, in over a decade.
The five females came from three different prides; a 10 year old mother and her 18-month old cub, two 3-year old sisters and five-year old single female. They had already spent one month together in quarantine at &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve before coming to Rwanda. The males, aged 3 and 4 years old came from Tembe Elephant Park, both parks are in the South African province of KwaZulu Natal. The males met the females for the very first time on arrival in Akagera.
All seven lions were fitted with GPS collars so that their movements could be monitored as they settle into their new home. Intrigue was high on release day; would they leave the boma straight away or stay where it is familiar? Would they stay together as a pride of seven or split up into smaller groups? Their first weeks have been fascinating to follow; encounters with the locals, first successful kills, changing dynamics of the group and the first tourist sightings…
Tempted out by a waterbuck carcass, the females were quick to emerge from their temporary enclosure when the gates opened. They were eager to explore their new home and all five quickly left the boma area traveling west and leaving the males behind. Within days they had encountered a group of 16 hyenas and, feeling outnumbered, they retreated into the western boundary hills. By the end of the first week they had moved over 35kms. They had returned to the lakes and, after several failed attempts, they were finally successful in bringing down a female waterbuck. Adam Bannister was part of the film team following the lions and he observed only one hunt where they really worked together as team. Although they had been together for over two months at this stage, this was the first time they were hunting for themselves as a pride of five, and they had a lot to learn! The lionesses had managed to evade any tourists, despite using the road network to move at night and spending a lot of time just a few metres away from the roads during the day. But then excitement was high a month after the release when the five females were spotted for the first time. Soon after this, the two sisters parted ways with the rest of the group and embarked on their own journey of exploration moving right up to the northernmost tip of the park.
The first weeks for the two males were very different. They have shown more caution than the inquisitive females and for the entire first month they remained on Magashi peninsula, moving not more than 5kms from the site of the boma. The area is roughly 5,000 hectares and surrounded by water on all sides except for a narrow connection to land. Without any roads beyond the boma tourists don’t visit the area and with plenty of game, the reserved males hunted successfully and were content to stay. A month passed before they finally decided to venture from their territory and left Magashi moving west into the Mutumba hills.
Six weeks later, one question still remained; when will they all meet up? Since the males left the boma area they had been crossing paths with both female prides but always days, or several kilometers, apart. Not long after after the males had finally left, the pride of 3 females returned to Magashi and the sisters were at the extreme north of the park. It seemed a rendezvous was far off. However, the males soon returned to familiar territory and one morning we got satellite readings from both the males and the females, less than an hour apart, showing them within a few metres of each other. It was a fitting reunion, on Magashi peninsula where they first met and then parted way six weeks earlier, but far from the end of the story, this is hopefully just the beginning of a new chapter in the story of Rwanda’s Pride.
Follow @AkageraPark on Twitter, Friends of Akagera National Park on Facebook for regular updates.
Sarah Hall sarahH@african-parks.org
Read MoreSeven Lions Released into Akagera National Park
African Parks, in partnership with the Rwanda Development Board, has released seven translocated lions into Akagera National Park. The five females from &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve and two males from Tembe Elephant Park, both in South Africa, were brought to Rwanda at the end of June in a ground-breaking conservation effort for the country.
Earlier today, the gates of the quarantine boma were opened to allow the lions to exit the temporary enclosure. A waterbuck carcass was placed outside the gates to encourage them to explore their new home. The first female poked her nose out of the gates within a few minutes, closely followed by three other females, who looked around curiously, unconvinced about their new found freedom, before feasting on the carcass. The youngest lioness was last of the females to emerge and nervously kept her distance in nearby bushes. The two males were much more cautious and did not emerge from the boma while the park and press vehicles were there. These are the first lions to roam Akagera National Park, and Rwanda, for almost 15 years.
Tourists now have the opportunity to see the lions in the wilderness of Akagera, as previously viewing was restricted to park personnel who had been monitoring the lions in the boma. The time in quarantine has allowed the lions to adjust to their new surroundings, bond with each other, and recover from what was likely the longest wild lion translocation in conservation history, taking over 45 hours. The lions have come from different prides; among the females are a ten-year-old mother and her one-year-old daughter, a single five-year-old female and two three-year-old sisters. The males are three and four years old and are unrelated. The lions have been fed every two-to-three days, mainly on impala carcasses, and will now hunt for their own food.
All seven lions are fitted with satellite collars, which will allow the park management to track their movements, and see whether they stay together as a pride or split up as they explore their new surroundings.
The seven lions will be given names by those who generously supported the translocation process, including Bralirwa brand Turbo King, which will name the two male lions. Turbo King covered the lion’s charter flight from South Africa to Rwanda. Other key donors and stakeholders have been given the honour of naming the female lions. The names of the lions will be announced in the near future. African Parks and the Rwanda Development Board are very grateful to our sponsors for their kind contribution to this conservation milestone for Rwanda.
For more information, please contact Sarah Hall, Tourism and Marketing Manager, Akagera National Park on +250 (0) 782 166 015 or at sarahH@african-parks.org.
Akagera National Park
Located in the east of Rwanda on the border with Tanzania, Akagera is 112,000 hectares in size. A river of the same name on its eastern boundary feeds into a labyrinth of lakes that make up the eastern boundary of the park. Rolling grassland and wooded hills make up the western boundary. The park is home to a huge diversity of animal and birdlife, and boasts spectacular scenery.
Akagera is managed through a public-private partnership between the Rwanda Development Board and African Parks, a non-profit organisation that takes on responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks and protected areas in partnership with governments and local communities. African Parks manages ten national parks and protected areas in seven countries: Rwanda, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Chad, Malawi and Zambia.
Read MoreRwanda to Host Africa Hotel Investment Forum in 2016
The Government of Rwanda through the Rwanda Development Board, will host the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) in 2016 in Kigali. AHIF brings together the leading international hotel investors in Africa with local operators, ministers, government officials and industry experts, to discuss all aspects of hotel investment and operation in Africa.
The decision to host AHIF in Kigali underlines a clear strategy by the Government of Rwanda to attract investment in the tourism sector. Ambassador Yamina Karitanyi, Chief Tourism Officer at the Rwanda Development Board, said: “We see AHIF as an excellent platform to meet many of the most important decision makers and investors, who have the power collectively to influence investment in the hospitality industry in Africa. We are determined to build relationships and showcase Rwanda as the right place to do business and therefore we believe that hosting the event will create an opportunity for local hotel developers to forge partnerships with investors.”
In signing the agreement to bring AHIF 2016 to Kigali, all parties committed to pursuing five goals, which include:
- Supporting hotel and infrastructure development within Rwanda and across Africa
- Promoting Africa to the international hotel investor and operator community
- Educating the hotel investment community about the tourism potential of Africa
- Facilitating networking between African stakeholders and the international community
- Supporting Rwanda’s ambition for growth through travel & tourism
In Africa as a whole, Travel & Tourism is seen as a highly attractive growth industry. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), it is responsible for 8.1% of GDP and it is forecast to rise at 4.9% per annum until 2025.
Similarly, Rwanda’s tourism sector continues to grow positioning itself as the leading foreign earner for the country. For the financial year 2013 to 2014, the sector registered a three per cent increase in the number of visitors to Rwanda. These numbers grew from 1.14million visitors to 1.2 million visitors also accounting for an increase in revenue from $293.4m in 2013 to $303m in 2014.
In Rwanda, leisure has been a major driver of Rwanda’s tourism industry. Currently, the country is focusing on Meetings Incentives Conference and Exhibitions/Events (MICE) tourism, capitalising on safety, developed infrastructure, accessibility and new entrants in the hotel industry such as the Marriott, Radisson Blu, Radisson by Park Inn, Sheraton, Golden Tulip, Kempisnki and Zinc, amongst others. Hosting the AHIF will no doubt contribute growth of Rwanda as a leading MICE destination in the region. Later this year, Rwanda will host Interpol AGM, World Economic Forum on Africa in 2016 as well as Africa Union Summit in 2016.
Jonathan Worsley, Chairman, Bench Events, the company that organises AHIF and other top international hotel investment conferences, said: “I know of at least three hotel projects in Rwanda that came about as a consequence of a conversation at AHIF.I have every confidence that the proactive approach that is being displayed by the Rwanda Development Board will pay off, as all the major hotel chains are seeking new opportunities in Africa – and one of the most crucial issues for them is to find public sector partners that are making a serious effort to speak their language.”
By moving to a different African city every couple of years, AHIF will help to showcase high-growth destinations across the continent as a whole. Jonathan Worsley, Chairman of Bench Events concluded: “The African economic growth story is becoming well-known. At around 5% per annum, it is a multiple of developed economies and that is appealing to the international business community.”
In 2014, the event took place in Addis Ababa and attracted over 500 participants from more than 40 countries who represented over 400 companies. AHIF ‘15 will again take place in Addis, at the Sheraton hotel on 30th September – 1st October, where the number of delegates is expected to increase substantially on last year.
Several networking contacts made at AHIF have since resulted in promising new business relationships and the event attracted considerable media attention, with around a hundred reporters in attendance from major local and international news organisations.
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