Experience
Cultural Experiences
Time with people, not a performance staged for you
01What it is
Guided visits to Rwandan community cooperatives, craft groups, dance troupes and village projects.
The cultural half of a Rwandan trip is easy to do badly — a bus, a dance, a photograph, and away. It is also easy to do well, because there are a lot of well-run community cooperatives that host visitors on their own terms.
That means basket weaving with the women who make them, cooking in someone's kitchen, Intore dancing performed by dancers who train seriously, and conversations that are not scripted.
We work with cooperatives where the fee goes to the group rather than to an intermediary, and where the visit is something they chose to offer.
- Where
- Kigali, Musanze, Kivu, Huye
- Duration
- 2 hours to a full day
- Difficulty
- Easy
02What to expect
- 01
Cooperatives, not shows
Working groups who host visitors, rather than attractions built for tourists.
- 02
Doing rather than watching
Weaving, cooking, drumming and dancing, badly and enjoyably.
- 03
Intore dance
Rwanda's traditional dance, performed by trained troupes. Considerably more impressive than it looks on video.
- 04
Direct benefit
Fees paid to the cooperative rather than to a middleman.
03Best time
Year-round. Umuganda community work closes things on the last Saturday morning of each month.
- JanJan: best
- FebFeb: best
- MarMar: best
- AprApr: best
- MayMay: best
- JunJun: best
- JulJul: best
- AugAug: best
- SepSep: best
- OctOct: best
- NovNov: best
- DecDec: best
- Plan around Umuganda on the last Saturday morning of the month.
04What to bring
- Modest, comfortable clothing
- Cash in small denominations for crafts
- Willingness to ask before photographing anyone
05Requirements
- Always ask before photographing people. It matters more than anything else on this list.
- Visits are arranged in advance so the cooperative can host properly.
Permit costs, age limits and park regulations are set by the Rwanda Development Board and its partners and change from time to time. We confirm the current position with you in writing before anything is booked.
06Where it happens
Destinations for this
Kigali City
Kigali
Rwanda's capital, spread across a series of ridges and valleys — the arrival point for almost every trip, and a city worth more than the night most itineraries give it.
1 to 2 nights
Northern Province
Volcanoes National Park
Rwanda's gorilla country: bamboo and hagenia forest climbing the flanks of five volcanoes, home to habituated mountain gorilla families and golden monkeys.
2 to 3 nights
Western Province
Lake Kivu
One of the African Great Lakes, held between steep green hills on the Congolese border — islands, fishing boats, lakeside towns and the country's best place to stop moving.
2 nights
07Journeys that include it
Tours
3 days · 2 nights
3-Day Rwanda Gorilla Experience
The shortest trip that does the gorillas justice
Kigali, then straight to the Virungas for a mountain gorilla trek, with a golden monkey trek or a community visit on the second morning.
ClassicChallengingPrice on request
7 days · 6 nights
7-Day Rwanda Discovery
Gorillas, rainforest and the lake in between
Kigali, the Virungas for gorillas, down the shore of Lake Kivu, and into Nyungwe for chimpanzees and the canopy walk.
ClassicModeratePrice on request
10 days · 9 nights
10-Day Rwanda Complete Experience
The whole country, at a pace that lets you enjoy it
Kigali, Akagera's savannah, the Virunga gorillas, Lake Kivu and Nyungwe's rainforest — every landscape Rwanda has, without a forced march.
ClassicModeratePrice on request
It can, when it is done badly. We use cooperatives that host on their own terms and where the fee goes to the group, which changes the tone of the visit completely.
Add it to your trip
Plan cultural experiences
Tell us roughly when you want to travel and what you want to see. We will come back with an itinerary built around it, not a package pulled off a shelf.