Rwanda Travelogue

Rwandan reflections

General

It's pretty well known that Rwanda isn't really a democracy - more a de facto dictatorship with the president, Paul Kigame, winning successive elections by landslides, with independent observers criticising the conduct of the elections.

That said, to a visitor, Rwanda seems very well governed. Its roads are excellent, everywhere is outstandingly clean and we saw no evidence of extreme poverty. Many people clearly don't have a lot of income, but we saw no shanty towns and everyone appeared well fed and well clothed. Rwanda has a compulsory nationwide community service period every last Saturday in the month from 8am to 11:00 where activities such as street cleaning take place. The government also employs an army of street cleaners who not only help keep everywhere clean, but their income also benefits their communities.

Transport

In rural areas, the main mode of transport appears to be walking or running. On all the highways there are large number of people walking to their destinations. The second most common means of transport is the bicycle, either riding solo or, very commonly, as a "bicycle-taxi" where an adapted rear carrier forms an additional seat, and the rider carries the passenger to their destination for a fee. Bicycles are also used for the transport of goods - often food, drinks or water, carrying huge loads on each bike, probably 100kg or more. When the bikes are this heavily loaded, they are usually pushed rather then ridden. However, we did see bikes being ridden with bundles of 8 foot steel strapped across the carrier making them an interesting obstacle on the roads.

In towns (especially the capital, Kigali) the main means of transport would seem to be the motorbike-taxi. Riders drive around (almost invariably on 125cc Chinese-made motorbikes) wearing bright tabards and carrying a spare crash helmet over their arm. When someone wants to be taken anywhere, they flag the moto-taxi down, put on the helmet and hop on the pillion seat. Payment is cashless and all the taxis have a payment machine mounted on the handlebars. When traffic is dense, you can be surrounded in a sea of small motorbikes.

On the main roads, cars warn other cars approaching from the opposite direction about their presence by indicating left (they drive on the right). When they want to overtake, they normally again signal left and often sound the horn as a warning.