Anybody visiting Rwanda should consider taking the Rwanda Genocide Tour. This is one of the most moving, instructive, and inspiring tours available. One of the world’s most peaceful nations, Rwanda has a stable political system that does not favor any one tribal group over another.
This is the country where the genocide occurred in 1994. The East African nation of Rwanda is regarded by its citizens as the center of tourism in the region due to its abundance of natural attractions, including animals and national parks.
An emotional tour of the Rwandan genocide will leave visitors with optimism. To fully explore the beauty and history of Rwanda, including its memorial sites, consider booking the 10-day best of Rwanda safari tour, knowing that despite the darkness, sorrow, and atrocities, a haven of peace ultimately emerged where there had been no hope. When the Rwanda Patriotic Front emerged victorious, hopes were raised as they promised an end to mass murder, family division, and violence.
Various memorial museums have been set up to honor the nation’s genocide, which claimed the lives of over a million people.
Those who take the Rwanda genocide tour will learn about the various incidents that culminated in the horrific events in Rwandan history, events that will never be forgotten despite the years that will pass due to the various effects they had on the populace. For a comprehensive experience, consider combining the genocide tour with a 7-day Rwanda safari.
Travelers visiting Rwanda will stop at several museums, including the Nyamata Genocide Museum, the Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum, the Nyanza Memorial Site, the Gisenyi Memorial Site, the Bisesero Memorial Site, and many more. While in Rwanda, visitors might also be interested in acquiring chimpanzee permits for a different experience in Nyungwe Forest.
The Background of the Rwanda Genocide
Given the killers’ level of organization and expertise, it is thought that the Rwandan genocide was planned several years before it actually occurred.
Hutu fanatics who wanted to eradicate the Tutsis because they were starting to challenge them politically were the ones driving the genocide in Rwanda.
Prior to the genocide in Rwanda, the government of President Juvenal Habyarimana perceived the Rwanda Patriotic Front, an opposition party that was rebelling against their authority, as a threat.
The events leading up to the 1959-1961 Rwandan revolution, which featured the Tutsi taking over the Belgian administration and later the Hutus taking control of the Republic of Rwanda, demonstrate the political competition between the Tutsi and the Hutu.
Things like when the Tutsi attacked the Hutu chief and he survived, but there were rumors that he was slain, made the Tutsi feel threatened and forced to leave the nation.
Juvenal Habyarimana abandoned his ally and then-president Gregoire Kayibanda in 1973 because he wanted to run the country for himself and favor the Hutu over the Tutsis and Twas.
He emphasized how the Hutus outnumbered the Tutsis and Twas. It is thought that Juvenal’s autocratic methods began when he assumed national leadership, which alarmed the Tutsis, a smaller ethnic minority.
When the Tutsi fled Rwanda for Uganda in the 1980s, some of them joined the National Resistance Army (NRA), supporting and aiding Museveni in toppling Uganda’s then-president Milton Obote.
Fred Rwigyema’s Rwandan Patriotic Front, led by the refugees who subsequently joined the NRA and turned into soldiers, plotted an attack on the government.
After he was killed in combat, his deputy commander, Paul Kagame, who is currently Rwanda’s president, assumed leadership of the group.
He organized the group and launched surprise attacks, seizing control of some villages, but the attacks were ineffective because the government retook the villages, forcing the group to flee into the forests.
However, the surprise attacks sparked the emergence of Hutu groups that began carrying out violent acts against the Tutsi population in the country.
After the Rwandan Patriotic Front seized land, peace talks between Hutus and Tutsis began. The Tutsis were granted a base within the parliament building, which temporarily brought about calm.
Notwithstanding the widespread peace and harmony, Hutu extremists, also referred to as hardliners, continued to hold powerful positions and had other agendas, including the eradication of the Tutsi.
As a result, the Hutu Power was formed, and the Kangura magazine was founded, which was dedicated to inciting hatred among the Hutu for the Tutsi.
Extremist Hutu members pushed the Hutus to massacre large numbers of Tutsis, which infuriated them and stoked rivalry between the Hutus and the Tutsis, who were treated unfairly. This incited animosity, which in turn sparked the genocide.
The Rwanda Genocide
Hutu teenagers were enlisted by the hardliners, who also gave them guns, machetes, and other weapons. In addition, they created animosity in the Hutu youth by calling the Tutsi traitors who should not have been in their nation.
The massacre of Tutsis that followed their training infuriated them, and they decided to rebel against the unfair authority.
There is a belief that the genocide began on April 6, 1994, when the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were slain after an unidentified assailant shot down the plane, killing all occupants.
Organized killing began. Trained Hutu youths with guns and other killing gear were on a mission to exterminate the Tutsi tribe in the nation, with rumors circulating that the Rwandan Tutsi Patriotic Front was responsible for the Hutu presidents’ deaths due to their bitter rivalry.
The tensions between the two tribes increased as a result of this. The Tutsi who were known to the public were slaughtered during the mass killings, and those who could not be identified by national identification could be recognized by their appearance.
Not only were the Tutsis slaughtered, but also the Hutus, who harbored sympathy for them and allowed them to stay in their homes despite being considered traitors.
The Hutu desired to be the sole race or tribe in Rwanda, which is why they carried out the mass killings of the Batwa. Over a million people are thought to have died in the genocide, leaving women and children orphaned, families split up, and children alone during what was undoubtedly a difficult time for the nation.
Even so, optimism was rekindled by the Rwandan Patriotic Front’s actions, which included fighting valiantly to prevent the mass killings, ultimately resulting in the genocide’s termination on July 15, 1994.
Visiting the Rwanda Genocide Memorial Sites
Visitors interested in learning more about the Rwandan genocide can take a tour of the many memorial sites to gain a thorough understanding of the genocide and to utilize the material as a basis for future research or for educational purposes.
Murambi Genocide Memorial Site
The Murambi Genocide Memorial Site is situated in Murambi Town, Rwanda’s southern region. Thousands of people were slain there during the genocide. The location was formerly a technical school that provided technical education to many Rwandans, but it turned out to be one of the locations where many people were massacred during the genocide.
The truth that the local church bishop sent the Tutsis to Murambi Technical School when they went to the church to seek refuge, claiming that the French army would protect them and provide food and water, will break the hearts of tourists visiting the Rwanda genocide site.
Due to their weakness, the Hutu extremists were able to assault as soon as they learned that they were present. It should be mentioned that of the 65,000 people that escaped to the safety of the school, about 45,000 of them perished, and the remaining people were slaughtered the next day.
A volleyball court was built over pits where some of the victims were buried, and others are on display in the exhibit portion of the site.
When visiting the Murambi genocide site in Rwanda, tourists on a genocide tour have the opportunity to view mummified bodies, infant and child corpses, and displayed skulls of various people.
This can be an emotional experience for the tourists, but over time, they can learn from the guides about the history of the genocide, including how to avoid racism and show love for one another, both of which can incite violence.
Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum
The museum is situated in Gisenyi town, which is close to Kigali, the country’s capital. The museum is conveniently located and available to the general public every day of the week.
After doing the Rwanda genocide tour at the museum, visitors on a Rwanda tour will have a clear understanding of how the genocide in Rwanda occurred.
Aegis Trust, a UK-based anti-genocide organization that works to stop genocides in other countries, provided assistance in the construction of this first-rate museum.
It boasts a range of equipment, including sound systems that guide visitors on their Rwanda genocide tour in three languages: Kinyarwanda, English, and French, to accommodate different tourist groups.
A total of 100,000 people’s remains were gathered and transported to the museum for mass burials from the streets, the riverbanks, and other locations. Some of the bodies belonged to entire families, children, women who had been raped before being killed, and a host of other individuals.
The degree of technology employed in the establishment will also draw tourists, who will discover that, unlike other genocide museums that only display skulls, this one has various portraits of the victims, their final words inscribed on the portraits, information about how they were killed, and access to the remains, including skulls, equipment, and more.
In addition to providing visitors with recordings of survivors’ testimonies, the Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum goes above and beyond by providing visitors with a preview of what to expect throughout their tour.
This makes the experience both emotionally charged and educational.
Nyamata Genocide Memorial Site
The southern Kigali neighborhood of Nyamata is home to the genocide center. The center was a church where the Tutsis sought safety from the daily rising mass killings.
Because of this, the Tutsis believed that churches would be safe havens, but this was untrue given that over 10,000 individuals perished in the genocide.
When taking a Rwanda genocide tour, visitors can witness the atrocities firsthand through various displays of the dead, blood-stained clothing from bullets fired at the Tutsis, and holes in the walls where grenades were thrown by the assailants into the crowd.
There are also bullet holes, indicating that this was a very difficult period for the individuals and their families.
Gisozi Rwanda Genocide Memorial Site
This museum is one of the major Rwandan genocide memorial sites due to the large number of individuals who were slaughtered there. It is situated in the Gasabo district and is 30 minutes from Kigali metropolis.
More than 300,000 Tutsi, Batwa, and Hutu victims are interred at the location.
Visitors visiting Rwanda will have the opportunity to visit the site’s library, where they will find a variety of volumes containing a wealth of knowledge about the circumstances leading up to the genocide, as well as the many methods and tools used to murder people.
Additionally, the location features a display center where visitors on tours of Rwanda can view the various remnants of the dead, such as skulls and bones, providing them with accurate information on the Rwandan Genocide.
Gisenyi Rwanda Genocide Memorial Site
The Gisenyi memorial site serves as another resource for travelers seeking to learn about the Rwandan genocide, which claimed over a million lives.
This is similar to other genocide memorial sites. Displays of the various victim remains from the Hutu Extremists’ savagery may be found at the location.
It is reported that more than 12,000 people have been buried there, along with their bodies. On their Rwanda Genocide trip, guests can also visit the tomb of Madame Rosamond Carr, a close friend of Dr. Dian Fossey, who is significant to the conservation of gorillas in Rwanda.
Rosamond, an American humanitarian, visited Rwanda with her then-husband, British adventurer Kenneth Carr, who was stationed there, and fell in love.
Following their divorce, Rosamond stayed in Rwanda and started a pyrethrum plantation. However, due to the political unrest brought on by the Rwandan Genocide, Madame Rosamond was instructed to leave the nation and return when conditions improved.
Upon her return, she was devastated by the genocide’s devastating effects on the Rwandan people, as many of them had perished and families had been split apart.
What really broke her heart, though, were the orphans, for whom she later searched for means of providing care and protection by founding the Imababazi orphanage, a touching act of kindness carried out by a non-Rwandan.
Bisesero Genocide Memorial Site
Similar to other memorial sites, the museum is located in Kibuye town in western Rwanda, and it is estimated that over 40,000 people died there.
The local Tutsis attempted to fend off the killings by fighting back, unlike the inhabitants from other towns who were slain.
They even asked the French soldiers for help, but they remained silent. The hill where the site was built became known as the hill of resistance, which is visible to visitors on the Rwanda genocide tour, because the Tutsis of Bisesero were commended for their bravery and fight.
Nyanza Genocide Memorial Centre
The distance between Kigali and the Nyanza Genocide Memorial Center is 98 kilometers, and the trip takes roughly two hours. The site was formerly an ETO school, which was run by UN personnel.
Even before the genocide, there had been unstable situations with Hutus killing Tutsis; therefore, the UN had sent officials to offer security to the Rwandan people.
Mass killings during the genocide forced the officials to leave the school, which was then utilized as a hiding place by Hutus and Tutsis who opposed the slaughter.
However, the school was raided, resulting in the deaths of several people. Displays of skulls and blood-stained clothing are seen here for visitors on the Rwanda genocide tour.
Ntarama Genocide Memorial Site
The museum is only 20 minutes from Kigali City. During the genocide, the church served as a haven for the Tutsis.
Many victims went there in the mistaken belief that they would receive protection from church leaders, but this was not the case because the killers were ruthless and didn’t care whether the location was a house of worship or not; their primary objective was to eradicate the Tutsis from Rwandan history.
It is reported that the area saw the deaths and burials of nearly 5,000 persons. The opportunity to explore the region will give visitors a chance to view the various remains of the people who died at the location.
Nyarubuye Genocide Memorial Site
Visitors on a Rwanda tour interested in learning about the genocide in Rwanda will have the opportunity to see various remains, like bones, belonging to the victims whose blood was splashed on the walls during the increased shootings.
This museum, which was once a church but was later used as a place where Tutsis and moderate Hutus would seek refuge, is located at the Nyarubuye Memorial site.
What makes the site significant is that, even after the massacres, no victim’s belongings were taken from the site; the church that became the memorial was preserved exactly as it was during the genocide.
Tourists on Rwanda Genocide Tours can see things like broken church glasses and holes that were dug into the walls so that explosives could be thrown in to kill the victims.
As part of the Rwanda Genocide Tour, visitors will have the opportunity to see various authentic details of the events that resulted from the genocide, from the guides’ authentic information to the displays of the remains, such as skulls, bones, and various recordings of the survivors who did not perish in the genocide, which is quite unique compared to other museums.
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