I travelled to Rwanda in 2017, mostly for business reasons but also to take some time in taking in its beauty and history, with which I was already distantly familiar but not in any intimate way. I did not have a lot of time for personal travel but wanted to get a good sense for all of Rwanda's geography, and therefore sought to visit as broadly as possible.
I ended up with an itinerary that took me from the country's east to its west, pretty much in the opposite way. However small Rwanda may be, and famous for its 'thousand hills', tiny Rwanda's geography remains incredibly varied. The human footprint on that geography is just as varied, and influenced by Rwanda's population density.
Perhaps ironically, Rwanda's east corresponds to romantic orientalist views about the global East, that is to say 'rustic', raw, greater than life in many ways. It is also where one can go for an old-fashioned photo safari. On the other hand, the west offers more manicured surroundings to accommodate tourists and international workers. The capital Kigali, in the center, ties it all together in a modern city where you can find something for tastes sophisticated and more accessible.
It is also a lesson, in some ways, that what is local for someone can be new for someone else, and vice-versa. I will never remember the general amazement in my driver in Rwanda who, when I asked him to stop in places to take photos, capture these memories, seemed amazed at why I thought these places were worthy of photographing (hopefully he is the exception in that!). At the same time, he had his own DSLR and certainly humored me enough to take his own photos by the same occasion. :-)
I have submitted the seven following photos, which serve as a short summary of my 2017 trip, to LensCulture’s Journeys 2020 photo competition.
Window on the Plains
While visiting Akagera National Park, and understanding that I would not actually see many animals that day, I just had to ask my driver to stop and back up just a little, a little more forward, oh no just a tiny more to the back, to take a photo of this 'window to the plains', where the brown dirt road gives way to the bright green of the open spaces and then the blue-grey of the cloudy sky.
Road to Akagera II
Rwanda, as one of the most densely populated countries on Earth, is filled throughout with houses in more or less odd places. I had to stop to take a photo of this one, when a local woman passed by, punctuating the shot. It was an unabashedly beautiful day.
Road to Akagera I
I am rather self-aware about this image, as it represents my seizing the opportunity to capture an 'anthropological' view of "Africa" which I can only feel is a bit orientalist in nature. I see it, however, as an image of raw beauty.
Valley Road
A view of a road down in a Rwandan valley located somewhere in between the capital Kigali and the Kayonza District, close to Akagera National Park.
The Dreaded Mototaxi
One could say that I am rather skittish. When I shared this photo on my Instagram while in Rwanda, sharing my reluctance to use those, people who responded disagreed, poked fun at my unwillingness to use them, and just proudly saw the mototaxi as some kind of a symbol of Rwanda's resilience, energy, and willingness to take risks.
One of the Thousand Hills
The beauty of the road to the Bisesero Memorial is a stark contrast to the horrors that took place in the area in 1994.
Shore of Lake Kivu
On my first time to Lake Kivu, I had no idea what I would find. The last expectation I had would be to find a landscape of such idyllic beauty, itself quite the contrast with the lake's conflict-ridden history.