The 1994 Rwandan Genocide Memorial Sites, Kigali city tour

Rwanda has a number of Genocide Memorial Sites which include Gisozi, Murambi, Nyamata  and Gisenyi, among others. With Africa Adventure Safaris, you can visit all the sites and Museums to learn more about Rwanda’s History and Culture.

Gisenyi Memorial site

This is a memorial site for the grave of Madame Carr, an American who ran an orphanage for genocide orphans called Imbabazi. Several projects have been implemented with many programs launched to transform the physical and human environment of the Survivors’ Village through art, health, community, and economic development initiatives. This includes launching an educational program for children, initiating a young women’s support group, setting up a basic health education program, installing rain water harvesting tanks for 100 families, building latrines, and starting small business enterprises in sewing, basket weaving, and sunflower oil production.

Murambi Genocide Memorial Center/site

The Murambi Genocide Memorial Centre was previously known as Murambi Technical School but was officially turned into Genocide Memorial Centre after a massacre during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. It is situated in the Murambi district in southern Rwanda.

When the killings started, The Tutsi people (Tutsis) in the region tried to hide at the local church. However, the Bishop and the mayor lured them into a trap by sending them to the technical school on a hill, claiming that French troops would protect them there. On 16th April 1994, some 65,000 Tutsis ran to the school, but immediately water and electricity was cut off. After managing to defend themselves with stones during a few days, the Tutsi were overrun on April 21. The French soldiers disappeared and the school was attacked by Hutu Interahamwe militiamen. About 45,000 Tutsi were murdered at the school, and almost all of those who managed to escape were killed the next day when they tried to hide in a nearby church.

The school building is now a genocide museum exhibiting the skeletons and mummified bodies of some of the thousands of people killed there. Some of the survivors of the genocide have been trained as guides at the centre to provide you with first hand information all the Genocide stories.

Gisozi Memorial site

This is where the victims of Tutsi Genocide are buried since 2000. It is located in the Gasabo District of Kigali. A visit to Gisozi Memorial site offers the opportunity to see a cemetery, a house of exhibition on Genocide section; a library and a plan of teaching the history of genocide. This is the only memorial site in Kigali and it has about 300,000 victims buried there.

Ntarama Memorial site

Ntarama Memorial Site contains a church is where most brutal killings of the 1994 Rwandan genocide took place. The floor of the Church at Ntarama has not been completely cleaned since the massacre. There are more bones, intermingled with bits of clothing, shoes, pots, wallets and Identity Cards among others. The low pew-benches are used to avoid stepping on the bones and detritus. One can easily identify parts of skeletons: vertebrae, mandibles, fibulas, and ribs. It is located 30Km from Kigali City center southwards in Bugasera region.

Nyamata memorial site

This is located in the Bugesera district of Rwanda about 35 km from Kigali capital. Many people used the Catholic Church as a refuge during the 1994 genocide. However, according to the testimonies given by survivors, on 10th April, there was a massacre of about 10,000 people in and around the area of the Catholic Church. People from all around congregated in the church and locked the iron door with a padlock to protect themselves from the marauding killers. This church and its contents are a reminder of the horrifying violence during the genocide.

Bisesero Memorial site

More than 27,000 victims of genocide are buried in Biaeaero Memorial Site, located in the Karongi District, Western Province. . The victims were killed after a brave and long resistance and self defense until they were betrayed by French soldiers. The memorial site has been built on a hill and it now called ‘Hill of Resistance’ because of the heroic resistance mounted by the people of Bisesero against their assassins.

At Africa Adventure Safaris Limited, we professionally organize trips to any or all the mentioned historical, cultural and genocide memorial sites. Such trips can be combined to other safaris like Gorilla Tracking in Parc National des Volcans, Primates trekking and Birding in Nyungwe Forest as well as other wildlife Safaris in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Burindi, Congo and Tanzania.

 

Available Gorilla Safaris to Rwanda and Uganda

2 Days Gorilla Trekking in PNV, Rwanda: Tour Code: AAS001

3 Days Akagera Wildlife & Birds: Tour code: AAS002

3 Days Gorilla Trekking in PNV, Rwanda: Tour Code: AAS003

4 Days Gorillas, Chimps Rwanda: Tour Code: AAS004

5 Days Gorillas, Akagera Wildlife: Tour Code: AAS006

5 Days Gorillas, Chimps in Rwanda: Tour Code: AAS005

7 Days Rwanda Elegant Adventure: Tour Code: AAS 014

7 Days Uganda Rwanda Gorilla Expedition: Code: AAS008

8 Days Culture, Gorillas, Wildlife in Rwanda: AAS009

10 Days Experience Rwanda Africa: Tour Code: AAS010

10 Days Rwanda Uganda Tour: AAS011

12 Days Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya Tour: Tour Code: AAS012

12 Days Best of Uganda and Rwanda: AAS013