During our time at Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda, we are not too far from the Rwandan border. And there’s a free day built into our schedule before gorilla trekking… which would be the perfect opportunity for a quick day trip into this neighboring country.

The day trip is made possible by the newly launched East African visa, which costs $100 and allows multiple entries into Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda over a 90 day period. It’s significant because in prior years tourists had to repay the $50 Ugandan visa fee even if they only left the country for a few hours. Now it won’t cost anything extra. I wish I’d known about this visa when I landed at the airport in Nairobi, Kenya — instead, I paid $50 for a Kenyan visa and then purchased the $100 East African visa at the Ugandan border… when I should’ve just purchased that one to begin with. I’m only out $50 so it’s not a big deal, but I wish I’d learned about this new visa before my travels. So there’s a tip if you’re headed to this part of the world — look into the new East African visa.

Because of visa costs in the past, our Acacia Africa guides Riaan and Julianna have not visited Rwanda before. But they are eager to go and VERY kindly offer to organize transportation for anyone who want to come along — which is everyone in our group, naturally. This isn’t part of tour so it’s especially nice that they work out the details for us.

Here’s the plan: around 6am we’ll take a private bus from our campsite to the border, pass through immigration, and then continue on to the capital city of Kigali. We’ll spend a few hours at the Genocide Centre and then have lunch at Hotel Des Mille Collines (the hotel featured in the film Hotel Rwanda) before heading back to Uganda in the afternoon.

The night before our trip we watch Hotel Rwanda to learn more about the devastating mass slaughter of innocent people that took place merely 20 years ago.

We depart early the next morning as scheduled. As soon as we cross the border into Rwanda the scenery changes — tea plantations and banana fields and rice paddies sprawl across the open space. Simply put, Uganda is brown and Rwanda is green.

I wrote last week about my frustration trying to shoot this incredible scenery out the window — I take a few shots but give up after awhile, taking in the beauty with my own eyes.

We stop at a lookout point and these young boys greet us. They are friendly and happy to pose for photos without demanding money in return. Of course we ask permission to take their picture, and then immediately turn the camera around to show them the photos.

Before long we’re in Kigali, the capital city. It’s bustling as you might expect.

We arrive at the Genocide Centre before our scheduled visit and have time to use the restrooms and order coffee in the very nice on-site cafe.

I’m going to save our museum visit for tomorrow’s post. The Genocide Centre presents a lot of information via well-organized displays of text, photos, and video footage. It’s emotionally difficult to get through it all — how could humans do this to other humans? — but it’s an important visit.

Following our trip to the Genocide Centre, we move on to our next stop: Hotel Des Mille Collines, which is the property featured in Hotel Rwanda. The film is about the real-life hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina who harbored over a thousand Tutsi refugees as they were being hunted by the Hutu militia.

It’s a beautiful property. Very upscale and probably out of my price range (says the girl who’s camping in a tent for 3+ months).

In the movie there’s a memorable scene that takes place at the hotel pool — the water supply is shut off and guests start using the pool water for drinking because it’s all they have left.

Our group dines at the hotel restaurant next to the pool. It’s lovely but the mood is somber following our hours at the Genocide Centre, as we discuss the atrocities we’ve learned about.

Everyone smiles big for the camera, however:

Some people order the national Rwandan beer, Primus:

Lunch is excellent.

This artwork catches my eye — beautiful, right?

We make one final stop before heading back to Uganda. On the way I snap these photos out the window — the street names are unique and a local telecom company has sponsored trash cans on every corner.

We stop at this location where twenty years ago 10 Belgian commandos (who were here to protect the Rwandan Prime Minister) were attacked by a hundred soldiers. The Belgians had only two weapons and held down this bullet-riddled structure for hours before they finally lost their lives.

These ten pillars stand in remembrance of the ten Belgians who died.

We fight several hours of traffic to get back to the Uganda border.

In Rwanda they drive on the right side of the road, but in Uganda they drive on the left. This sign posted on the Uganda side of the border is your reminder to switch over.

Thanks to Acacia Africa for discounting the 18-day Mountain Gorillas to the Mara tour in exchange for blogging and photography. Opinions are my own.