This is a place to arrive quietly. Both belong to the group of four genocide memorials, Nyamata, Murambi, Gisozi in Kigali and Bisesero, that UNESCO inscribed on the World Heritage list in 2023, recognising them as places of remembrance of the genocide against the Tutsi, in which some eight hundred thousand to a million people were murdered in about a hundred days.
At Murambi, a technical school on a hilltop became a killing site when tens of thousands of people who had been told they would be protected there were attacked. At Nyamata, the church still holds the clothes of the victims piled on the pews, and the walls and roof bear the marks of grenades and bullets. Both memorials are harrowing, and visitors should be prepared for what they will see. Guides, many of them survivors or relatives of victims, explain the history with great dignity. Photography is often restricted, and respectful dress and behaviour are expected.
The journey to the south of Rwanda takes you through a landscape of extraordinary beauty, which makes the history all the harder to grasp. The country is known as the land of a thousand hills, and the roads wind endlessly up and down steep slopes covered in terraced fields, banana groves and tea plantations, with views over valleys and ridges in every direction. The main roads are generally well paved and well maintained, though they are busy with minibuses, trucks, bicycles carrying heavy loads and pedestrians walking along the edges.
To the west of Nyamagabe lies Nyungwe National Park, a vast mountain rainforest home to chimpanzees and many other primates, with a road crossing the forest that is one of the most spectacular in East Africa. Nyamagabe and Huye, the former Butare, have fuel, food and accommodation. Rwanda has strict rules on plastic bags and on speed limits, which are enforced by cameras and police. Ride carefully, take time to absorb what you have seen, and remember that the people you meet live with this history every day.