Rwanda hit by landslides

Landslide hit areas considered as some Rwanda’s most important traffic artery which is the highway from  Kigali to Musanze and another from  Gisenyi where half of the road was blocked  making so hard for travelers to sue the road.    This is a very important road and spending hours blocked affects so many people including the tourists as well as the farmers as it is used for trade, say bringing in agricultural products to the markets in Kigali and take out supply to the areas upcountry. Also it is the main access route for tourists to reach the Volcanoes National Park where gorilla tracking is on offer. 

According to a tourism source in Kigali, a section of nearly 100 meters was washed away in a land slide, following the heavy rains that have been pouring in Rwanda and the rest of the Eastern Africa.

According to the sources, this is a very important road in Rwanda which is in use all the time thought the year. Though there are a few options, they are very wide detours which are not feasible.  Because  buses and other vehicles are stuck and can not cross, buses have to swap travelers, those form Kigali have to carry their bags and walk past the stretch and then get on the bus on the other side to continues with their journey to Gisenyi or Musanze and those from Musanze to the same to get to Kigali. The bus operators use mobile phones to communicate to colleagues on the other end to make arrangements so that local travelers and even tourists can at least reach Kigali if they have to fly home or reach the park for their gorilla experience.

There is no official document that has been issued by RDB’s Tourism and Conservation Department as to the logistics involved should tourists fail to get to the Kinigi park headquarters for briefing at 7 am before they go for tracking despite the fact  it is understood that this emergency situation. This has triggered a reaction of flexibility for those coming late or else not arriving until very much later that day due to the inconvenience along the way. Meanwhile, other sources state that they were planning on creating a bypass but again this might take about two weeks while a full repair of the section might take several months because of the steep terrain therefore should be worked on carefully to prevent further landslides from happening. Hopefully, this will not affect the tourism industry that much.

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