Since its inception, a few years back, the cultural tourism week has brought about positive gains to communities through its focus on bringing Tourism, Conservation and community for a sustainable development.
The event brings community, conservation and tourism stakeholders together for sustainable development around the Volcanoes National Park. Through the cultural tourism week communities have a chance to exchange ideas and learn from one another how they can use their talents, culture, and other local tools for development through effective sustainable planning, maximizing social and economic benefits to locals, and reducing tourism’s negative impact to cultural and environmental heritages.
During the event local community members will be happy to share their success stories concerning harnessing tourism as a means of socio-economic and sustainable development. Apart from celebrating viable conservation efforts that the local community has undertaken, attendants will also have the chance to meet different tourism and conservation players from a broad spectrum in the industry who will provide significant details about the history of ecotourism around the Virunga Massif, and the greater need to promote awareness of ecotourism concepts and approaches the government and private institutions have undertaken to encourage growth of ecotourism.
Rwanda is a small country that prides itself in its rich and diversified cultural heritage. Passed from generation to generation, they include customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions and values among others, and often expressed as either tangible or intangible cultural heritage.
Our community members will exhibit hands-on experience of how Red Rocks is keeping our cultural heritage alive. There will be a show of how local community benefits from tourism activities together with the ways we can preserve our pristine culture for the benefit of future generation. Visitors will participate in different cultural expressions like basket weaving (The AGASEKE), Pottery and the process of making the banana beer (URWAGWA) among others.
We launched an art gallery at Kinigi Community Commercial Complex, with a mission to promote art for conservation. Consequently, we have scheduled events where guests will be introduced to conservation-themed art exhibits, live painting demos, and actively take part in the demos by doing their own painting and taking it home as a souvenir. Furthermore, our host of activities will include a football tournament organized with conservation education in mind.
Football enthusiasts may join the youth on the foot of the Virungas and enjoy football even as they showcase their talents. You can watch the finals of this exciting Kwita Izina Volcanoes National Park tournament, and late in the evening be part of an exhilarating Crazy Night of the Gorillas at Red Rocks Cultural Center in Nyakinama village, 8 kilometers from Musanze Town.
On 6th September is the Kwita Izina annual event, we will join the rest to celebrate the success of conservation of the mountain gorillas, 25 baby gorillas are to be named. We will organize a party at Red Rocks Rwanda where one can join other dignitaries, friends of the gorillas, tourists and the locals as we bid farewell to those who attended this important day of the Kwita Izina.
