Travel

A Thousand Hills, A Thousand Smiles, and A Thousand Pictures

By Michael Eisinger • June 22, 2014 • 3 min read

Nearly 4,700 photographs over 19 days. Not a typo. When I got home, I spent weeks going through them, and the thing that kept hitting me was how much they brought back — not just what things looked like, but what they sounded like, felt like, smelled like. Photography became the way I processed this trip. These are the images that did it best.

Rwanda, the way I saw it.

Kigali: First Impressions

Landed and immediately started taking it all in. Kigali is clean, green, relentlessly hilly, and nothing like what most Americans picture when they think of Central Africa.

Welcome to Rwanda billboard in Kigali — Welcome to Rwanda.

View overlooking Kigali from the Natural History museum — Overlooking Kigali from the Natural History museum.

Sign at the gate of Hotel des Mille Collines — The Hotel des Mille Collines. The real Hotel Rwanda.

The Memorials

The trip was built around studying the 1994 genocide. Four major memorial sites. Each one left a different mark. No way to summarize what that experience is like — you just have to go.

Walkway and grounds at the Kigali Genocide Memorial — The grounds of the Kigali Genocide Memorial.

Display inside the Kigali Genocide Memorial museum — Inside the memorial museum.

20-year genocide anniversary commemoration signage at Murambi — Murambi Genocide Memorial. We were there for the 20th anniversary.

Michael with the tour guide at Murambi, who was also a genocide survivor — With our guide at Murambi. He told us at the end of the tour that he was a survivor.

The People

Everywhere we went, people greeted us. Kids waved from the side of the road. Strangers went out of their way to make us feel welcome. Constant and genuine, the whole trip.

Michael taking a selfie with a growing crowd of Rwandan children — It started as a selfie with a few kids. It did not stay that way.

Aerial view of the selfie crowd with dozens of children surrounding the camera — What selfie madness looks like from above.

Michael with Ildephonse in Huye town — With Ildephonse in Huye after a long conversation about life, genocide, and moving forward.

The group joining in a traditional dance at the reconciliation village — At the reconciliation village, everyone got up and joined in. No exceptions.

The Wildlife

Nyungwe and Volcanoes delivered some of the best wildlife experiences of my life. Tracking chimpanzees through dense rainforest at dawn. Walking a suspension bridge 200 feet above the canopy. Golden monkeys within arm's reach in the bamboo.

Chimpanzee spotted during early morning tracking in Nyungwe Forest — We found him. Early morning chimpanzee tracking in Nyungwe Forest.

Golden monkey peeking out at hikers in Volcanoes National Park — A golden monkey checking us out in Volcanoes National Park.

Canopy walk suspension bridge stretching across the Nyungwe rainforest — The canopy walk at Nyungwe. Yes, it swayed.

Colobus monkeys in Nyungwe Forest — Part of a troop of 400+ Colobus monkeys in Nyungwe. They were everywhere.

The Land

The hills really are everywhere. Not a saying. You're always going up or down. Rwanda is one of the most visually striking places I've ever been.

Beautiful Rwandan hillside landscape — Every turn reveals another view like this.

Sunrise view from hotel room over Lake Kivu with fishermen coming to shore — View from my hotel room. Fishermen singing as they come to shore from a night of fishing on Lake Kivu.

Volcano shrouded in fog during golden monkey tracking hike — One of the volcanoes, barely visible through the fog.

View from a boat on Lake Kivu — Lake Kivu from the boat.

The Crew

The group jumping for joy on a Rwandan hillside with hills in the background — We LOVE Rwanda.

Two people from the group dressed in traditional Rwandan dance costumes performing under a pavilion — The fierce warriors go to battle.

Looking Back

Nineteen days is both a long time and not nearly enough. Rwanda rewards attention. The more you look, the more you see. The more you listen, the more you understand. Went as a graduate student studying the genocide. Came back as someone who had experienced a place that is so much more than the worst thing that happened to it.

The smiles were real. Rwanda earned its nickname.

Thank you to everyone who followed along and sent messages during the trip. Meant more than you know.

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Michael Eisinger

Program manager, nonprofit founder, and LGBTQ+ travel writer based in Silver Spring, MD. I’ve spent over a decade managing programs across nonprofit, healthcare, and medical education — and another decade finding out where the bears go. I write about travel that’s real, destinations that are genuinely queer-friendly, and the places that changed how I see things.

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