Day 5: Traveling & Butare
After the weight of the past few days, Day 5 was a welcome shift. Mostly a transit day, and honestly I needed that. Packed up at Chez Lando in Kigali and hit the road for Butare — officially renamed Huye, though most people still use the old name. About a two-and-a-half-hour drive, manageable by Rwandan road standards.
Made a stop at a supermarket along the way. Chance to stretch and pick up supplies. One of those small moments that grounds you — even on a trip built around very heavy subject matter, regular life keeps happening around you. People grocery shop. People go to work. The country is not frozen in 1994, and it's important to keep that in mind.
The King's Palace
Main stop for the day was the King's Palace in Nyanza. One of the more surprising cultural visits of the entire trip. The site has two main structures sitting side by side, and the contrast between them is the whole story.
The first is the traditional royal hut. Enormous, beautifully built, entirely organic in its construction and design. Everything about it was rooted in the land and in Rwandan tradition. Walking through it you got a sense of how the monarchy lived and functioned before outside influence arrived.
Right next to it: the colonial palace. Built by the Germans in the 1930s, European-style, visually incongruous with everything around it. The two buildings standing side by side are a before-and-after of colonization. One represents centuries of Rwandan cultural continuity. The other represents the disruption of it.
Royal Traditions
Our guide walked us through some of the traditions of the Rwandan monarchy. The king could have up to 40 wives, but only one held the title of queen mother — a distinction with real political weight. The milk hut and the beer hut each had specific ceremonial functions within the compound. We tasted sorghum used to make traditional beer. Small details that started to add up into a larger picture of how daily and ceremonial life worked here.
The ceremonial cattle were a highlight I hadn't anticipated. These weren't ordinary cows. Long curved horns, trained to respond to specific whistles and songs. The handlers would whistle a pattern or sing a particular melody and the cattle moved accordingly. There was something almost musical about watching it. The relationship between handler and animal was clearly built over years, and the cultural significance ran deep.
Settling into Butare
Arrived at the hotel in Butare late afternoon. Slight downgrade from Chez Lando, especially the bathroom. But after the day we had, not going to complain. A roof, a bed, and running water. More than enough.
All in all, Day 5 was a good reset. A travel day with some genuine cultural discovery mixed in. The King's Palace alone made the drive worthwhile, and it set the stage for what was coming next in the southern part of the country.
