Ibyiwacu Cultural Village/Gorilla Guardian’s Village Tour
For the Ultimate cultural experience during a 2-day or 3-day gorilla trek in Rwanda, the best way to connect with the locals and learn their traditions is by visiting the Ibyiwacu Cultural Village to immerse yourself in Rwanda’s Local Culture.
Ibyiwacu Cultural Village, also known as the Gorilla GuardiansVillage, in the vicinity of Volcanoes National Park, offers Unique Rwandan cultural Experiences like singing and dancing, traditional healers, homestays, and the history of Rwanda with a replica of the King’s Palace at the foothills of Sabyinyo volcano.
Here, you learn the story of a young conservationist from the community, Edwin Sebuhoro, who convinced poachers to lay down their poaching tools and reform, turning them into Gorilla Guardians now protecting the Mountain Gorillas.
The communities at Ibyiwacu Village use their skills to showcase a preserved Rwandan culture, like Ancient hunting skills, traditional dancing, basket weaving, banana beer making, food cooking classes, and Rwandan traditional Kindom customs.
In traditional ancient Rwandan kingdoms, kings held power with full authority to decide anything, including courts and the allocation of resources. Local people accorded him full respect, offered him gifts, served in cultivating his farms, and cared for his cattle. The kings in Rwanda had the highest authority in the country, made decisions, and implemented them without questioning by the subjects.
At the Replica of Kings Palace at Ibyiwacu village, you will learn more information about different clan subjects and cultural treasures. On this village tour, if you are interested, you will be crowned as a king, exercising a king’s power ceremony that the entire village will attend.
The energetic Intore will dance with spears culturally to protect you and the king, and drumming during the ceremony will allow you to learn drumming and dancing. This tour also brings you closer to a traditional healer with knowledge of different plants, roots, and leaves used to give traditional medicine to sick people in the village.
This Village tour will introduce how to grind sorghum and make a local porridge or beer on a grinding stone; also, learn how to cook a local Rwandan dish and eat with your hands as a Rwandan custom.
The Batwa people at the cultural centre will sing you gorilla conservation songs, demonstrate life in the forests and how they survived on game hunting skills with spears, bows and arrows, and fruits gatherings in their former home before eviction for Gorilla conservation with hunting skills and trap setups for small animals like antelopes and share their pottery skills now.
Estimated time: 2-3 hours.
The cost per person: $30