It was exciting when the Algerian diplomatic mission in Kigali confirmed my trip to Algeria last week, to cover the African Business and Investments Forum held in the capital, Algiers, last week.

If you want to know why this was exciting, then it suffice to say that this was my first trip to Northern Africa and it really pushed the envelope towards paying my natural debt of exploring as many parts of my home continent as possible.

I have been to different regions of the continent, including in the southern part (South Africa), central-Western part (Cameroon), the centre (Central African Republic), and the East (Ethiopia) as well as my home central-Eastern region (Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, and Burundi).

So, what did I find interesting in Algiers or Alger like the French speakers call it?

Well, the place was no different from other capitals in the developed western world with posh and large highways and relatively new cars while the weather felt pretty much like the Canadian, American, or European fall season as it was neither too cold nor too hot.

That didn’t surprise me since Algeria is very close to Europe and it made perfect sense when the weather in Algiers and the blackish colour of the soil here felt and looked a lot like Berlin’s in Germany when I travelled there one spring in 2011.

For people who don’t like or aren’t obsessed with talking about the weather, even if I know there are quite a small number of them, let me switch to something that could be more appealing: food.

Most Rwandans wouldn’t have trouble with food in Algiers since they eat a lot of rice, bread, known vegetables like green peas and carrots, as well as chicken and beef.

The food flavour is a bit similar to what we eat in Rwanda and it became clear to me that we indeed got these things from Arab and European settlers in East Africa since Algerians have both the Arabic and the European cultures.

They are naturally an Arab population that was subjected to French colonisation for 132 years (1830-1962).

However, there is an Algerian staple food that is very famous which couldn’t immediately suit my taste even if I don’t feel guilty since I would have been the first Rwandan to fall in love with it according to some of my friends who are familiar with it.

That’s ‘couscous’, a type of cereal they boil with veggies or meat and serve it with soup. That concoction didn’t work well with my stomach since I had the psychological impression that I would be just having meat with porridge.

But I found solace in sipping mint tea, a sort of green tea that is essentially herbs that grow across the coastline of the Mediterranean sea and having it has become part of social life for people living across northern African countries that touch on the sea such as Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia among others.

For those who like coffee, Algiers also seems to be a good place to abuse it as it’s served more than alcohol which remains a prohibited drink within the mainstream Algerian culture as it is predominantly Islamic.

And what do I tell urban planners and policymakers in Rwanda who have been urging Rwandans to build going up and collectively in order to save space? 

Well, just organise trips for Rwandans in the government and the private sector to go and visit Algiers to see how almost the entire city is built up as apartments. They will come back home with a better understanding of the idea and start implementing it faster.

By the way – most Rwandans would also use the trip to Algiers to revive their French language proficiency as they would have to learn, exchange, and have fun there ‘en français’ since most folks there don’t seem to know what the heck English is all about even if they are now more eager than before to trade with the rest of Africa.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw