It is Thursday afternoon and the first day of the 2013 Rwanda International Trade Fair.

Human traffic is generally low save for the ticket sellers lurking outside the Gikondo Expo grounds. Then gradually, as the clock ticks towards 5.00pm, two queues start growing at the only entrance – one for men and the other for women as all goes through a mandatory security body search. 

As the suns sets, crowds inside the exhibition ground start to swell, but evidently concentrated in a handful of particular spots.

Forget about the ‘Business Corner,’ where potential buyers, manufactures and foreign business people are supposed to sit and ‘cut deals.’ It is not even the strategically located Inyange milk stall or the brightly coloured and decorated telecommunication company stalls, with the latest communication gadgets on display, that attract crowds.

It is beer, soda, nyama choma and grilled chicken that are the main attraction.

Bralirwa

Never mind that its location is not all that prime , but those who know the great taste of Primus and other brands by the country’s leading alcohol brewer, will sniff around for it at the deep end of the expo grounds.

Here, beer and Soda literally flow freely at the lowest price on the market. With blaring music and sometimes punctuated with performances by local artists and queen dances, Bralirwa is likely to hold a discerning expo visitor until police issues orders for everybody to vacate. That is towards the wee hours of the night. 

Skol

The makers of Rwanda’s sugar-less beer brands are also close to the hearts of many expo-goers.  With Virunga, the newest brand on the market, Skol has something new to showcase. That is in addition to Gatano and their flagship brand, Skol. Perhaps this explains the frenzy around the rather noisy spot. Here, too, expo-goers are likely to stay put until the last bottle of beer has been emptied.

Meat and chicken grill 

Very strategically located near beer and soda stalls, these two are crowd-pullers. And this is despite the smoky atmosphere around them. For a minimum of Frw1,000 you can walk away with a ‘stick’ or brochette or a piece of chicken.

Dinner or lunch is served by the restaurants that follow their customers to the expo. For that reason, these eating places are the busiest at super or lunch time. You will certainly find the best of Rwandan delicacies such as Isombe – a recipe made from green cassava leaves. 

Steamed rice 

Hidden deep inside the main exhibition tent, is a small stall manned by Shuckler and his colleague. The expression on their sweat-dripping foreheads reveals the men have been busy. They are in the expo to market a kind of saucepan with compartments to steam rice potatoes, vegetables and chicken simultaneously.

In a record 20 minutes, you can have your meal ready irrespective of whether you are using firewood, a charcoal stove or a gas burner for cooking. Here, group after another is taken through a demonstration whose climax is the tasting of the food.