Rwanda has a number of catchy tourist sites and activities that make it a notable destination. The Nyungwe National Park with its canopy walk; Musanze’s renowned gorilla trekking; and Akagera National Park’s big five are some of the relished wonders that the country has to offer to tourists. With the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot has been changing due to the preventive measures put in place to limit the spread of the virus. The latest of such measures was the declaration of a 15-day lockdown for Kigali, and this was in addition to the already existing inter-district travel restrictions. Despite all this, the country’s arms are still open for tourists – both local and foreign, facilitating them to visit various places to experience its beauty. Here are six things you need to know if you want to tour Rwanda during this time of restrictions. 1. Requirements for international tourists If you are a foreign tourist, contact your tours and travel company to assist you with getting permissions to tour the country amid restrictions Before making travel to Rwanda, there are general requirements including uploading a negative Covid-19 test certificate on www.rbc.gov.rw – the official website of Rwanda Biomedical Centre, and making a USD 60 payment online for a PCR test that will be done on you upon arrival at the Kigali International Airport. For tourist purposes, you need to go a few more steps, which may require you to contact your tours and travels company to assist, before you can jet in. You will need to provide your tours and travel agent with key information in regard to the destinations you want to visit within the country, the time you want to spend there, among other things. With such information, the agent will design make an itinerary for you and submit it to the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), so that they will give you greenlight to travel to your choice destinations in the country, despite the travel restrictions that are in place. You may be required by your tours and travel operator to make a partial payment to them online, so that they will do these services for you. 2. Domestic tourists If you are a domestic tourist, you need to fill a tourism movement facilitation form on RDB website People living in Rwanda who want to move from one district to another for touristic purposes are required to fill a tourism movement facilitation form found on the Rwanda Development Board website. The form is designed to assist in the collection of information from people who are applying for facilitation in tourism activities that may require movement during the time of restrictions. You need to feed in information like the destinations that you want to visit within the country, dates of visiting, number plates of the vehicles that will be used in the travel, among other things. In addition, you need to have a negative Covid-19 test done within 120 hours. It is a relatively short document that you can fill within a few minutes, and wait for feedback. According to John Mugabo, a tours and travel agent working with Macario Safaris, it may take short time to get approval from RDB, but he advises that it is better to apply two days before your intended travel. Again, for this process, domestic tourists also have an option of doing it through a tours and travels agency. 3. No police clearance required Once approved by Rwanda Development Board, you don’t need permission from police to travel to the destinations you are bound to for tourist purposes. This applies for both foreign and domestic tourists. 4. Stick to your itinerary It is difficult to change your destinations once they have been approved by RDB For foreign tourists, it is unlikely that the destinations that RDB has approved will be changed particularly in terms of adding another place. 5. No interaction with local communities Tourists’ interaction with local communities no longer on the to do list Prior to the pandemic, tourists would have the opportunity to interact with local communities which treated them to traditional dances, songs among other pleasant activities, but this is no longer the case due to the preventive measures in place. 6. Approval process is free of charge The approval services provided by RDB to allow tourists to visit various places in the country are free of charge, whether done by an individual or by a travel agency.
