I woke up at 04:00, probably after having had so much practice at it recently. I did however get back to sleep until around 06:00 when I heard noise from the neighbours, and then the sound of rain outside. Eventually I decided it was time to go for breakfast. What there was to choose from was not worth the 15 USD I paid. I would have been better off going to Simba cafe or Bourbon cafe to get more variety for less. I had a yogurt and a slice of bread, and left to make sure everything was packed for the final time.

I relaxed in the room until 08:45 and checked out so I’d have ten minutes of waiting around before the tour company doing my city tour would pick me up. At least, that was the plan. After they were fifteen minutes late I messaged them to see if they were running late, and then fifteen minutes later messaged again. Fifteen minutes after that I messaged Viator, the company I’d booked the tour through, and got no response from them either. I continued to wait, sitting on the steps of the hotel.

Eventually Viator replied but just gave me a telephone number I couldn’t use as I only had data, and despite what I was told, it didn’t work on WhatsApp. I told them this but got no further reply from them. I wondered if their support agent had been an AI chatbot.

After more than an hour since the agreed time had passed, I decided to ask reception to look after my bags, stowed my camera in them, and went for a walk. Downtown Kigali is very westernised, and some of the buildings felt photography worthy. The temperature wasn’t too bad, so I had the idea of perhaps trying to see some of the sights myself. The Kandt House museum wasn’t that far away from what I could remember.

As I began my walk, I stumbled upon the car free zone where it looks like a high street right out of any European city. It even had one of those fancy signs of the place name for taking photos in front of. Here there’s photographers ready to take your picture. There’s plenty of sheds with either food or souvenirs too. It was like going around a German market. This was when I got a message from a different Viator advisor, asking how they could help. This time I was a little shorter, advising them to read the above, summarised it, and asked for a refund for a no show.

They said they’d contact the operator, so I thought I should walk back to the hotel. When I got close by there was still no response so I went to the Simba supermarket and bought a small tub of Biscoff ice cream, and a bottle of mango juice. There’d been a few spots of rain earlier, but that had not come to anything, so I sat outside and had the ice cream. Sitting around waiting had given Viator another hour to respond, but they did not, so I decided I was going to head to the museum as planned, and use my iPhone for photos rather than fetching my camera. If it wasn’t going to be sorted now, I’d sort a refund out when I got home tomorrow.

The museum was about a twenty minute walk down hill, and was actually very easy to find. I passed a sign that said Nyarugenge Prison, and it looked like it may have had some historical significance as it looked like they were developing it into a large church and would be incorporating the gates into the design.

The entrance fee for the Kandt House museum was 1,200 RWF, but they had no change for a 5000 RWF note (change for a 5000 RWF note was something I frequently faced issues with, so often didn’t bother with getting change for), so after signing the book I was told to go back for the change after the tour. As my handwriting of my email address wasn’t legible, they insisted on me telling them exactly what it was.

I soon found out that Richard Kandt, for whom this house is named, was a German explorer who had claimed to have found the source of the river Nile in Nyungwe forest in Rwanda. The house was part of a site where he had administered the country from after the Germans had claimed the land under the Berlin Conference of 1884. He’d left the country after the outbreak of the First World War, and never returned due to dying of tuberculosis. This museum narrates the story of life in Rwanda before, during, and after European colonisation, and the drive for Pan-Africanism.

The guide from the front desk then took me round the wildlife portion of this, where they have a single freshwater Nile crocodile, and a room full of different snake species. They have 101 species in the country that they know of, and only seven are venomous - some of which are represented here. They have a black mamba who had only recently laid an unfertilised egg. They also had a Gaboon viper which is very dangerous, but is now extinct in Rwanda. They can however still be found in the Congo.

On my way back to the hotel I had a closer look at the Nyarugenge Prison after noticing the castle-like structure, and peered through the gate carefully. I thought maybe there’d be a guard I could ask about taking a photo, but there was nobody. There was a guardhouse, so I glanced at the window, still nobody. I took a closer look and thought maybe this place was completely abandoned. I decided to walk down closer to the former prison, and would see if anyone stopped me; at least I could plead ignorance if anyone did.

As I got closer I heard a bike taxi behind me so stopped and turned to watch it. I saw someone on foot walking in my direction as well, so I made it clear I was taking photos of the prison exterior. They carried on walking past, and I could see there were buildings round the corner that seemed to be lived in. I figured it was likely there was a pedestrian route through here to somewhere else.

Eventually I could see not just that the prison was closed, but behind the front wall it was in ruins. This prison was one of the earliest prisons in Rwanda, built during Belgian colonial times. Before its closure it was reported to be overcrowded, and the conditions were harsh. I'd unintentionally found and photographed a second piece of their colonial history.

The walk back from there wasn't too bad uphill, and I passed a coffee shop I found amusing - the logo looked like Starbucks, but the character had been replaced with a mountain gorilla.

Minutes after I arrived back, the rain came back with a vengeance. I asked the reception to order me a taxi, and ten minutes later I was on my way to the airport. The rain got heavier and heavier, so it was lucky I wasn’t out doing a tour in that. I then went through the airport entrance security quickly, and paid the driver 32,000 RWF for the trip with a tip.

I’d got hours before I could check in, and was told I wasn’t allowed inside the airport departures before 19:00. I suppose this was due to there being so few flights out of Kigali it wasn’t worth keeping the airport fully staffed at all times. I sat in the Bourbon cafe, getting bitten by mosquitoes, eating a cinnamon swirl and some of the crisps I’d packed. Time really did pass slowly, so I used this time to think over everything I’d seen on this trip. The tour company also contacted me to apologise, saying they’d got the days mixed up.

“I truly apologize for the confusion—there was a scheduling error on our side, as we mistakenly had your tour listed for tomorrow instead of today. I’m very sorry for the inconvenience this caused..”

They offered it for tomorrow instead, but of course I’d be back home then. I’d managed to see two of the museums they would have covered, but missed out on Mount Kigali, Nyandungu Eco-Park, and the Kimironko market. It’s unlikely I’ll return, so these would remain unfinished. Instead, they refunded me for the tour, and shortly after I got emails about ‘Irembo’ which I gathered were likely for a museum tour.

One croissant later and I felt I’d snacked as much as I could. It wasn't the healthiest day of eating, but then, there’d been a few days like that on this trip. Sadly they weren’t serving hot food due to issues with the kitchen, so it was the best I could do. The time did at least allow me to fully charge my devices in case I’d need them during the flight or journey home. At 19:00, close to six hours after I’d arrived, I headed over to the entrance to departures, hoping I would be let in. The sun had set an hour ago, and it was getting busy now. I imagined most of their departures must be in the evening. They insisted I was very early, and I’d need to wait another thirty minutes. This time I listened to someone English complaining about Kenyan Airlines moving a flight to twelve hours later and not sorting accommodation. I was hopeful this wouldn’t happen to me.

As soon as the time was up I tried again, but was then made to wait another ten minutes. Finally though, I was let inside the airport. I was the first person at the baggage drop, but it was still slow. The passport control, and security however were incredibly quick which meant I got to the Bourbon cafe with ninety minutes to spare before the stated boarding time. Even better, they were serving hot food! I ordered a spaghetti bolognese for 10,500 RWF and was glad to finally be having my first proper meal of the day.

I knew the others flying back tonight would be along shortly as I’d seen their messages about shared taxis. Not long after I’d finished eating, I saw Andy at Duty Free, and found the others were sitting in the seating area ready. I stood around talking to them for a while, and then bought a fridge magnet from the store there for 3000 RWF. Whilst I was doing this, someone came out to tell us the flight was boarding and they were waiting for us. It was still another thirty minutes until the stated time though!

When we got to the gate we found they weren’t actually boarding, and it’d be at least another thirty minutes until we actually did board. The boarding method was actually quite novel as it can be considered to be random - which according to Mythbuster Adam Savage, is actually the most efficient way to board. They were getting people to line up based upon where they were sitting at the gate.

The flight wasn’t quite as empty as the flight out here, but I still managed to get a spare seat next to me so I could attempt to sleep. When they served the food I had the bread roll, and that was about it - I wasn’t that hungry now, but was very thirsty as I’d forgotten to buy some water at the terminal. Now it was time to at least try to sleep.