Butare (HUYE today) was the largest and most important city in Rwanda prior to 1965, when it lost out to the more centrally located Kigali, 135km to its north, as the capital of independent Rwanda. Today the site of several academic institutions, including the country's largest university, Huye ( Butare) is still regarded to be the intellectual and cultural pulse of Rwanda. It is also an attractively compact and sedate town of shady avenues emanating from a main street lined with comfortable small hotels and breezy terrace restaurants.
ButaRE (HUye)
There is an excellent historical and cultural museum in town, one of the best in East Africa in fact, well worth a visit.
The cultural significance of the Huye area is further underlined by a visit to nearby Nyabisindu, formerly known as Nyanza, the traditional seat of Rwanda’s feudal monarchy.
Out on the Gikongoro road is a rather grim reminder of the genocide, a defunct school whose classrooms are filled with line upon line of skeletons.
The protected area that contains the gorillas is spread across three countries ... in Rwanda it is the Parc National de Volcans, whilst on the Uganda side is Mgahinga National Park. The DRC portion can be visited now too.
