Iby’lwacu Cultural Experience now known as Gorilla Guardians Village

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Iby’Iwacu Village now known as Gorilla Guardians Village is close to the park making it a perfect send-off place to visit as you leave Volcanoes National Park. The activities here can be done whether you opt to stay a few hours or overnight. Are you searching for a new menu? Try preparing or even eating traditional meals and drinks such as banana juice or brew banana beer. For the botanist or medical personnel, try the local herbal medicine grown and brewed fresh from the garden.  After your curiosity has been quenched, unwind to the traditional music, dance, and folklore by the local people and dance troops.

A Rwanda cultural tour to Iby’Iwacu cultural village is one of the key features that make Rwanda safaris exceptional experiences. Iby’Iwacu Cultural Village gives you a rare chance to meet local people, in their environment, with a taste of our culture and traditions. Be genuinely welcomed by the community as a special visitor while they proudly present to you aspects of their traditions and beliefs. The only way to get to know people is by getting close and interacting with local people, and taking part in their daily activities and most of all with them.

Iby’Iwacu village is located around volcanoes national park in Nyabigoma, Kinigi, Musanze district, Northern Province- a visit to Iby’Iwacu to share with local people home and heritage treasures including lifestyles, activities, art, and crafts, and ways of living of the local people. Iby’Iwacu Cultural Village is committed to showcasing the ways of living, traditional lifestyles, and dances to tourists.

Willing to take part in Iby’lwacu village tour then take part in any of the following activities;

• Have a guided community walk to visit different sites and experience the everyday lives of the local people.
• The culture guide will take you to see the king’s house replica with all the houses’ interpretation of all parts and stories attached to this cultural treasure. Be enthroned and become a king for some time while exercising the king’s powers as presented to you by a village elder through a village ceremony.
  Enjoy different types of traditional dances like Intore dance and famous songs of the gorillas sang by the famous Ngayabatema while listening to the melody produced by traditional musical instruments including African drums.
• Listen to interesting stories about traditional medicine from a local traditional healer and get to know how medicinal trees, shrubs, grass are used to cure local patients.
• Interested in Rwanda’s education? Make an exploration to Rwanda’s local schools to experience the education life in a developing country–become a student by attending lessons/ a teacher by offering lessons (whatever your interest is, we got the satisfaction)
• Don’t leave this village without having a story to tell on Rwanda’s local foods-just have a local lunch or dinner with local people to see the skill they have when it comes to dinning time-No joke with food
• Attend a local banana brewery process and have a taste of local banana beer. Explore the Batwa pottery making experience, lessons, and engagement. Take part in daily life activities to get to know the local people, their culture, and their ways of living since the village is fascinating with a variety of cultural experiences.

Why visit Iby’wacu cultural experience?

• After a very successful and awesome gorilla tracking experience, it’s always good to know how the local communities living near the national park cope with life.
• 20% of the revenue generated from the gorilla tracking permit is usually given to the local community and visiting the local cultural village clients will get to know where and how these funds are used in the development of the neighboring communities.
• Direct employment, there are a few charged for this community walk which is paid directly to the community and this leads to the employment of local village guides who take you around to explore their cultural values and they get paid directly after the end of the tour.
• Education purposes, most community members are usually excited to see tourists and through direct interaction with the communities, they get to learn the western way of living and more importantly why they should protect the rain forest.

When to visit the Iby’lwacu cultural experience?

The community visits are usually open all day long, but the best time to visit is usually in the morning and late in the afternoon as the communities tent to go and farm in the early hours of the morning and late in the evening they go to local markets to sell their produce.