Driving in Rwanda
We rented an SUV and are driving around. Driving in Rwanda is an adventure not to be missed! It is actually a pleasant experience unlike driving in Southern California. The key to driving in Rwanda is the same as the key to being successful in life here in Africa. Maintain the same pace as everyone else and remain calm. If you are delayed, just relax and wait, something will happen. Let go of your former killer instincts and let the pace of African time enter your body and your instincts will adjust. Just like in capoeira, when you first get to the roda, do not just jump right in. Take a ride and watch, observe the rules of the house, and then get behind the wheel (or roda).
There are lots of motorbikes called mototaxis in Kigali that serve as taxis. super cheap. the most expensive is $2 to go anywhere in the city. They are everywhere at all times going around you or in front or behind like bees buzzing around. The rules of the road are unwritten but they exist.
Driving rules as Eric Gerber sees them.
1. Don’t drive too fast
2. Don’t drive too slow
3. Stop signs are optional (except when there is a policeman around)
4. Most drivers are patient and it is ok to make someone slow down a little bit to let you in when making a left or right, otherwise, you may be waiting a while.
5. Respect the police
6. The road is usually full of pedestrians on both sides and as a vehicle you have the right of way, but sometimes they just causally cross in front of you in a suicidal fashion. See rule 1.
7. Never look at your phone while driving See rule 6.
8. It is actually safer to ignore the motorcycles when making turns left, right or even going straight through and intersection. they will just go around you. If you treat them like a vehicle and wait for them, you will cause more problems.
9. Rich people in fancy cars feel that they are entitled to drive under their own rules and refuse to wait for anything. They will cut you off often.
10. If someone is driving a V8 Land Cruiser, show respect. That person is probably a big shot.
11. Never get upset. Remain calm at all times. It’s going to be fine! You are in Rwanda!!
12. Never drive outside Kigali at night
13. Last rule and most important listen to your wife at all times
We drove outside Kigali at night once on way home from the rainforest so that I could get back to work the next morning. Once the sun goes down, the devil comes out. During the day, there are policemen every 1-2 km checking your speed. Most folks drive slow and reasonable. Little did we know prior to driving, at night, the police go home, and the insanity begins. Without the police, people just drive like there is no tomorrow. The roads are always curving as you are always driving up or down a hill, there are people walking on the side of the road at all hours of the night, it is pitch black, some folks are drunk, others keep their lights off, there are big vehicles going real slow, and people are passing as though this is their last day on Earth. It felt like I went from driving in paradise during the day to driving in hell at night. It felt like a movie and the devil popped up in the passenger seat and every time I almost hit someone or got hit by a passing vehicle or motorcycle, he would laugh, HOHOHO! that was another close one! as the nursery rhymes are blasting on the speakers and we are all singing them to keep Sierra happy. We had been driving for 6 hours already. Oh, did I mention it was raining? It was nuts. I wish we had thought to video the experience but we were too involved in trying to stay alive to think about it. When I got back to work the next day, I told one of the Rwandan doctors about about our experience and he said, “OH!! So Sorry! I wish you told me about it beforehand. I never drive outside Kigali past 630. If I find myself outside the city at night, I find a place to sleep at night. It is too dangerous to drive at night.”