Car-free day in Kigali

Christophe with skateboarder at the city centre roundabout

There is a wonderful new tradition in Kigali of closing the road between the Kigali city centre and the airport (over 10 km) one Sunday each month. Christophe and I set out from the CASIEF apartment and walked about 15 km this morning.  It was not all car-free but much of it was.  It was lovely to walk along streets that are normally full of traffic but this time with only the sounds of birds, people running and singing from the St Famille Church.  This church, once a place of atrocity, it could not have been more peaceful today.

St Famille Church

This street into the city centre is normally chockablock with traffic

We passed through the valley and up the hill to Kimihurura

Near Kimihurura roundabout

At various points along the way, there were large gatherings of people doing aerobics to music.  There were many cyclists, a rare sight in Kigali due to traffic.

Yay! Cyclists

Here's our walking route.  Note that CASIEF apartments is on google maps! We did a loop, as indicated.