Iby’Iwacu cultural village is a celebration of Rwandan traditional art, culture and history in connection with the conservation of mountain gorillas in volcanoes national park. For tourists who want to do a cultural tour, Iby’Iwacu provides a unique rural village setting to participate in various authentic activities presented by Rwandan local people including former poachers, traditional dancers, artists and BaTwa pygmies.
There is an array of cultural displays that allow you to interact with local people and learn their lifestyles such as the showcasing of marriage traditions, dressing as king and Queen, dancing and drumming, banana beer brewing, cooking food. A day tour will not only allow tourists to learn about traditional ways of living, but also how gorilla tourism benefits people. If you opt to stay, accommodation is provided on fullboard and the night will even be more fun featuring a campfire, storytelling and traditional dinner.
To give you an overview, Iby’Iwacu was set up as an innitiative to enable local people engage in sustainable tourism through farming (such as fruit and vegetable growing, bee keeping, rearing of goat and pigs), art and craft making. with such enterprises, people earn income and suport their families which has played a big part in conservation of gorillas. It goes without saying that people who used to carry out poaching of wildlife or illegal cutting of timber, can no longer afford to do so because of the benefits that tourism brings to them.