Amakoro Songa Lodge stands on seven acres of lawn and black volcanic rock in Kinigi, northern Rwanda, with Sabyinyo, Muhabura and Gahinga filling the skyline. Farmland and village lanes run up to the hedges. The seven o’clock briefing at Kinigi park headquarters is three kilometres away, minutes from the lodge.
Farmland and village lanes run up to the hedges.
Rosette Chantal Rugamba imagined it sitting on the black volcanic rocks that gave the lodge its name, after a guest she was guiding found nowhere in Kinigi to spend the night. She was running Rwanda’s tourism and parks office at the time, and later became deputy CEO of the Rwanda Development Board. She opened the lodge under Songa Africa, the company she founded, and most of the staff come from the village.
The cottages are built from the volcanic stone of the place itself, timber-framed, with beds of rough-hewn logs. Each has a fireplace and a terrace facing the volcanoes, and a bathroom with a deep tub and a rain shower. Hot water bottles go under the sheets at night, and warm foot baths wait for guests coming back muddy from the bamboo forest.
Drummers and singers from the village come up to the flames.
Vegetables, herbs and greens come out of the lodge’s kitchen gardens, and much of what they do not supply comes from farms nearby. Dinner might be laid on the terrace, on the lawn, or beside the fire pit, wherever the evening suggests. Drummers and singers from the village come up to the flames. Cobbled paths run between the cottages, past volcanic boulders left where they lie.
Trekkers report to the Volcanoes National Park offices at Kinigi by seven, for the briefing and the assignment of a gorilla family, and the short drive means breakfast can be taken slowly beforehand. Permits are issued by the Rwanda Development Board, guides are compulsory, and the minimum age for gorilla trekking is fifteen. The same offices send people off in other directions too: golden monkey tracking, the long climbs up Bisoke and Karisimbi, and the walk to Dian Fossey’s grave at Karisoke.
The Amakoro Women’s Association grew out of the lodge’s early years. The baskets they weave are sold in the lodge boutique, with the proceeds returned to the weavers. A linked youth association trains the teenagers of those same weaving families for work in hospitality and conservation. Guests plant and name an indigenous tree during their stay.
Evenings at this altitude turn cold enough for the fire and an extra blanket.
Montane birds work the hedges and the vegetable beds, and small monkeys move through the trees. On clear mornings the mist lifts off the peaks, seen from the lawns or a cottage terrace over coffee before the drive to Kinigi. The land beyond the hedges is farmed by the village, so there is no large wildlife on the grounds themselves. Evenings at this altitude turn cold enough for the fire and an extra blanket. The black volcanic rocks were left where they were found when the gardens were laid out, breaking through the grass among the flower beds.
Kigali lies roughly 103 kilometres south, close to three hours by road through terraced hills, or a helicopter transfer to Musanze followed by a short drive up to Kinigi. Days that do not involve the park fill easily. There are the Twin Lakes of Burera and Ruhondo and the Musanze caves, a morning of birding along the hedges, an afternoon weaving with the women’s cooperative, or a walk through the village lanes with one of the guides. Families tend to plan the week around the permit age of fifteen, which keeps the youngest out of the forest.
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accommodation
Eight cottages of local volcanic stone stand across the gardens, in configurations that run from single and twin rooms to family cottages and a larger main house with its own lounge. Each has a wood-burning fireplace, a private terrace turned to the volcanoes, log-framed beds, and an en-suite bathroom with a deep tub and a rain shower.
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activities
Gorilla trekking and golden monkey tracking from the Kinigi park offices, climbs up Bisoke and Karisimbi, and the hike to Dian Fossey's grave at Karisoke, all guided and permitted by Volcanoes National Park. Closer to home there is birding, village walks, basket weaving and tree planting across the seven-acre grounds.
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conservation
The Amakoro Women's Association gives members a market for their baskets. A linked youth association trains their teenage children in hospitality and conservation work. Most of the staff are hired from the surrounding Kinigi village.
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