At his Abien Arts Center in Kacyiru, a Kigali suburb, Fabien Akimana is busy with his paints and brush, creating exquisite pieces of abstract acrylics on canvas.
However, he decries the low season as tourists, who mostly purchase art products, are nowhere in sight. But he says this is the time to create paintings he hopes to sell during the forthcoming peak tourism period in Rwanda.
Many players in the tourism and hospitality industry face the same predicament Akimana has to contend with. They depend on tourists for their products. However, most of them say this also is a blessing in disguise since the low season makes them to strategise and come up with innovative products that they will sell to the tourists when the high season comes calling.
“I have managed to paint good pieces of art that I hope to sell during the peak periods. I don’t just want to sit on my laurels and hope tourists will fall like Manna from heaven, even when history has proved that these rainy months, the tourists are not coming. I have to make excellent products now to purchase when they eventually come,” says Akimana.
He adds that he is also planning to hold an exhibition with the art pieces he is producing now when the peak period arrives.
However, it is not all gloom. Rwanda in low season can also be thrilling and it can produce quite different experiences compared to the high season. It’s wetter, of course, and you must be prepared for that. However, when you are able to bear rainy days, then you’re not going to lose out.
“I would like to say that there’s no better weather to be found in the rainforest than during the rainy days. It’s quite atmospheric and the gorillas just look amazing if they’re wet,” says Matt Gammon, an expatriate in Rwanda.
Gamon adds that you are going to experience some epic storms together with luxury cosying up in your hotel or lodge at the end of the day while going over post-mortem of your adventure with fellow guests and visitors. He adds that the gorillas also tend to come lower down the mountains at this period of the year and this provides potentially easier trekking.
Low season in Rwanda also implies better offers plus cheaper rates, and this may include discounted international air fares.
Between March and June and the beginning of December, the weather is quite perfect, and the country’s scenery has that lush green and verdant colour which sub-saharan Africa is famous for. While basking under the sun, you can also enjoy the green, well watered vegetation that makes Rwanda look like a paradise at this time.
Greg Bakunzi, the managing director of Amahoro Tours, says the low season shouldn’t just be seen as a period when tour operators and industry players lose out. “This is the time to sit down and come up with innovative ideas that not only help us to survive the low season but will also sell during the high season,” he says.
He adds that this is the time hotels also take time to renovate their facilities, though some of them are sometimes forced to send their workers on leave during this time because of low bed occupancy.
Bakunzi adds that while the rainy season can have an effect on travels in Rwanda, a day is almost never lost to the rain. Most days will have both rain and sunshine, meaning that despite some wetness, it’s generally not long before you may continue with your activities as planned.
“Whether it rains or not, gorilla tracking is conducted every day and is almost never cancelled because of bad weather,” Bakunzi says.
According to an article appearing on Destination Rwanda, the best time to go to Rwanda for chimpanzee trekking in Nyungwe, is during the two rainy seasons – mid-February to early June and mid-September to mid-December, regarded as low season because of the rains – as the apes are easier to locate. Food is harder to find in the dry seasons and the chimp families often range far into the forest interior.
Francis Ndagi of Virunga Community Programs says the low season should be a time of reflection on what Rwanda has to offer in terms of its various tourism potential, adding that this is the time the country should aggressively market other packages like cultural tourism where both local and international tourists can sample Rwanda’s rich cultural heritage like music and dancing.
