Rwanda's natural history, in the 1907 house where colonial Kigali began.
Richard Kandt was the first colonial governor of Rwanda, on behalf of Germany, until the early 1900s. His house in Kigali is now a museum in three parts.
The first presents Rwandan life in all its aspects — social, economic and political — before the colonial period.
The second traces what the Rwandan people lived through during it. Following the Berlin Conference of 1884, the Germans ruled Rwanda until 1916, when the Belgians took over under a League of Nations mandate after the First World War. Kandt's own life and deeds in Rwanda are covered here.
The third covers the history of Kigali itself, before, during and after the colonial era — the city was made the capital on independence in 1962.
The Kandt House Museum is one of the eight museums that make up the Institute of National Museums of Rwanda. It was previously known as the Kandt House Museum of Natural History.
Words and photographs on this page: Visit Rwanda · credits
Stay on the lake and drive out from here — most of this is a day trip from your room.