If Rwandans’ passionate conservation efforts aren’t enough to persuade you, a visit to the King’s Palace Museum will. The inyambo (sacred cows) and their enormous horns are the museum’s main attraction (one of Rwanda’s eight national museums). Traditional singers belt out poems to lull the cows into a mellow state throughout the day, a Rwandan ritual.
The museum is just as fascinating as the four-legged animals in the back. It includes a 15th-century replica of a king’s palace with a thatched roof, royal hut, and fresh milk hut run traditionally by an unmarried woman.
Tourists can also visit the colonial-style home that served as King Mutara III Rudahigwa’s royal residence in the mid-twentieth century. The interior design, which combines Rwandan patterns with European-style furniture, is particularly striking (some of which was actually owned by the king).
