Residents in Southern Province are requesting the government to fast-track the restoration of ‘Ibisi bya Huye forest’ and develop cultural tourism for revenue generation.

The gazetted forest that straddles Huye, Nyaruguru and Nyamagabe Districts has been degraded several years by charcoal burning and illegal logging for timber and construction.

"Many people have been doing the business involving felling trees in the forest for timber and charcoal burning. Often, they were arrested, detained but when released they would resume the illegal activities; illegal logging,” said Celestin Munyarugundo a resident of Huye sector, Muyogoro cell, Shuni village.

The illegal logging has lasted for years and the threatened forest was about to extinguish.

In May 2020, over 100 people were arrested by Rwanda National Police in three weeks for having cut down more than 2000 trees in the forest.

Charcoal burning, illegal timber business and bush burning are some of the activities that endanger the environment in the area. Such environmental crimes are a major drive to climatic change and loss of habitat, which pose a threat to species.

The law on environment prohibits cutting trees in forests or protected areas like national parks or burning them especially in Article 44.

Article 59 of the same legal instrument, states that any person, who causes death, destroys protected plants, harvests or damages them, commits an offence.

Upon conviction, the offender is liable to an imprisonment term of not less than three years and not more than five years and a fine of between Rwf1 million and Rwf3 million.

Forests in Rwanda now occupy 724,695 hectares of the country’s total land area, of which 130,850 hectares is natural forests.

Munyarugendo said that although measures have been taken to protect Ibisi bya Huye Forest from illegal logging, there is need for restoring it to ensure it serves its purpose.

"We think that if it is restored, it can boost cultural tourism, we can even get jobs in that sector,” he said.

Jeanne D’arc Mujamariya, the Minister for Environment, has said that there is a plan to restore the forest.

"The state forests are protected. Ibisi bya Huye Forest has severely been affected by illegal logging. Gangsters used to fell trees and hid in this forest. We have now secured a private investor to rehabilitate and protect the forest.” she said.

Cultural tourism development

Ibisi Bya Huye Forest has a long history making it ideal for cultural tourism.

It takes one hour on foot to reach the summit of the hill where forest sits.

In 2020, as a way of diversifying tourism through cultural tourism development, Rwanda Development Board installed tourism signage in various cultural and historical attractions around the country, including Ibisi bya Huye, Ijuru rya Kamonyi, Urutare rwa Ndaba, Urutare rwa Kampegeri, and Ku Ibitare bya Mashyiga.

According to folklore, Ibisi Bya Huye was the home to an old lady named ‘Nyagakecuru’ who was a strong political opponent to the King Ruganzu Ndoli, who reigned around the 1500s.

She is said to have ruled the area around Butare and stretching up to Burundi and was feared by many kings.

On several occasions, the myth goes, Nyagakecuru was attacked by the king’s army trying to annex the area she ruled but always managed to repel the attacks.

Legend has it that Nyagakecuru lived at the top of  Huye Mountain around the 18th century. It is said Nyagakecuru was protected by a large snake (or possibly many smaller snakes) that hid in the bushes surrounding her home. At one time, royal emissaries offered her dozens of goats as a tribute. It was a trick, as the goats ate the leaves of the bushes, exposing the snake(s) and thus allowing the king’s warriors to invade Nyagakecuru’s home, killing her and her family.

Among some of the attractions that can be seen at the mountain include the area where Nyagakecuru’s home was purportedly built and a well, known as the ‘Springs of Nyagakecuru’, where her cows allegedly drank from