Kigali: How led rope lights enhance Xmas season mood
By George Kalisa
Usually, I take a stroll after a busy day. But, the sights of the streets in Kigali’s Central Business District were odd, this time around. It was the evening of Saturday, December11, 2021 to be specific.
Lonely, amidst lovely environs, I started off at a spot best known as Kwa Lando, about 200m from the palisade of Amahoro National Stadium in Remera, a suburb of Kigali. It’s a quarter past seven. Hastily, I took a selfie and posted it on WhatsApp.
My peers usually call my love for photos village excitement. Who cares, I said to myself as I took dozens of selfies. The spectacular sceneries of the graceful palm trees, studded with led rope lights, all over the cleanest city in Africa enhanced my festive season mood.
As darkness descended the beauty of the streets augmented. My inquisitive mind and feet led me to a cross junction in close proximity to the imposing building that hosts Rwanda Development Board. Here, I stood facing the Parliamentary Building. Apart from led rope lights, the beauty created by the skyline of imposing buildings like Kigali Heights and Radisson Blu &Convention Centre Hotel created irresistible adoration of Kigali.
Also, enriching Christmas mood is the sight of the clean, well-lighted paved streets, spotless and trimmed gardens separating the smooth and wide lanes plus roadside gardens endowed with all tribes of flowers.
Beautiful Rwandan ladies with adorable, pretty and startling looks equally festoon the streets and in swarms at a spot dominated by SIMBA Supermarket. Obsessed with respect for the right to privacy, I took no photos here, but memories are still fresh as if everything happened yesterday.
The twinkling at night is amazing while traffic moves in an orderly manner. And, there were very few occasions of traffic jams. Moreover, they were short-lived – about two to three minutes. Everywhere I set my eyes are leafy, evergreen trees from which cool breeze emanates and the growing feeling of perfect gratification from both nature and man-made features is irresistible.
Festive paraphernalia
The street from the Kigali International Airport to Radisson Blu &Convention Centre Hotel is one of those with Christmas décor.
The ecstasy cools down restless minds and I find it a therapy for broken hearts. The City of Kigali with a population of about 1.3 million sits on a couple of rolling hills between Mt Kigali and Jali which are 1,800m high. When night falls the led flood lights and twinkling led rope lights on tall buildings create a spectacular skyline of the city.
Kigali is full of amusements. At Radisson Blu is a hand sculpture, baptized Anti-Corruption Monument – an imposing steel hand with all five fingers pointed at sky, designed by Iraqi artist, Ahmed Al Bahrani. Rwanda is the only
African country where you can see this Qatar-sponsored sculpture because it’s
the first African nation to host the Anti-Corruption Excellence Award.