Red Rocks brings Musanze’s community story to life
Morning mist still hangs over Musanze’s hills when Red Rocks begins telling the Rwanda story that starts beyond a gorilla trek.
A partnership with deep roots
In May 2026, I visited Red Rocks during a journey through Rwanda. Founder Gregory Bakunzi welcomed me and shared the organisation’s latest products and developments during a tour.
The meeting renewed a relationship formed far from the volcanoes. We first met at the Vakantiebeurs tourism exhibition in Utrecht, the Netherlands, in 2012. Bakunzi attended on behalf of his destination management company, Amahoro Tours, while I promoted Rwanda for the first time.
Bakunzi has since returned to the Netherlands and travelled to other European countries for tourism exhibitions and congresses. Those international links have kept Rwanda’s tourism offer in conversation with overseas markets. They also provide context for the work Red Rocks now leads in Musanze.
Beyond the park boundary
Many travellers come to Musanze for the mountain gorillas of Volcanoes National Park. Yet the park boundary marks the start of another experience. Red Rocks works below five volcanoes, among villages where families have lived beside the mountains for generations.
The volcanic soil produces Irish potatoes, beans, maize and vegetables. Planting and harvest set the rhythm of daily life. On Rwanda’s National Harvest Day, Umuganura on the 7th of August each year, communities give thanks for the land and recognise the value of sharing prosperity.
Visitors encounter that connection through ordinary moments. They may learn about medicinal plants in a family garden or prepare a traditional meal in a community kitchen. They may weave baskets with local women or share roasted maize after work in the fields. The maize does not need a marketing slogan. Its warmth and the conversation do the job.
Tourism that includes communities
Red Rocks partners with the Red Rocks Initiative for Sustainable Development to connect tourism with community life. Local guides lead cultural walks. Women’s cooperatives produce traditional crafts. Young people take part in environmental education while farmers plant trees with guests.
These activities allow residents to share knowledge and earn livelihoods while taking an active role in conservation. Artisans preserve inherited skills through baskets and pottery. Farmers draw on daily experience to balance cultivation with protection of nearby forests.
The approach matters because communities near Volcanoes National Park live with both the opportunities and demands created by conservation and tourism. Red Rocks treats them as partners rather than scenery.
From an exhibition hall in Utrecht to farmland beneath the Virunga volcanoes, this long relationship shows how tourism partnerships can connect international audiences with local experience. As Rwanda strengthens community-centred tourism, Red Rocks can help ensure that more visitors come for the volcanoes and stay for the people.
This article is part of Rwanda First-Hand, a series based on my Tour du Rwanda as Chief Editor of Made in Rwanda TRIBUNE. During this roundtrip through Rwanda in May 2026, I visited Red Rocks Musanze.
More information:
Visit the website of Red Rocks Rwanda for information & bookings.
Willem Versteegh (Made in Rwanda TRIBUNE) & Gregory Bakunzi (Red Rocks Rwanda).
