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Rent

Housing prices differ drastically depending on what sort of living standards you have. You can live with a local person for very cheap, take a room in a sharehouse for anywhere from $250 to $600, or rent an entire house to yourself for a lot more. The nicer the house (and there are some mansions), the higher the rent, obviously. Often houses will have guards and cleaners which may or may not be included in the price of the rent, so check in advance. The cheapest local places aren’t likely to have stoves (cooking is usually done outside over coals) or refrigeration. If you like to cook you’ll have to pay more for a full kitchen but you save on food costs by cooking for yourself.

Groceries

Groceries can be very cheap or very expensive depending on your tastes. If you eat veggies bought at the markets (Kimironko is one of the biggest) you’ll eat very cheaply and have a good range of choice. If you want Western goodies like ice cream, wine or jarred curry and spaghetti sauces, you’ll pay dearly. The main Western supermarket is Nakumat and it has plenty to tempt you. Meat is surprisingly cheap and you can buy a nice steak for less than $1.50. Simba, another supermarket across the road, has a better fresh produce than Nakumat. Both have delis and bakeries at comparable prices. BCK is a smaller supermarket that has very nice bread and other goodies.

Eating Out

There are lots of restaurants in Kigali to tempt you. Everything from Ethiopian to Indian to Italian. At mid-range restaurants mains can be had for under 6000 ($10) and a glass of wine will cost about 2500 and a beer around 1000. Even at a cafe you could find yourself spending over $10 for a drink and a meal. The two most popular Western cafes in town are Shokola and Bourbon which are both ptricy but they throw in free wifi to sweeten the deal. There are lots of local places where you can get a brochette (goat, beef or fish on a stick) for about 500, samosas for 100 and cheap (and possibly warm) beer.

Transportation

This is one area that won’t break the bank. A 15 minute ride across town on the back of a motorcycle (licensed and they even have a helmet for you) will cost about 1000 Rwandan francs, or about $1.75. Kigali is a small place so you won’t find yourself paying much more than this. If you want to take a regular taxi and are splitting the cost with friends, it could work out cheaper but if you’re on your own it’ll probably be around triple the cost of a moto. Motos and taxis are cheap but will add up fast but luckily public transport in the city is extensive and bus rides usually cost less than Rwf 200. Intercity bus trips aren’t too bad either with a 6 hour journey being about as far as you can go costing about 4000 (about $6.50) each way.

Internet

Internet here is pretty expensive and somewhat unreliable. Some houses have wifi but most people opt to buy a USB modem and either pay for a monthly data plan or pay per KB used. Rwandatel offer an unlimited monthly plan for an expensive 42,000 per month. MTN is a more reliable connection but they’ve stopped their monthly plan and you need to pay-as-you-go. This could work out to be really cheap if you’re not online much or hugely expensive. You can also go to Shokola for free unlimited internet or Bourbon where they’ll give you a password for a half hour.

I’m no adrenaline junkie but sandboarding seems to be one of those things that weasels its way into my plans when I travel. I first sped down the sandy slopes in Australia and had a repeat performance in New Zealand, both happily without incident. Those two times, though, I was safely perched on the board on my arse. In Jeffreys Bay, the boards had spots for your feet which meant I would be braving the massive dunes on my standing up! Eep.

I don’t know why I’ve always wanted to ride an ostrich, but I have. They freak me out but fascinate me at the same time – a perfect reason to want to cling onto the back of one for dear life as it barrels around the pen. Look at those beady little black eyes. Don’t they just beckon you to climb on for a ride? How could I resist?

Cango Ostrich Show Farm is located just outside of Oudtshoorn…

Venturing into dark, cramped spaces has never been my idea of fun but you often find yourself doing strange things in the name of being a tourist.