Burundi. The identify doesn’t instantly evoke centuries-old forests sheltering elusive chimpanzees, or sandy seashores lined with palm timber that stretch alongside one of many largest lakes in the world.
Instead, the small, landlocked nation positioned in the center of Africa’s Great Lakes area has typically been synonymous with poverty, ethnic violence and most lately, a political disaster that prompted 400,000 individuals to flee the nation.
So the younger staff behind the Go toBurundi initiative has a troublesome job on its fingers.
“We have decided to show the beauty of our country, to show the culture and to finally change the image of our country, different from the one it has abroad,” explains the group’s basic supervisor Bruce Niyonzima, 27.
“We want Burundians and foreigners to come and visit our country,” he continues, welcoming AFP to the Living Museum of Bujumbura, an intriguing cross between a craft market and a zoo, the place a solitary leopard rubs shoulders with crocodiles and turkeys in Burundi’s monetary capital.
Launched final 12 months, the initiative brings collectively round a dozen volunteers who organise journeys for big teams of tourists, help to spruce up vacationer locations and, above all, broadcast Burundi’s charms to the world.
A restored conventional home of the Burundi king at Musee Vivant de Bujumbura, or the Living Museum of Bujumbura.
Their technique is easy and will be summed up in three phrases: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook.
“The communication strategy we use is based on social networks because we have understood that a lot of people” use them, Darlene Nahayo, 28, mentioned.
“Our target is largely young people,” mentioned the occasions and public relations supervisor, who additionally co-hosts a YouTube channel devoted to girls.
Burundi is classed because the poorest nation in the world in phrases of gross home product (GDP) per capita, in accordance with the World Bank.
But right here, too, as in different international locations, younger individuals – who make up the vast majority of Burundi’s inhabitants – are more and more related.
And Go toBurundi’s influencers and YouTubers produce a gradual stream of polished posts and movies in English, Kirundi and French.
Sporting a T-shirt emblazoned with Go toBurundi, musician and influencer Alvin Smith posts movies of himself exploring the nation’s heritage websites, such because the sacred Gishora drum sanctuary.
The staff is impressed by Dubai, the place influencers thronged to seashores and bars even in the course of the pandemic.
Bujumbura will not be but Dubai, however the prospects for tourism – home and worldwide – are trying up.
In 2015, the nation was plunged into disaster after then president Pierre Nkurunziza declared he would run for a 3rd time period, triggering lethal violence that value not less than 1,200 lives.
The 2020 election of Nkurunziza’s designated successor, President Evariste Ndayishimiye, fuelled hopes of political progress, with the United States and the European Union asserting a resumption of overseas help to the impoverished nation in latest months.
Rights campaigners proceed to sound the alarm whereas a United Nations Commission of Inquiry warned final 12 months that abuses had worsened since Ndayishimiye took energy.
But the younger individuals behind the tourism initiative stay hopeful.
“Now we have stability in terms of security and we have a president who encourages young people, who wants us to develop our country,” mentioned Niyonzima, including that Go toBurundi was in discussions with the authorities to formalise a partnership.
(Burundi’s authorities didn’t reply to interview requests.)
With only a few guests to this point, vacationer services are in brief provide, besides in Bujumbura, the place resorts and beachside eating places are scattered alongside the shores of Lake Tanganyika.
Expanding them is certainly one of Go toBurundi’s priorities.
On the outskirts of Kibira National Park, a dense forest sheltering 200 to 300 chimpanzees, a small lodge is beneath building – the primary to accommodate potential vacationers – with a wide ranging view of the encircling tea plantations.
“People really like this forest… so it’s better to create such a lodge to allow people to sleep (here),” mentioned vacationer information Deus-Dedit Niyiburana.
Since final December, worldwide guests can get hold of their visa on arrival on the airport – an enormous enchancment on a beforehand laborious course of and a key step on the lengthy street forward for the younger individuals behind Go toBurundi. – AFP
