Travel Guide Rutana

A 138 km from Bujumbura by the RN 7, and 220 km from the south (RN 3, RN 11), the head of the Rutana province has long been unattractive for Burundians. At the entrance of Kumoso, whose reputation is not always good, and in a relatively sparsely populated region, nothing has helped its development. For some years, however, Rutana has been moving and expanding.During the displaced war there were refugees, and more recently the return of thousands of refugees from Tanzania to the region stimulated the urban centre. Thus, what was still in the 1990 s only a small peripheral town became a city where buildings are progressing everywhere.The development of the activities of the Sucrière Sugar Company (Sosumo) since 1989 is not alien to this development. Although its employees stay in the cities close to the factory and the plantations (Establishment, 25 km south-east), the local economy in Rutana benefited from the Dynamism of this company.That Rutana has gone from minor status to larger dimensions does not make it the most hectic of the country's cities. At some times, the main square is well-deserted and the crows that drag there create the image of a small town in the Far West, worthy of a western. But it is still a destination of heart: The remarkable welcome of the local people, the originality of some colonial constructions and the animation of the market are strong points that justify a detour.Above all, we are here only a few kilometres away from the "natural monuments" of Mwishanga (falls of La) and Nyakazu (German fault) and the source of the Nile (Rutovu), which gives a good reason to stop.