Rwandan Public Holidays & Umuganda

We hope you find this list of public holidays useful for your planning, especially those arriving for business.  

2016
1st January: New Year’s Day
1st February: Heroes’ Day
8th March:  Women’s day
25 March: Good Friday
7th April: Genocide Memorial Day – most all businesses will be closed for the day and some may be intermidantly open over the next week.
1st May: Labour Day
1st July: Independence Day
7 July: Id-El- Fitr – date will be independently called based on lunar sighting
4th July: Liberation Day
15th August: Assumption
12th September: Eid al-Adha – date will be independently called based on lunar sighting
25th December: Christmas Day

UMUGANDA – this is the countries Contribution day. It takes place every Saturday of the month and curtails all business from taking place between 8AM and 11AM. Driving is NOT allowed unless you are a tourist on the way to do something extraordinary such as gorilla trekking.   All shops, banks and markets are closed during this time.   Please plan around this time.  If you are on expedition with Intore we will ensure that you are at your location during this time and will not be effected by this time.

If you are interested in participating in an Umuganda project we can organize for you to participate with a local community. It can be quit rewarding.