The bar area at Hotel Faucon (above) and (below) one of the
bedrooms in the Royal suite at Hotel Faucon.
In its day, Hotel Faucon was the
very definition of luxury. It was also a
whites-only establishment and was
a favourite entertainment destination
for the (then white) administrators
of colonial Ruanda-Urundi. Here they
could come and relax after the rigours
of the week’s work.
As was common in Apartheid
South Africa, just outside the hotel
was a signpost that read: “ENTRY
FORBIDDEN TO BLACKS AND TO
DOGS”.
Thus the officialdom of colonialism
could kick back and chill without being
disturbed by any of the people they
were trying to ‘civilise’.
A King’s Fury
This little racist club was to receive
a rude kick in the rear when it
encountered the wrath of a King.
The story goes that once, in 1955 King
Rudahigwa of Rwanda was returning
from a visit to neighbouring Burundi,
when he came to the classy Hotel
Faucon.
Pleased to find a hotel that he had
not been to, the tired King ordered his
retinue to stop so that they could rest
at the hotel awhile.
On approaching the off-white
www.theeye.co.rw
49