Des Mille Collines Rally

This weekend, one of my friends participated in Des Mille Collines Rally, one of the largest rally races in Rwanda. The race covers approximately 350 kilometers over two days time, and the cars race at speeds as high as 140 to 150 kilometers per hour on the roads in rural Rwanda. Four of us followed the race around Rwanda to take pictures and give moral support. We left early in the morning from the Hôtel des Mille Collines.
On Saturday, we headed east from Kigali to the Akagera region of the country, and on Sunday, the race went west into the Ruhengeri region. The race went through some really rural areas of Rwanda, so we were able to see a lot of towns and villages and a lot of the countryside that we would never see otherwise. The ride was bumpy, but beautiful.
Since the race is divided into sections, we were only able to see about half of it. We would skip a section in order to drive to the next one and set up, watch that section, skip the next one to drive to a new location, watch that section, etc. My "official" role of the weekend was photographer, so at every stop, I had to find the best place to set up the camera and take pictures of my friend's car.

Watching the race was pretty interesting, but what was probably more fun was watching the crowds that came out to see the race. Since the race was literally on roads, it passed right through villages like this one, so it was easy for people to gather and watch.
As you can imagine, rally racing in Rwanda isn't the safest of sports, but thankfully, there were no serious accidents this weekend and we had a great time.