Ngabo Karegeya is already a famous name in Rwanda, due to his tourism activities under “Ibere rya Bigogwe Tourism Company Ltd”.
Alexis Ngabo Karegeya is a boy from Bigogwe, a village in the western part of Rwanda in Nyabihu district, a home of cows and good people.
He started his career as fun on X, the former twitter where he could post photographs of the greenest place in Rwanda, sometimes posing wit cows, and people started falling in love with both the place and his personality.
He returned home after graduating from university, where he did finance and banking, and dedicated his life to being a professional cowboy.
It’s always a magical experience when you visit Bigogwe, and I think here I speak for everyone who ever set foot in the green hills of Bigogwe.
The hiking part is not friendly, I skipped it all the two times I visited the place. The food is amazing, traditional cuisine, Kawunga is the great, and milk is super magical.
His dedication to making it a memorable experience is what makes it even more fun. He stays with his visitors all the night when camping is involved, teach you how to dance ikinyemera, the famous local dance, and him being a good story teller he is, you can never be bored.
In an interview we had on ISIBO TV back in 2021, Ngabo told me that: ” When I started, I didn’t see this as a business opportunity, until someone approached me and told me it could be a very good business. I will be forever grateful to her.”
Visitors to Ibere rya Bigogwe have the opportunity to experience cultural tourism activities such as hiking, observing Bigogwe’s cows, and enjoying freshly extracted milk from ‘Inkongoro”, traditional cups.
Other activities include learning how to milk cows, understanding Kinyarwanda words related to cows, participating in traditional games, and dances, and enjoying traditional cuisine.
The cabinet held on January 30, 2023 and chaired by President Paul Kagame allocated the state land in its private domain for investment to “Ibere rya Bigogwe Tourism Co Ltd” owned by Ngabo Karegeya.
The cowboy to the States.
Who would have thought that a shepherd could enter the Kigali Convention Centre, be invited to meetings with the President, or fly to Washington DC?
On February 2nd and 3rd, Ngabo Karegeya who had never dreamed of going to the United Sates of America soon, joined over 6,000 Rwandans in Washington DC for this year’s Rwanda day.
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He said that: “This was a good platform to meet people who love what we do in Bigogwe, and enlighten those who are not familiar with our work. It was a good time to make Rwandans fall in love with domestic tourism.”, Ngabo said.
“Personally, it was priceless for me to get a visa and attend Rwanda day. It showed me that what we are doing is very important.”
“There is a lot I learnt from Rwanda Day, like doing what you love and make people fall in love with it, and be consistent with it.”, he added.
In his plans, Ngabo wants to transform Bigogwe into one of the top five Rwandan tour destinations, exclusively famous for a special type of tourism that is hinged on the country’s cow culture, among others.
Ngabo, with his promising tourism project, urged the youth not to lose hope in their endeavors.
“People visiting Bigogwe, I assure you that we are ready to continue enhancing what we offer to make it feel like home and to make our country proud.”
“Young people, I urge you to continue doing what you love and have confidence in yourselves. It’s normal to be afraid to start, but if you believe in yourself, it will work out. It might take time, but it will happen.”
Ibere rya Bigogwe became famous a few years ago when Karegeya took to social media publicizing the project and the brand ‘Visit Bigogwe’.
His publicity stunt quickly attracted many visitors including foreigners who flocked to the green hilly Bigogwe region of rural Rwanda to get a first-hand experience with the area’s cattle culture as well as enjoying hiking, milking and playing traditional games.
