The Rwandan government is hoping to build a local golf culture and harness the sport to appeal to international tourists and investors.
This article is part of our latest special report on International Golf Homes.
Itangayenda Viateur, a management consultant in Kigali, Rwanda, went on a business trip to West Africa last November. And on his return flight, he said he noticed something interesting: a group of about 50 people, all heading to the country’s capital just for a weekend of golf.
“The city is in the fast lane of change,” said Mr. Viateur, 61. “I grew up here in the 1960s so I know how Kigali used to be perceived, and the minimum infrastructure we had at the time. Now there’s a new dynamic.”
Golfers are being lured to Kigali after the opening last summer of the Kigali Golf Resort & Villas. A $16 million renovation funded by the Rwandan government transformed a shabby nine-hole course into a complex that includes a 128-acre, 18-hole championship course created by Gary Player Design, the firm owned by the renowned South African golfer.
“I have spent my career trying to grow the game on a global scale,” Mr. Player said in an email, adding that he hoped that the course “will bring new faces to the game in Rwanda.”
Construction of the Kigali Golf Resort & Villas comes at a time of economic growth for this landlocked country, which is hoping to emerge, 28 years after a genocide in which around 800,000 citizens were murdered by their own neighbors, as a hub of technology, business and professional athletics for all of Africa.
In 2019, Mr. Viateur moved into a five-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom apartment at Vision City, which its developers predict will be the largest residential development in the nation’s history. Claudette Rubangura, head of commercial operations for Ultimate Developers Ltd., was hesitant to give a timeline for construction but said Vision City would include 4,500 homes when completed. U.D.L., which is developing the project, is a private real estate company but is a subsidiary of the Rwanda Social Security Board, an arm of the Rwandan government that is also the parent company of the Kigali Golf Resort & Villas.
More than 500 of Vision City’s homes are now built and an additional 1,400 are under construction in Kigali’s Gacuriro neighborhood. Today, Mr. Viateur says that he can see the golf course from his rooftop and that the value of his home has increased at least 30 percent. “The golf course is one of the factors,” he said.
The Kigali Golf Resort & Villas — separate and about two hilly miles from Vision City — is still under construction as well: In 10 years the compound is expected to cover nearly 300 acres. Jack Bryan, the golf resort’s general manager, said that when completed, it would include a clubhouse, a five-star hotel, and more than 150 luxury villas available to rent or buy. A swimming pool, champagne bar, fine-dining restaurant and cigar lounge are also in the works, he said.
The Rwandan government is hoping to both build a local golf culture among its citizens as well as harness the sport to grow the country’s appeal to international tourists and investors.
“Kigali has become known as a destination, rather than just a stop-off to visit the gorillas,” said Clemence Nzayisenga, 27, guest relations supervisor at the Retreat, a luxury boutique hotel in Kigali. “We now have clients who are interested in sports tourism, and they always ask about golf.”
But activists and some political observers say there is a dark side to Rwanda’s progress.
The Rwandan government has been under the control of President Paul Kagame for a little more than two decades.
Under his leadership, Rwanda has funded a number of high-profile development projects, including the Kigali Convention Center, a 105,000-square-foot, eco-friendly complex topped with a tiered dome that lights up in the colors of the Rwandan flag. Opened in 2016 at a cost of $300 million, it is one of the most expensive buildings in Africa. The government also partially bankrolled BK Arena, a 10,000-seat indoor stadium, which in 2021 hosted the inaugural edition of the N.B.A.-affiliated Basketball Africa League.
But Mr. Kagame’s administration is widely seen as authoritarian, and he has been accused of stifling opposition, jailing political adversaries and limiting freedom of the press. He has brought stability to Rwanda, but has done so, critics say, via an iron fist.
Perhaps the most telling embodiment of Rwanda’s thorny politics is Paul Rusesabagina, 68, who became a Hollywood hero after he was portrayed by Don Cheadle in the Oscar-nominated movie “Hotel Rwanda.” In recent years, Mr. Rusesabagina had become an outspoken critic of Mr. Kagame, and after moving to Texas in the late 2000s, was lured back to the country in 2020, was arrested and is now serving a 25-year prison term after what many scholars and human rights advocates said was a sham trial.
Mr. Kagame’s administration also has been accused of supporting militias in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. In August, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visited Kigali during a tour of Africa and said he had spoke with Mr. Kagame about the matter.
“Mechanisms of democracy are theatrical in Rwanda’s case,” said Lewis Mudge, the Central Africa director for Human Rights Watch. And in a nation where the average citizen lives on less than $1 per day, new developments like the golf resort can not only widen inequalities but even, Mr. Mudge said, lead to roundups and unjust detentions of poor people when high-profile conferences come to town.
“They want to make themselves the convention hub of East Africa,” he added. “The problem for us, at Human Rights Watch, is the price that has to be paid in regards to the image that Kigali has to present.”
Nevertheless, business in Kigali is expanding. Technology incubators, including Sweden’s Norrsken Foundation, have set up shop in the past several years. Zipline, a U.S.-based drone-delivery service that can carry vital medical supplies like blood, started in Rwanda in 2016 and is now valued at more than $1 billion; Ampersand, an electronic motorbike company, has raised $9 million in funding for its swappable, rechargeable batteries that are quickly disrupting Rwanda’s gas-fueled culture of motorbike taxis.
“The golf course is an opportunity to drive local development, both of a new sport in the country, but also for new opportunities that surround the course,” said Josue Dushimimana, 26, chief executive of the golf course.
Locals are also getting into the game.
When Jules Dusabe, 35, began working as a caddie at the old golf course in 1997, he had never played the sport. After a few years of carrying golf clubs for members however, he began practicing himself, and by 2015 he had become a professional player. He now travels the globe as a golf trainer.
“Golf is changing in Rwanda, and many kids here are now starting to play, too,” he said.
Leonard Nkurunziza, 39, also knew little about the sport when he first started as a caddie 20 years ago. At the time, he said there were only about 100 members who would come and putt around the course’s nine holes. Back then, he barely knew the rules of the sport. Today he is a competitive golfer who has led the Rwandan national team and still works at the golf course as head caddie. He said he was amazed that there were more than 400 members who regularly came and played.
“People here have started to love golf,” Mr. Nkurunziza said.
Those who don’t play love it, too, especially if they own property near the course.
Pascal Germain and his wife, Denise Uwimbabazi Bagambake, began house hunting in Kigali last year. The couple, business owners who currently live in Nairobi, Kenya, said that they hoped to make a permanent move to Rwanda, Ms. Bagambake’s home country, when their four children were older, and that in the interim, they were looking for a space that could offer them a significant revenue stream as a rental.
They found a six-bedroom, six-bathroom villa that was built five years ago. Its best asset was out the windows: a direct view of the golf course.
Mr. Germain and Ms. Bagambake purchased the home, located in Kigali’s upscale Nyarutarama neighborhood, for $800,000. They are renting it to a family, who signed a five-year lease with the first year paid up front. While they won’t reveal what they are charging, they expect to recoup their investment within seven years, they said.
“We knew the golf course was the best place to buy,” said Mr. Germain, 57, a Rwandan citizen who grew up in Belgium. He plays golf only occasionally — he has back trouble, he said — and Ms. Bagambake, 49, does not play at all. But since purchasing their home, they say they plan to take advantage of the course in the future and hope to introduce their children to the sport.
“Everybody who was looking to rent the house wanted, first and foremost, to have the privilege of being right in front of the golf course,” Ms. Bagambake said.
Land surrounding the golf course sold for an average of $70 per square meter before the new course was built, said Charles Haba, director of Century Real Estate in Kigali. Today, it goes for as much as $200 per square meter, and construction is on the uptick.
“It’s like a beehive of activity all around the course,” Mr. Haba said. “High-rise apartments and some of the most expensive apartments ever are coming up around the course.”
The villa component of Kigali Golf Resort and Villas is still in its planning phase of the 10-year schedule. But many other projects with a view of the golf course’s manicured greens are already reaping the benefits.
At Vision City, where Mr. Viateur lives, “Homes that were selling for $110,000 are now selling for $160,000 or $170,000,” said Simon Sondern, founder and managing director of Vibe House, a luxury real estate firm in Kigali.
And White Stone Apartments, a collection of ultramodern furnished homes available for short-term rental at rates starting at $100 per night, has two locations in Kigali, including one that opened in 2021, just minutes from the golf course. Those are booked out four months in advance, Mr. Sondern said.
“Before this golf club, there were no golfers in Rwanda,” Mr. Bryan said. “Since I’ve been here, it’s just been crazy to see how many apartments or hotels now have the word ‘golf’ in their name. Everyone that has a view of the golf course is hoping to reap the benefits.”
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