The tour guiding side of our Gorilla Highlands Ambassador Training (GHAT) was completed last week; and what better way to mark that than to throw one of the trainees straight into the fire? Today we had a Kigali Walking Tour for a group from Germany, and we invited Michel Iragena to shadow our guide JP Tuyishime.
Michel isn’t new to tourism, but he used to specialise in mountain bike guiding, where your legs do the talking (mostly). He was eager to upgrade himself and access more opportunities, as cycling gives him only sporadic income.
“I got my first biking job in 2022, but this kind of work usually comes once every few months. It was interesting to venture into the general world of guiding through GHAT. Above all I’ve learned about the critical importance of time management and speaking clearly, and about the significance of good rapport with the GHE office and communication in general,” says Iragena.
Our in-person weekend at Lake Bunyonyi was his first visit to Uganda, but he already seems at home with the transboundary region idea: our proud Rwandan turned up in a Congolese national jersey this morning! “I like the idea to connect over boundaries, because we do share many aspects of our culture and history,” he adds: “My girlfriend is from Bunia, DR Congo.”
There’s another side to Michel. He studied culinary arts, and with his brother — also a cycling guide — runs a tiny Kigali pizzeria. Who knows, maybe we’ll soon turn him into a media producer as well: GHAT has now ventured into photography and video skills, and the course will keep Michel Iragena busy until the end of the month.
🖋️ text and 📸 photography by:
ML Rwebandira — formerly known as Miha Logar — is an adventure and cultural tourism expert, writer and multimedia producer who co-founded Gorilla Highlands Experts. His most recent publication is the Pocket Treasure. A national of both Uganda and Slovenia, ML resides with his son Lan in Musanze, Rwanda. Click for his personality-infused quarterly newsletters. [bio updated: 2026-05]
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