Category: Lifestyle

{{Why not…Venture off for a few hours of relaxation?
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Now we’re talking about some real me-time. Kigali has a variety of spas in the metropolitan area that will ease your stress and change your mood as soon as you walk through the door. One such spa is aptly named Saray Spa; in there, you will taste the comforts of world class pampering. Enter a welcoming, attentive staff, private treatment rooms, steam rooms, saunas, fitness Centre and pool- and you will never want to return to the real world.

Among the options on the exquisite treatment menu are Swedish massages, Indian head massages, Jade hot stone therapy, lemon and mint scrubs and luxury facials. Treatments can be combined into half and full-day retreats.

While waiting for in-between treatments, treat yourself to one of Saray’s warm brownies and a glass of champagne.

{{Why not…Vent off some steam in a yoga session?
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What better way to relax and find your own thoughts than by taking a wellness class in Yego Yoga Rwanda; a pop-up yoga studio that offers yoga classes at different locations across town. Held in different venues including City Arts in Kimihurura, Soho Fitness and the Inema Art Center in Kacyiru; Yego Yoga Rwanda focuses on feeding your mind, body, and soul.

The studio offers Beginner Yoga, Power Yoga, Vinyasa Flow, Hot Yoga, Ashtanga Vinysasa, classes. Moreover, it also offers special classes like Prenatal / Post-natal Yoga classes, AcroYoga, Yoga for Kids, etc…

For Yogi Lovers, do not miss your chance!

{{Why not…plan your cultural escape in Inema Arts Center?
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For the art-loving loner, visiting Inema Arts Center is the best place to go. Tucked in Kacyiru, there surely is no lack of vision and creative spirit in this visual art hub. Hidden within rich colorful paintings, the works of artists; Emmanuel Nkuranga and his brother Emmanuel Nkurunziza give out messages of positivity, encouragement and gratitude.

You will be left enthralled by the unique pieces of artwork that will captivate your attention for hours and drown out any background noise that might distract you.

{{Why not…Grab a cocktail…or two?
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After your enjoyable day of taking time out for yourself, have a sip at Trophy’s Sports Lounge, an upscale Cocktail bar located in Kigali, around the corner from RDB’s General headquarters. Try as you might, you won’t find any cocktail menu at this bar anywhere else.

As soon as you step inside a waitress or bartender grills you on whatever cocktail you fancy, from tried-and-tested classics to more obscure creations (the Trophy’s Dawa is a Must-try).

Nestled in Nyarugenge District, the newest three-star property is located within a walking distance from the Kigali City Centre and below 10km from the Kigali International Airport, Rwanda’s primary point of entry.

It is adorned with traditional baskets locally known as “ibiseke” and carvings known as “Imigongo,” plus embellishments in cow dung mixed with soils of different colors and painted in geometric shapes, all making the motif of the interior and exterior features.

Speaking at the launch on Thursday, Samantha Annandale, Regional Operational Director for South and East Africa assured locals and attendants of an essence of character with quality at ONOMO Hotel Kigali.

“With so many international companies exiting in Africa and investment leaving our shores, it is encouraging to see that our group has a fully focused African strategy. We have exceptional confidence in Rwanda and generally Africa, especially in the hospitality space and with our strong development pipeline, we aim to become one of the leading hotel chains in Africa, for Africa.” she added.

ONOMO Hotel Cape Town’s Director of Sales and Marketing and facilitator at ONOMO Hotel Kigali, Sherri-Lee Kriedemann told IGIHE that the hotel has come to bridge a gap in the Rwandan hospitality industry

“We’ve come as a three-star property with four-star facilities to close the gap in the market and become an affordable yet world-class travel end for those visiting Kigali with a budget that can’t afford five-star facilities,” she said.

She noted that regardless what market segment it is, the hotel stands out to attract visitors from all over the world, be it for leisure or corporate purposes.
ONOMO Hotel Kigali is the 10th hotel of the group in Africa.

Operating across the entire African continent, ONOMO Hotels Group is on track to create its planned pan-African network of over 20 hotels by 2023, situated in the African continent’s major cities. The group has already spread a footprint to Dakar, Abidjan, Libreville, Bamako, Lome, Conakry, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and its most recent opening in Kigali, establishing the Group’s expansion into the East Africa.

{{ONOMO Hotel in pictures}}

Details of the report will be one of the key discussions at the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF), which the Kenyan government recently announced will return to Nairobi, in October this year.

Marriott International currently has a development pipeline of 93 new hotels comprising 17,708 rooms in Africa. Almost 50% of those rooms – 8,587 – are already under construction.

The Hilton chain is ranked second, with 6,352 rooms under construction, and the Radisson Hotel Group is third with 4,840 rooms currently being built.

Most of fourth-placed AccorHotel’s deals are fairly new, signed in 2016 and 2017, and therefore it is not surprising that only 36 per cent of rooms in its pipeline are under construction. Best Western has just over 91 per cent of its pipeline rooms onsite. Louvre and Meliã, both have all their pipeline rooms under construction, which prompts the question: where are they looking to go next?

The W Hospitality Group ranking for individual hotel brands has Radisson Blu with the largest number of rooms under construction – beating the Hilton brand by over 300 rooms. Hilton has two other brands in the Top 10, Hilton Garden Inn and DoubleTree by Hilton – boosted by the chain’s US$50 million Hilton Africa Growth Initiative.

According to Matthew Weihs, Managing Director of Bench Events and AHIF’s organiser, the report was a good source of opportunities to serious and committed investors.

“This report from W Hospitality Group contains the sort of hard data that serious investors want to see. It, and other analyses from numerous expert advisers to the industry, will be the core content that makes AHIF a must-attend event, alongside with unrivaled networking opportunities.”

This year’s pipeline report, now in its 10th edition, has 41 contributors, reporting 418 deals with over 100 brands. Year-on-year performance for Africa in 2018 shows growth, but more muted than in recent years – 25% growth in the number of pipeline rooms in 2015; 19% in 2016, and 13% in 2017, much the same as the 13.5 per cent growth in 2018.

The overall pipeline for hotel chains in Africa looks healthy for the future. Notably, Mangalis, a new hotel brand launched in 2011, has already managed to build a significant pipeline, with 1,746 rooms in 14 hotels, growing the existing portfolio of 425 rooms in 3 hotels by more than four times. Currently five of the 14 hotels in the pipeline are under construction.

AHIF, which is supported by the Kenyan Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, is attended by leading international hotel investors, business leaders and politicians. It has a proven track-record of driving investment into tourism projects, infrastructure and hotel development across Africa.

If you want your Valentine’s Day to turn into a horrifying conversation along the lines of “what if we turn into those people?”, then feel free to turn on one of these films.

{{1.The Fault in Our Stars}}

Teen movies are known for playing adolescent emotions like angsty harps, but The Fault in Our Stars raised the bar for ravaging its audiences. In the film, two teenagers diagnosed with cancer meet during a support group meeting and start a relationship. They make the most of the time they have together.

The Tearjerker? “You gave me a forever within the numbered days and I can’t tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity.” You’d stay up all night comforting your over-crying partner; a definite Must-not for this valentine.

{{2.Blue Valentine}}

Don’t be fooled by the fact that this movie has “Valentine” in the title or two super attractive stars, Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling. This drama from Derek Cianfrance is a heart-wrenching look at what happens when love goes sour. Flipping back and forth between when the pair fell in love and quickly wed to a few years later when the relationship has become a living nightmare, this movie can make any happy couple question whether they too might someday hate each other with that much ferocity; not a good choice at all for anyone.

{{3.Gone Girl}}

If you’re in a relationship, don’t watch Gone Girl with your partner on Valentine’s Day. You will both lay awake at night, next to each other but somehow disconnected, with doubt about everything you thought you know about your lover poisoning the air between you. If you’re single, Gone Girl will straight up make you never want to get married. Either way, save it for another day.

{{4. Umbrellas of Cherbourg}}

‘Umbrellas of Cherbourg’ is one of the most ravishing films ever made, wrapped in candyfloss colours to match the blush of first love. When a young man; Guy is drafted to fight in Algeria, his love, Geneviève is certain she will die of grief. But time passes and Geneviève doesn’t die. Love fades. And that’s the bittersweet message inside this exquisitely sugar coated pill.

{{5. Atonement}}

An epic, grandiose, and immensely sad film, Atonement is an extremely well crafted, visually rich love story set during a tumultuous time of war, where two impassioned characters are forever torn apart by the selfish jealousy of another. The tory which unravels in a very disturbing way, won’t make your night one to remember; unless, of course, you find watching the steady disintegration of a relationship romantic.

{Black hair that is kinky, curly, and tightly coiled isn’t widely represented as much as pin-straight locks in beauty campaigns, in fashion magazines, or on the runways. But one woman is on a mission to change that with World Afro Day.}

World Afro Day founder Michelle De Leon‘s 7-year-old daughter’s love for her hair inspired her to launch a “global celebration” of textured tendrils. “I wanted every Black girl to feel the same and I knew that most didn’t,” De Leon wrote in a post online about the story behind World Afro Day.

She noted: “I didn’t want children to struggle anymore with thoughts of inferiority and insecurity about their hair. I wanted them to experience the beauty and value of their hair, from the very beginning, not later on in life, like me and like so many other Black women have done.”

De Leon’s vision has grown into a major event held at the Church House in London, where natural-hair influencers and experts, including Miss USA 2016 Deshauna Barber, celebrity hairstylist and hair care creator Vernon François, and blogger Mary of the Curly Closet engaged, educated, and uplifted attendees through panels, live demos and hair clinics.

François, who has styled the famous manes of Lupita Nyong’o, Ava Duvernay, and Solange Knowles, shared this video on Instagram of young girls at what he coined the “world’s largest hair education lesson”:

Source: Beauty Directory

Newly single star Chris Pratt stepped out Wednesday not for a night of clubbing — please, that’s so cliché — but for a service at Hillsong Church’s L.A. location.

While the openly religious Guardians of the Galaxy actor is now a box office heavyweight, worshipers at the downtown venue are used to seeing famous faces in the pews. Justin Bieber is such a regular that, in July, he accidentally ran his pickup truck into a paparazzo camped out there to snap a photo of him. In fact, both Bieber and another repeat visitor, Kourtney Kardashian, were in attendance the night Pratt visited. Hailey Baldwin, Vanessa Hudgens, and several of Kourtney’s famous sisters have been spotted at the church, either at its location in L.A. or New York City.

Hillsong, which now has dozens of locations worldwide, has basically arrived when it comes to the Hollywood set.

Pratt was casual in jeans and boots for the service he attended, fancy even compared with some of the looks Bieber has worn to Hillsong. While the place of worship doesn’t have a dress code, it does have rock bands belting out Christian songs and people who post to Snapchat and Instagram from inside.

Even after the accident that occurred while leaving there, Bieber has reportedly turned to the evangelical Hillsong following the sudden cancellation in July of the final 14 dates for his “Purpose” tour. Bieber’s longtime manager, Scooter Braun, said the cancellation was for Bieber’s “soul and well being,” and the Biebs quickly went to Hillsong in the aftermath.

“He’s been going to church and has been hanging out with his church crew,” a source told People the day Bieber left some fans brokenhearted.

Bieber is close with Hillsong’s Pastor Carl Lentz, of the NYC location, who baptized the singer in 2014 as he was going through a particularly tough time. Lentz described the experience as “probably one of the most special things I’ve been a part of” to Oprah Winfrey on an October 2016 episode of Super Soul Sunday.

“He’s serious,” Lentz said. “Look at Justin, he’s a work in progress. He’s never said he’s perfect. He’s never said he is the representation of Christianity, but I’m proud of him for admitting he’s a Christian in the middle of… and knowing he’s gonna have more problems.”

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