Rwanda

This past weekend we spent our four day Easter holiday in Rwanda. We flew into Kigali on Thursday night and stayed at the Hotel des Mille Collines, the hotel made famous by the film Hotel Rwanda. This was where more than a thousand Rwandans were kept hidden from the genocidaires during the 1994 genocide. The next day we went to a bus company and reserved some seats for our trip to Ruhengeri, the staging point for gorilla trekking in the Parc National des Volcans (Volcanoes National Park). We got a little wet standing in the rain that graciously decided not to wait for us to get on our bus. I guess it is the rainy season. We also got a lot of conflicting information on which bus we were supposed to board making the situation somewhat more tense, however we eventually found out way. I think some of the employees were as clueless as we were.

Rwanda is nicknamed the land of 1000 hills due to it's mountainous terrain. It is densely populated and the people are largely subsistence farmers leaving very little land which is not being used to grow crops. The country has come a long way from the horrors of 1994. The country is very clean (no plastic bags allowed), the motorcyle taxis are registered and seem to have some sort of regulations they have to follow, and the country is developing very quickly (lots of construction, restaurants and businesses not mentioned in our guide books from a couple years ago).

Ruhengeri isn't much besides the place to stay before gorilla trekking. When we arrived in town we accidentally stumbled upon our hotel while looking for the tourism office, so that worked out well. Addresses don't really exist here, so you do what you can. We had dinner and sampled a few of the Rwandan beers, which not surprisingly taste exactly like all the beers from Uganda. They love their lagers in East Africa...why they need numerous different brands of the same thing is beyond me. It sure would be nice to enjoy an India Pale Ale...


What? Goats need exercise too...

The next morning we got up pretty early and took a ride to the park headquarters for the gorillas. We spent some time enjoying the scenery, got briefed on the whole process and were split up into groups based on which gorillas we would be visiting. After traversing quite possibly the worst "road" I've ever experienced, we arrived close to the tree line which coincided with the park border. It was really interesting to hike through some of the farm land before getting to the stone fence (meant to keep the animals in) marking the start of the park. We walked about 10-15 minutes into the park and were met by the trackers who stay near the gorillas during all daylight hours as poaching is still a very real concern (even though these beautiful creatures are nearly extinct). I felt like a kid in a candy store and had a few brief chills as we walked upon our first gorilla, the vice president. Our group contained 19 gorillas total including 3 silverbacks...this was the #2. We followed him to the rest of the group and spent the next hour literally standing amongst the group who were having a grand old time just laying around, eating and playing (the youngsters). We were entertained by a mother with her breastfeeding baby, a little guy picking fights with the others while basically performing for our group, and various gorillas just doing their thing. It was quite entertaining and definitely worth the (fairly expensive) cost. The hour didn't last nearly long enough, but it'll be something I never forget.


I couldn't convince them I was the only weapon we needed...


Could it be the mythical kingdom of Care-A-Lot? (Bonus point if you get the reference.)


Ruhengeri in the morning fog




Someone needs a bib!


Got sawdust?







We went back into town, checked out of our hotel and purchased bus tickets to Gisenyi on the shores of Lake Kivu which forms part of the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The drive took around 1.5-2 hours and was just as amazing as the previous trip. When we arrived in Gisenyi we obtained a taxi this time choosing not to rely on fate to point us in the right direction of our hotel. We walked along the lake to check out the other hotels, which was somewhat confusing considering they all had different names (or had disappeared) than was represented in our guide books. It was getting pretty dark, so we decided to eat at our hotel and get to sleep early as we had been up since quite early.


Lake Kivu (the mountains in the background are the DRC)


Side street in Gisenyi

The next morning we were slowed down by rain but eventually were able to go out and explore Gisenyi. Of course the sun rode into town and handed out some swift justice, but my head is now nearly finished peeling. Some highlights of Gisenyi include the amazing views of Lake Kivu, the proximity to the DRC, a dump truck tipped over in the oversized rain gutter along the side of the road (he probably was trying to avoid potholes only to end up in the ditch...smooth). We purchased another bus ticket back to Kigali for our final night to be spent in Rwanda.

We stayed another night at the hotel Rwanda and went to New Cactus for dinner. They had pretty good pizza and are a popular expat hangout. We also were able to experience our first slightly "good" beer in E Africa. Turbo King, which is basically a lager with some food coloring masquarading as a dark ale, was not too bad but my standards are basically in the cellar considering what is normally available to us. At least there is South African wine!


Kigali

Our final day was spent walking around Kigali and experiencing the Rwandan genocide memorial. It was intense to say the least. Really made me disgusted with the international communities ignorance towards the plight of the African people even in the most dramatic of circumstances. The sad thing is that it still continues to this day.