Blogs from Ville de Kigali, Rwanda, Africa - page 5

I met up with Alan and his teammate Patrick at the bus station in Kampala and boarded together. I was sitting next to Alan. He warned me when we got on the bus to put on my seatbelt. I thought that to be a bit ridiculous. The only time I had ever worn a seatbelt on a coach bus was in Australia because it's the law (and yes if they catch you without it on they will kick you off the bus). I asked him why I should put on the seatbelt and he said it's because the roads are very bumpy and it'll help to keep me in my seat. He was right. The bus to Rwanda was extremely bumpy. I'm not even sure if bumpy is the word to describe it though. Had I ... read more

Here in Uganda and Rwanda I have been thinking of how my friends would relate, adapt to, and perform in the different situations here. I came up with this list of people most likely and least likely for different things. I thought it was funny, so here it is. Not as heavy as my other blogs, but I thought some people would find this funny. Person most likely to commit a cultural faux pas. Most likely: Paul Sihelnik Least Likely: The Dude Person most likely to hate bucket showers. Definitely Celinda. Being from Hawaii she doesn't do well with cold water. Person most likey to enjoy the food. Most Likely: Frumkin Loser:....Me (a little disappointing, I know) Person most likely to become fluent in Luo (Gulu) or Kinyarwanda (Rwanda) Most Likely: Tie between The Dude and ... read more

Bonjour (or wiriwe in Kinyarwanda) from Kigali! I haven't written much in the past week because we were mostly in transit. We spent a few days in the city of Mbarara in western Uganda to prepare for Rwanda. Things are much different here and it important we are prepared. In Gulu, the Acholi openly discuss the most brutal details of the conflict. Everyone there has been effected by the LRA. Most people have a brutal story about losing a family member or even being forced to kill their own families. The people still speak of their memories without hesitation. The genocide is a taboo subject in Rwanda. If you bring it up you could end up with an informant in tears for the next half hour. Just today I rode to work with a woman who ... read more

I spent a day chilling in Arusha, then took the plane from Kilimanjaro airport to Kigali in Rwanda. The rest of the afternoon I spent in the bank of Kigali trying to obtain some money for my gorilla trek. Kigali is very expensive and unremarkeable I was planning on staying for 2 nights but bailed out early and headed off to Musanze for the Gorrila Trek. There are not many whiteys in Kigali and during all my bus journeys so far I have been the only one!! Everybody in Rwanda refers to me and other whiteys as Muzungu, which is good cos at least you know when they are talking about you. However, before leaving I had to visit the Rwanda Genocide museum. During the genocide nearly 1 million Tutsi's and moderate Hutus were killed in ... read more

Hi Everyone This is just a short announcement to let you know we have uploaded new photos to our Flickr site. We have uploaded several new sets of photos from Kenya and Uganda and you can find them here in our 'Big Adventure' collection: Big Adventure Or alternatively, you can access each set individually through the links below: Kenya - Masai Mara Kenya - Lake Naivasha and Hell's Gate National Park Kenya - Nyahururu (Thomson's Falls) Uganda - Bujugali Falls url=... read more