http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Rwanda , Province de L'Ouest en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 06:04:00 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 06:04:00 +0000 Tanzania seems like a million years ago I made friends with an immigration officer and a conservationist for the Jane Goodall Foundation her park was right near by but with exorbitant entry fees and stayed in a guest house populated mainly by congolese refugees. I ate at a restaurant decorated like Mexico for no apparent reason they made no pretense to offering Mexican food. Having been kic http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/Gisenyi/blog-446037.html Another day another adventureMy goal today was to see Lake Kivu and I accomplished that. The lake is 100 km long and covers 2200 km2 and itrsquos among the 20 deepest and 20 most voluminous freshwater bodies in the world. I took the 810am bus from Kigali to Kibuye a two to three hour trip depending on traffic. I was a bit unsure about the bus since all of the ones I usually see are very http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/blog-428092.html Settled into my old room at Auberge la Caverne sipping cappuccino at the Bourbon Coffee Kigali green and rolling brushed by plump tufts of cumulus receding like waves in the distance I feel buoyed at peace. New York is a memory Vermont is a memory the great emotional upheaval Irsquod dreaded these past few weeks little more than a slight murmur of unease. The apartment hunt is on and http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/Gisenyi/blog-415930.html It's just a short taxi ride to the border with Rwanda and after a delay due to Ugandan immigration being on a tea break I'm soon in my sixth country of this trip. The first time in my life I heard of Rwanda was due to the horrific genocide that took place in 1994 but everything I've heard in the last few months has been indicative of a country with an eye to the future. Travellers have told o http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/Gisenyi/blog-408089.html Het is 700 uur en we worden over een kwartier opgehaald om naar Kigali te gaan. Sinds gisterenavond hebben we weer internet zie hieronder. Onderstaande blog heb ik dinsdag geschreven maar dus nog niet kunnen posten. Sorry voor de mensen die ongerust werdenhellip Er volgt snel een nieuwe updatexxx Dinsdag 19 mei.Nadat we vorige week een dag zonder stroom hebben gezeten zitten we nu sinds zon http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/blog-400977.html Wist je dathellip we vanochtend op lsquoons werkrsquo aan kwamen en de wachtkamer LEEG washellip Waar er normaal minstens dubbel zoveel mensen zitten als dat er een afspraak heeft alle vrouwen met huilende kinderen die aan de andere kant van de wachtkamer een afspraak hebben zat er nu helemaal niemand De oorzaak Imvurahellip of te wel regenhellip Wist je dathellip het leven hi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/blog-398425.html Het is alweer dinsdag time flieshellip Eerst nog even wat over het afgelopen weekendVrijdag dag van de arbeid hebben we rsquos middags een lange wandeling gemaakt. zie fotorsquos bij vorige bericht We wilden wel wat van de omgeving zien en Etienne zou met ons meegaan. Een uurtje wandelen ofzo. De omgeving was zo mooi dat Fenna zei lsquoI could walk for four hours when it looks like http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/blog-396568.html Dit is de eerste keer dat ik in het buitenland ben en dat mijn naam geen problemen geeft. Op mijn highschool in Amerika had ik bij elke docent een andere naam maar hier kent iedereen lsquom gelijk.Marijke betekend lsquoengelrsquo in het kinyarwanda en in het swahili. Je spelt het iets anders maar het klinkt iedereen wel bekend in de oren. Gisteren waren we in het ziekenhuis en Dr Judson kw http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/blog-395382.html 5th AprilToday I wanted to leave Kigali so I got a motor taxi to the bus station and got on a mini bus to Gisenyi on lake kivu. The drive was ok the roads are usually in a good shape it took about 2 hours via Ruhengeri.When I arrived I got another motor taxi to the a hotel on the lake shore when we got there it was closed which im sure he knew so he took me to the only other place that I know in http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/Gisenyi/blog-392646.html Dwa dni nie pisalam wiec bedzie dlugo ale a teraz mam francuska klawiature na ktorej sa pomieszane literki wiec tez nie jest latwo. Jest wigilia i zamiast lepic uszka albo smazyc karpia wlasnie skonczylam sie opalac nad jeziorem kivu na drugi brzegu widac kongo dokola palmy przejrzysta wodamoznaby pomyslec ze to lago di garda gdyby nie to ze nikt po wlosku nie mowihellipObiecalam s http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/Gisenyi/blog-356929.html the phone rang about 10 after 7 in the morning. i thought it was the wake up call. hello. please hold for your call. ooh a call. yello hello audrey it's werabe my coworker. hi. the driver will come pick you immediately to go to akagera. i thought we were leaving at 8. no. you must leave now to get there. are you ready no. ok he'll pick you at 730. ok. no probl http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/blog-342889.html hadn't really had breakfast before leaving for akagera so after about 4 hours of twisty hilly bumpy roads i started to feel a bit queasy. we stopped at the rangers' station for a rest and the guide offered me some milk. is it fresh yes. it is. it is cow's milk. it comes from just over the hill i will show you. i start drinking and wandering around the compound. i walked into the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/blog-342888.html So I think I spoke too soon a couple entries back on my way to Gisenyi about how lovely the bus rides were in Rwanda comparatively to other African countries. Because on hauling ass back to Kigali I didn't bother with returning with the same bus company I came with to Gisenyi Atraco but instead just took the next available bus out of Gisenyi to Kigali which happened to be on Otracom Express.Otr http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/blog-340561.html Good luck...I would tell you to be safe but that seems pointless being that you are in the middle of Africa heading toward instead of away from rebel fighting and war.... Big Sturms via emailI have made my way now from Kigali in central Rwanda over way west to the town of Gisenyi. Gisenyi is rather nondescript and sits on the RwandaDemocratic Republic of Congo border at the northernmost p http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/Gisenyi/blog-337917.html Apologies for the long absence I was in the DRC for the past 5 days and the internet there is abysmally slow and the charger for the laptop stopped working. Last Thursday was Yom Kippur and seeing as there are no synagogues in Kigali I thought that going to the genocide museum would be a good place for reflection etc. The museum is really amazing and incredibly moving. It is split into three se http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/Gisenyi/blog-336121.html If you knew me and you really knew yourself you would not have killed me. That was a quote engraved on the wall of the Genocide Memorial Museum in Kigali Rwanda. Kate and I took a visit to the memorial and it was as tough to go through as I had imagined. There were three parts of the memorial and we started out slowly going through the exhibit that just explained Genocide and gave some infor http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/blog-329026.html A retroactive entry from last weekend... But first let me tell you a bit about the Maranyundo School for Girls in Nyamata Rwanda. Kate Harrington one of the most amazing and gifted people I know and you know that if you know her is teaching English at this all girls boarding school. I have come to visit her and hang out. There are two American volunteers here Mary and Andy. They both just gr http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/blog-322644.html Wersquove set off from Kigali on the smooth tarmac south bearing west at Gitarama toward Lake Kivu and the Congolese border. Just reaching Kibuye a pretty lakeside town on Kivursquos wooded shores takes you through some of Rwandarsquos most dramatic scenery the green folds of hills stretching in an endless procession. The road is a bold feat of modern engineering blasted through soli http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-de-L-Ouest/blog-321586.html