http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Africa , Rwanda , Province du Nord en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:57:43 +0000 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:57:43 +0000 So my Grand Gorilla Adventure turned out to be pretty much a bust It was 10 minutes of ldquoGorillas in the Mistrdquo followed by 30 minutes of ldquoGorillas in the Torrential Downpourrdquo. I didnrsquot get many good photos at all and not a single photo of me with a gorilla in the background. The more evolved philosophical Buddish side of me says ldquothatrsquos the way it go http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-453346.html I saw gorillas today. As close to me from my seat at the bar as the barman is now with the silverback about as far away as the TV on the other side of the bar. And they were the most unfazed wildlife Irsquove ever encountered ignoring us even when the guides spoke in low voices. The youngster nearest me watched me change the battery in my camera at one point but that was one of the very http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-447523.html Today we enter Rwanda a country filled with excitement because they represent the home of the gorillas for us but a place also filled with distant recollections of the Rwandan genocide which happened only 15 years ago. Driving into the country the scenery changes dramatically the lowlying plains of Uganda replaced with narrow valleys and steep hillsides all utilised for agriculture. Rarely http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-428927.html Left Ruhengeri this morning to make a few stops in the area around Kinigi the town closest to the Verungas on the road to the DRC. On our way out we saw two trucks of soldiers headed to the border. The Imababazi group from yesterday had seen a convoy of seven trucks full of UN soldiers also headed to the border. Hmm. We stopped at a Batwa settlement a couple miles outside Kinigi. The Twa are a r http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/blog-419593.html Woke up this morning at 515 to see the gorillas.After an hour car ride to the national park office we signed in and were put in a group with a dual AmericanRwandan citizen who lives in Richmond. We were assigned our two rangers who told us about the family of gorillas which we were going to see as well as about the mountain gorillas in general.Volcanoes National Park is right up against the bo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-419591.html Observation Red Eminem shirts are really common here.Question How does a four year old Rwandan living in a remote village 45 mins walk from the nearest road end up with a Hillary Duff 2005 US Tour shirtWe went to a crafts associations today in a very remote village about a two hour walk from Ruhengeri. After working our way down from the mountains into a giant valley we walked the last 45 mi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/blog-419590.html Last night after dinner all the water in Ruhengeri ran out. It came back on at around 3 PM today. According to some of the locals the water goes out once or twice a week during the dry season.We left this morning for Imbabazi orphanage which is in a very remote part of the country near the Congolese border. We drove an hour down a paved highway out of Ruhengeri and then moved on to a terribly m http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/blog-419588.html Uraho Amakuru ni mesa.Rwanda is great. I once again slept a lot last night a solid 10 hours. Woke up feeling like I got hit in the back of the head with a brick though. Heh bricks. I'm fine now. I think it was mostly dehydration.This morning we left in our small group of just 6 of us Mickey Dann Mary Kelsey Ms. Overbo and myself to go work at a brickmakers' association about 4 miles outsi http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/blog-419587.html Slept a solid 11.5 hours last night. Toally wiped out from going 48 without any sleep.We left the ghuesthouse at around 10 this morning for Ruhengeri. Lucky for us the road between Kigali and Ruhengeri is one of the few paved roads in Rwanda outside the capital. It was quite a trip. Rwanda is called the land of 1000 hills but it should really be called land of 1000 mountains. The topography i http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/blog-419585.html Wow oog in oog met de mountain gorillarsquos in Volcanous National Park. Wat een ervaringNa wat wikken en wegen hebben we toch besloten dat het bezoeken van de gorillarsquos een must do in Rwanda is. Het mag dan extreem duur zijn dat vergeet je en de ervaring is onvergetelijk. Gisteren zijn we eerst naar de immigratie dienst geweest voor informatie over ons visum we wilden van ons single e http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-402331.html 24th February On Tuesday morning I started my journey in anticipation of going gorilla trekking the next day. Colin dropped me off in Kabale in the morning so that I could walk to the petrol station where the taxis departed to the border. I say taxis but in reality they are actually men who own cars and charge a couple of pounds to take people to the border of Rwanda So I load my bags into the bo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-376793.html Mighty mountain gorillasDay 258 Christmas EveAfter much anticipation Mountain Gorilla Day had arrived. We had the privilege of staying in a dorm that evening complete with bunk beds. However the sleep was short lived as we were up at 5.30. After a short drive from the small Rwandan town of Musanzi we arrived at the mountain gorilla sight a part of the Warandi massive home to seven volcanors http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-370325.html Faced with the prospect of several days on a bus and several different buses at that we'd taken the lsquoflashpackerrsquo option and flown from Arusha in Tanzania to Kigali in neighbouring Rwanda. Wersquod barely left the airport before we started spotting differences roads were quieter streets were clean and roundabouts they actually had roundabouts were covered with grass and fl http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-359653.html Wczoraj internet w Rwandzie nie dzial. Byla niedziela. Tak powiedziala nam pani w recepcji w hotelu. Wyruszylismy z wulkanicznego parku rano i zaczelismy sie przesuwac na polnoc Najpierw klasycznie przez gory i herbate a potem zaczal sie zmieniac krajobrazhellipWioski zaczely sie robic jakby bogatsze co prawda nadal lepianki ale przynajmniej z kwiatkami na froncie. I nadal hordy dzieci ale http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/blog-358247.html Po 9 godzinach marszu przez jakies 17 ekosystemow w tym pole babmusowy zagajnik dzungle potem znow bambusowy zagajnik potem znow dzungle krzaki lokalne jalowce upal mgle mrzawk i ulewe bloto pokrzywy malpie odchody moge powiedziec ze wdzialam najwieksza w Rwandzie grupe goryli gorskich Susa. A zaczelo sie tak..Tak jak pisalam wczoraj Susa to najwieksza grupa do ktorej najdalej s http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-357661.html Wczorajszy dzien mial polegac tylko na przejezdzie kilka godzin wyboista droga ktorej przedsmak mielismy juz poprzedniego dnia wczoraj mialo byc dwa razy dluzej. Okazalo sie jednak ze byl to jeden z najciekawszych dni a tu wsrod dni konkurencja duza bo w sumie codziennie dzieje sie cos ciekawego. Otoz wczoraj wyruszylismy z Moriah Hill Resort nad jeziorem Kivu pieknego miejsca z plaza gd http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-357322.html We arrived into Kigali at night again. Arriving into a major centre late isn't too bad as there are always lots of taxi's waiting to take you anywhere. The trip from Kigoma was long as we had to change vehicles several times and of course had the usual delays. The border was easy to navigate and the border guards friendly YAYThe very next morning Mike was up early and had already visited http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-345560.html A few days later Irsquom on the back of a moto cutting my way across town. Hillywood is off and running and this afternoon Irsquoll be joining the festival as they take their portable movie magic to a small town in the north. The sky is overcast a great gray parasol stretched over Kigali. The rain arrives in hard cold drops coming in at sharp angles. We scoot cautiously toward Gacuriro. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/blog-321578.html All is well on our overland tour. It is our 5th day and we have traveled constantly long days driving on potholed roads through Uganda and into Rwanda all in the aid of seeing a large ape Today we finally did it.Just returned from the mountain gorilla trek. We were placed into the long trekking group to see the largest family of gorillas here in these mountains. We were asked if we were fit enou http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-319777.html If someone told you that I paid USD500 to see some apes in the jungle then you might laugh at him and call him a liar especially if your name is Marc . Fortunately this time you would be wrong. Not that it was my idea to go and visit them. Kellie insisted on it in the beginning and I'm glad she did.There are three countries which still have Mountain Gorillas left which are Uganda Democratic R http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Rwanda/Province-du-Nord/Parc-National-des-Volcans/blog-319711.html