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Published: November 15th 2010
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The drive from Bujumbura to the border is about 3 hours along a pot holed road, our taxi driver turns up with a red bull in his hand and another opened ready to go. As in many countries around the world which have a large number of pedestrians and ad-hoc vehicles, the car horn is used freely, I would say excessively. It is used to warn people that you are approaching so not to step out, to alert people you are approaching so get out of the road and even the hard shoulder, to alert other vehicles you want something, just to say hello, whatever you can think of. On our journey we pass many military and police men stopping traffic for checks, we are pulled over at one point but the taxi driver just beeps his horn and carries on while giggling! After 45minutes he pulls over and says he's tired so our guide has to take over! The stamping out of Burundi is quick and our Rwandan driver is waiting to take our bags. We don't need a visa for Rwanda so quickly get stamped in for free, what is strange is that our Rwandan guide also has to
stamp into his own country, which is why his passport is nearly full. It's a two hour drive to our hotel in Gisakura and it's immediately clear why Rwanda is called the land of 1000 hills. The road is constantly weaving up, down and around the hills. They are mainly crops and farmland, as in Burundi, but many more tin roofed houses as well. Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa. The road is quite treacherous in places and some parts have collapsed down the hillside, we see a crashed truck while we are driving and our guide later sees a crashed bus which killed 3 people!! The area we are staying in is famous for its tea and there are tea plantations of both sides of the road. For lunch we visit Nyungwe Forest Lodge, a 5 star hotel set in a tea plantation. Stunning rooms overlooking the forest, infinity pool and a few monkeys jumping about. Lunch is a set menu for $30, very nice but a bit salty.
In the afternoon we visit the Nyungwe Forest, the main road goes through the national park so we see a couple of monkeys from the road, but
we arrive at the visitor centre late so have no guide. A guard shows us around but we are too late, the rain has started and all of the monkeys are hiding 😞 The park has had an injection of US money to prevent it shrinking any further, this has also enabled it to be installed with a canopy bridge system, the views are amazing if a little scary.
Next day we are up at 4am to return to the national park, this time for chimpanzee trekking. There are trackers in the rain forest who have located the chimps nest from the previous night, but we are still 2 hours from that location. We join 5 American girls and a guide and start the walk. It's mainly down hill but quite slippery with steps and log bridges in places. The guide keeps a fast pace which the girls struggle with but we have to keep going as once the chimps wake up, they will leave their nests and won't be trackable on the ground as they move too fast. After the 1.5 hour brisk hike we meet a tracker on the path, this is when we go off road! We
venture into the bushes and up the bank, hanging on to any small trees or vines and stepping on spongy mud, leaves and shrubbery. 30Mins into the undergrowth and we can hear the chimps calling to each other and even see some branches moving. We find a good viewing spot and then watch the fun for an hour. There are multiple families in the area so there is interaction between them. We also see all ages, the dominant fathers, mother with babies and lots of youngsters. Some are still lazing in nests but many are leaping from tree to tree or picking fruit to eat. Amazing sight. It's then a tough 2 hour hike back out of the forest, we see one chimp on the path on the way back and a small green snake.
After a 2 hour drive we reach Butare for lunch at the Ibis hotel and a visit to the Rwandan National Museum. A very well laid out and informative museum, covering Rwandan from prehistoric times until the present day, with the exception of the genocide, that is covered in the memorial museum in Kigali.
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