Hippos, Rhinos and Genocide....

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Greetings all from Rwanda…my third east African country in just over 10 days. Phewwee! A whistle-stop tour of the cradle of civilization but boy, its an experience. Gruelling…hot…intense…exciting…magnificent are just a few adjectives to throw out there…

So, grab yourself a cup of steaming chai and settle down as Im currently online in a convent in the town of Musanze, dropping off point for the Parc National de Volcans http://images.google.rw/images?q=Parc%20National%20de%20Volcans&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi and home to the critically endangered mountain gorillas. Tomorrow we don our hiking boots, bathe in mosquito repellant and traipse deep into the ‘Land of a Thousand Hills’ in search of these incredible animals… but for now, let me re-cap on the trip so far…..

Having negotiated Nairobbery , its eclipse, its slums, the baby elephants and rescued giraffes all on my lonesome, I met up with my Intrepid group at a hotel down the Milimani Road - an eclectic mix of ages and nationalities. After one week + there has been no great ‘gelling’ like in south American though my tent buddy is a lovely lass from Canada…in fact there are far more couples than singles … us singles are in a minority here but thankfully I have managed to get a seat to myself on the truck so have plenty of me time as we negotiate daily driving days of c6 hrs + on rutted roads that give you a real ‘african’ massage’

Leaving Nairobi at 730am on Day 1 set the precedent for the trip so far….we drove north for our first glimpse of the East African Rift Valley that bisects the country. A spectacular panorama of volcanoes and savannah…..

Unlike in S America we have the luxury of a Cook - the rotund , slightly effeminate Emmanuel who whips up stews every night. We, of course, assist with the prep and washing up but he needed to buy provisions for this first leg before we entered Lake Nakaru National Park….http://images.google.rw/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=kI4&resnum=0&q=lake%20nakuru&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Flamingoes on the Lake in the distance whilst zebra galloped past and buffalo ambled along. In the waiting area baboons strode about and Columbus monkeys swung in the trees - all this a mere 4hrs out of Nairobi! Having pitched our tents under a canopy of acacia trees, we headed out in the truck for a game drive. It felt like an impossibly exotic Richmond Park…more zebras and buffalo, rhinoceros grazing whilst impalas galloped across the grass….an absolute wildlife feast for the eyes (and camera!) In fact, it was almost overkill - so many exotic wild animals in one place.. all seen so quickly ….Although I was totally overwhelmed it did leave me wondering what other creatures the next 2 months will bring and will I end up being blaze about baboons! I hope not…

18/1/10 I was in the breakfast cooking group so alarms were set for 530am in the freezing cold and pitch black …our campsite had no running water and after a day on the truck and a night under canvas felt pretty grubby but I guess I better get used to it…this is Africa! Having washed up in the dark by the light of a headtorch and dismantled the tent by the light of the stars, I am wondering whether 2 months of this will break me….its bloody tough! Then, there are moments such as today, eating breakfast using a treestump as a table, the sun rose, lighting up the trees…its rays spreading life and warmth throughout the campsite…baboons rocked past, birds hopped around, their orange and blue feathers catching the dawn light….

Leaving Lake Nakuru, after a few hours we stopped at a Kenyan school -mhttp://www.kariandusi.co.uk/ - supported by the Intrepid Trust - … home to over 400 schoolkids, a sea of truffle coloured faces, with giant chocolate eyes and white (sometimes yellow!) teeth greeted us. The kids were freakishly excited to touch us, to see us and their enthusiasm was infectious…. Thankfully this wasn’t some sort of Intrepid Circus as we are only the second tour group to visit so their gratitude and excitement was genuine….the headmaster showed us round classes of 3 yrs with 85 kids under 1 teacher! That’s a lot of kids in one small classroom!

19/1/10 Today we crossed the border into Uganda after a 530am start , the land remained green and lush with bright ocre earth….circular cement houses with straw roofs lined the road. Ugandans with pitch coloured skin sat around in the hot muggy sun, outside brightly colored yellow, pink and blue shop facades.

21/1/10 Arrived at the Chimpanzee Guest House and Camp site in the Kibale forest today….http://images.google.rw/images?q=kibale%20forest&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi , a beautiful spot in undulating land covered in tea plantations. Delicious hot showers (these are a rare thing here - in fact Ive had about 2 in 13 days!) , outside overlooking lake Nyabikere and our campsite. The grounds are full of avocado and guava trees, banana plantations and a pineapple garden. I didn’t know pineapples grow on the floor??! I thought they grew on trees!

A 7am start to drive to the chimp tracking centre deep in the heart of the “mid altitude moist evergreen rainforest” - bit of a mouthful but that’s the Kibale NP …. Traipsing deep into the undergrowth with our guide, avoiding the vipers, mambos and cobras that also reside there, we spotted the rare red tailed monkeys and then….after much searching came across a family of the mountain chimps - man’s closest relative sharing a staggering 98% of genetic makeup. High in the trees above our heads, up in the forest canopy sat these fascinating creatures…eating, grooming, playing and observing US! At one point the forest filled with a cacophony of noise…one family calling to another …the dominant male of the group swung down from the lofty heights beating on the tree buttress roots and disappeared into the dark thick vegetation to collect the other members. The tiny babies swung in the trees, leaping from branch to branch pausing to stare down at the mzungus (white man) peering up at them with their binoculars and camera lenses…one wonders who was actually observing who?

After 1 hour, we had to leave the group in peace and hiked back through the forest spotting bright butterflies and fungus in the moist environment.

22/1/10 Another pre-dawn departure and on the road by 7am heading further into south western Uganda near the Rwenzori Mountains. Passing through Fort Portal, we continued past crater lakes , circular depressions in the landscape as a result of volcanic activity and now fed by rainwater…home to many animals. We drove into Queen Elizabeth NP http://images.google.rw/images?q=queen%20elizabeth%20national%20park&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi - a 2km sq park bordered by the mountains to the north and lakes to the west, As we bumped along the rutted dirt road, spotting elephants in the misty distance, the heavens opened and seriously chubby rain fell drenching the road and turning it into a river of red mud. During a brief interlude from the deluge, we were able to pitch the tents in the quagmire and then huddled like a herd of soaked Ugandan kob deer in the cooking shack as the land turned to a tsunami of pouring sludge.

Remarkably, the rain left as quickly as it fell, the skies cleared and we drove to the shores of Lake Edward where we were taken on a 2 hr boat trip spotting groups of basking hippos, lazing around in the mud in the shallows as well as herds of water buffalo. The hippos were HUGE - great lumbering pinky gray bulks of muscle - resting with their eyes, ears and snout above the waterline. There are more than a staggering 600 different species of birds in the park and we saw plenty - from egrets to African fish eagles to flocks of cormorants all facing the sun shaking their gullets to cool themselves in the baking heat.

Then, in the distance - ahead of locals bathing in the croc and hippo infested waters (no death wish there!) we spotted a herd of elephants munching vegetation on the shoreline. The boat cruised through the Kazinga Channel into the sun towards these giant quadrupeds … we were so close we could hear their breathing, and trampling of bush. Truly amazing.

So, yesterday we crossed the border into Rwanda and visited the sombre and extremely psychologically challenging Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali http://www.kigalimemorialcentre.org/old/index.html .

Aside from the museum detailing the history of Rwanda and the facts leading up to the slaughtering of 1 million in a mere 100 days, the bodies of about 250,000 dead are in mass graves on the site. I have always been fascinated (although I don’t think that’s quite the right word) with what happened in Rwanda in 1994… I think its because I was utterly oblivious to the happenings when it was gong on. I was 8000ft up in the Himalayan foothills teaching in Pakistan….i had no idea of the butchering that was taking place and how badly the UN failed this beautiful and enchanting country. If you are at all interested in the genocide - and trust me, you should be as its unfathomable that such a thing could happen…repeatedly the world over…Cambodia, WW2, the Balkans then I would recommend this book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wish-Inform-Tomorrow-Killed-Families/dp/0330371207/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264427781&sr=8-1

so, here I am in this incredible, intoxicating country where the young and old are fascinated by my white skin and you cannot walk down the road without attracting a crowd of followers all wanting to shake your hand and practice their limited English.

The trip is relentless - 5am starts, washing breakfast or dinner detritus in the dark of the night and I hope I can handle this all the way to Cape Town - there is no respite partly because its 4 trips bolted together. Ok, if you are doing only 2 weeks but 2 months??! Its amazing but exhausting….


Tomorrow I am off in search of the mountain gorillas that Dian Fossey devoted her life too….then its back through Uganda and into Kenya finishing in Nairobi - and hopefully a trip to the much lauded Carnivore restaurant. Internet here is very slow and not wildly available so apols if you don’t here from me for some time…I check in when I can. I really wish I could get photos online as the animals, the people and the landscapes here are so photogenic….

Trip 2 starts out of Nairobi heading south to Tanzania….. if any of you fancy joining me for a leg, come on!!, its pretty damn special….

Hope all is well

Hannah x

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