Blogs from Rwanda, Africa - page 12

Hi few! It seems the blog is not read much but for those who follow,here goes: Forget about photos... Dial up modems everywhere and so it is impossible to upload anything and often keyboards are unpractical... Rwanda is amazing: pure beauty... Thousands of hills bordered by terraces where coffee, bananas grow in the sun when it is not raining for the daily two hours... As I was not forking 500$ to go see Gorillas for one hour, I went and stayed over in Kigali the capital... Nice times just enjoying the local foods and sights (very few) such as the real "hotel Rwanda"... Rwanda is a absolutely amazing and beautiful country where people like to smile and welcome you... Yet 16 years ago something went real wrong and it is almost impossible to imagine people running ... read more

Kigali is the capital of Rwanda and has about 1million inhabitants. It is very built up compared to the densely populated farmland elsewhere in the country. There are many multi storey hotels and large 24hr shopping centres. The internet connections are fast but there is only one international visa ATM which doesn't even work with all visa cards. We stay in the Okapi Hotel, but as usual get one of the worst rooms. This time we struggle for running water! Our first mission in Kigali is getting a Congolese visa, the situation has recently changed and you can no longer get a visa at the border for $35, instead we have to pay $20 to fill out the form, $120 for the visa and $25 for the express next day service!! It also requires many photocopies; ... read more

One of Jenn’s colleagues, Sibo, got married, and we attended the church ceremony about 15 miles outside of Kigali. First we met up with the groom, who arrived in two white Toyota Corollas decorated with ribbons, similar to how one would wrap a gift box. We thought he was going to show us the way to the church, but we started heading in the opposite direction. Seemingly in the middle of nowhere, we stopped and another of Jenn’s colleagues ran to our car to tell us that a truck had gotten a flat tire, and asked if we could go help. We did a 180 and found the truck about a mile back, but the tire had already been changed in record time. Again we did a 180 to join the two wedding cars as we ... read more

We drove around 2 and a half hours to Gisenyi, a town on the north shore of Lake Kivu. When we arrived, we met some friends for lunch and then relaxed on the beach. Most lakes in Rwanda have the parasite shistosomiasis, but Kivu is rumored to have less due to the methane pockets and depth. Around five, we met up with some other friends and walked to the Goma border crossing with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Along the way, we saw old mansions from the 1920s and 30s when Gisenyi was a colonial resort town. On the way back, as a reward for our 20 minute walk, we stopped at a hotel bar to watch the sunset (this took an hour to wait for a single round). In the middle of the night, Jenn ... read more

Rwanda is a beautiful country, the roads are fantastic and the people are really friendly, the children wave and call out “how are you?”. The best day we have had on the whole trip was in the rainforest of the Parc National Des Volcans where we went gorilla trekking. With thick rainforest blocking our way, the tracker used a machete to cut down the forest to make a path, while we walked up to our knees in undergrowth and stinging nettle. We were lucky to be visiting the Susa group, the largest and most famous of the seven habituated groups. What made our visit even more special is that this group is usually the hardest to reach, normally you need to trek for 3-4 hours up the slopes of Karisimbi at an altitude of more than ... read more