rwanda

Rwanda

Tuesday 15th July 2008:

We drove across the bridge from Tanzania into Rwanda, passing over a huge pumping waterfall. We parked Duz and went into Immigration first, filled in the entry card and were issued our free Rwandan visa stamped into our South African passports, which didn't seem to have an expiry date. We chatted to the Immigration officer, who had recently been to SA to study a UNISA course through Wits University. He told us that many South Africans come into Rwanda now. Not having to pay for a visa is a good enough reason, we thought. From Immigration we went over to Customs. There seemed to be a lot of people sitting around what looked like a queue, waiting to be served, but they were just sitting there. We had the carnet stamped and were then free to enter Rwanda. Back to speaking French and to driving on the right hand side of the road.

Heidz asked three different police officers if we could walk back over the bridge, to look at the waterfall and take some photos. She had to ask permission from all of them, mostly because they didn't understand English. The police dress in black in Rwanda, which makes them pretty intimidating, as they are also very dark skinned themselves.

With permission granted we went back over the bridge and marvelled at how much water was pouring down. These must have been the Chutes de Rusumo, on the river which forms the border between Tanzania and Rwanda.

The road from the border to Kigali was brand new tar and excellent to drive on. Straight away we were both struck by how advanced Rwanda’s infrastructure is, in comparison to all the other African countries we've seen so far, with the exception of Namibia. The roads are excellent, the homes are all properly constructed, with stunning gardens filled with all sorts of flowers and patterned ground cover. Even very simple homes have beautiful gardens. There were people EVERYWHERE. Rwanda has one of the highest population densities in the world and this was clearly visible. We drove to high altitudes, but no matter how high or low we were, very healthy productive farming was on the go. We passed kilometres of banana plantations with various vegetables, and other crops, being grown between each banana plant. Every available inch of ground was being used productively, or worked on, to make it productive. Rwandans work hard and all seemed to be busy doing things in family groups or in communities.

For the rest of Africa, this country is an amazing example of how hard work pays off, rather than just waiting to be given everything. We saw NO litter anywhere, which is unbelievable. Apparently plastic bags have been banned in Rwanda due to the litter they cause.

The people were so happy to see us. They were waving, smiling and welcoming us and not holding out their palms begging, as we've become so accustomed to seeing.

Rwanda is really beautiful and we were both very glad we'd decided to follow the tar road through, to see it for ourselves. Sadly we did drive past a handful of refugee camps, reminding us of the horrors of the genocide which the Rwandan people faced in 1994, when an estimated 800 000 Rwandans were killed in just 3 months.

We arrived in Kigali in the dark, which is not ideal. Recognising the EcoBank from our time in the west African countries, where they don't charge commission, we decided to first change some money, which took ages, and to then try to ask for directions, as the map of Kigali in the Lonely Planet is not very helpful. With money and a vague idea of where to go, we went in search of the Okapi Hotel, as the other names we mentioned just fell on blank faces. We found it eventually and went inside to the rather grand looking entrance. Their room rates all include breakfast, but started at US$60 per room, way out of our budget. We asked if they had any cheaper rooms and were shown to a slum pit across the road, with a double bed and an attached loo and shower. The place was a dive, but at least the sheets were clean and it was RFr19 000 or US$35 per room, and the only option we had. To enter the room we had to walk up an alley way, with peoples washing and underwear hanging up...it was horrible, but the price was more like we could afford, and Duzi2 would be parked in a secure parking off the street.

We drove to Auberge La Caverne (RFr15 000 per room, including breakfast of bread and tea or coffee) a little way along the road. This place was quiet and had much bigger rooms with ensuite bathrooms and a TV, but the sheets didn't look clean and the parking wasn't so safe for Duzi2. Rwanda is expensive and you get very little for your money. We headed back to the Okapi Hotel to shower and clean up, as we both looked quite red from the Tanzanian dust we've driven through and lived in, for the past few days. The shower was freezing cold, as the geyser hadn't been switched on. After cleaning up and getting into clean clothes, we went to the restaurant for a pizza dinner.

We also had two pots of hot chocolate, keeping one pot in a flask to have for breakfast tomorrow morning. Our pizzas were tasty and not too expensive, thank goodness.

We got to bed very late and both crashed.

Wednesday 16th July 2008: Okapi Hotel, Kigali, Rwanda

GPS Info: S01° 56' 27.0" E30° 03' 40.5"

Miles Today: 231 Total Miles: 29 044

Woken at 6am, by a man doing hand washing right outside our window!!! No ways you can ever sleep in in the mornings in Africa. Before breakfast and showers, Ross got busy changing Duzi2's rear half shaft and drive flange, which had finally worn smooth the night before, when he was parking Duz in the steep secure car park. Luckily we had managed to get the replacement, part used, half shaft in Kibondo. We had warm showers, which ended up flooding the disgusting bathroom, as there was no shower curtain. No drainage meant that the whole room then flooded! Our US$35 room was such a dive and something we would NEVER think of letting anyone stay in, let along charging such ridiculous money for! We went over to the main hotel to have breakfast, which is included in the room rates. We both had a good breakfast, with fruit juice, fresh fruit, cooked eggs, toast and coffee. Heidz was so excited to have granadillas again and even tried a pinky red fruit, which we think was like what the gorillas in Congo were fed, which was very seedy and tasted like mixed berries.

Kigali is a big town and seems to have been built in a valley, with various suburbs on the surrounding hills. Driving through the city, it reminded us of driving through Yaoundé in Cameroon. We gladly left the Okapi Hotel and Kigali and headed on the good tar road to Gitarama. The road climbed around many mountain passes and up very high. We passed more crop farming, mixed with pine and other alpine trees. It was a very scenic drive. Shortly after Gitarama, we stopped on one of the steep mountain roads to look at the 100m high Chutes de Ndaba, which were lovely. All along the way communities of people were working together to clear land for farming, cut up firewood, or were sitting very busily, chipping primitively away at big rocks to make small gravel stones needed to mix concrete. Chipping the small bits of rocks from the big rocks is such hard work. These people are so strong and work so hard, with little children even carrying heavy firewood, jerry cans of water or bags of chipped stones on their heads. We were amazed to see how many irrigation channels have been built, to maximise the use of water run-off from the highlands, rainfall, natural waterfalls and high mountain streams. Rwanda is a true leader in how to farm properly with very little, and how to use natural resources to the maximum. Their roads are excellent and we loved exploring this stunning country, with its friendly people. We drove a little way towards Kibuye, to sneak a look at Lake Kivu from the southern side, but decided to rather press on and get to Gisenyi as it was still far away.

The road from Kibuye to Gisenyi was bumpy gravel and very windy. It took us hours to cover a small stretch on the map, due to it winding through the rural villages and passing more amazing farming area. The people along this stretch of road seemed glad to see us Mzungus (white people), some even being quite shocked to see us, just staring at us as we drove past. We saw the most beautifully made wooden scooters being used by children and men. The entire scooter is made out of wood, including the wheels, and they use cow horns as handle bars. Sadly we didn't manage to get a photo of them, but they are very cleverly designed and built to last forever.

Gisenyi is described in the Lonely Planet as "the Costa del Kivu". The town itself is small and rather rundown, but the hotels and mansions along the lakeshore show people with lots of money come here. There was a thick haze over the lake when we arrived, so it was difficult to see the lake and it's surrounding area very clearly. We couldn't really tell what colour the water was, or even where it was in some parts. This part of Lake Kivu is not recommended for swimming, due to dangerous volcanic gases in the water as well as bilharzia in places. The DRC border is very close, only 1km or 2km down the road, along the lakeshore.

We tried, unsuccessfully, at many places to see if it would be possible to camp in car parks, etc. as the hotel prices here are exorbitant. The hotel people could not understand how we, being white skinned, couldn't afford to stay in their VERY expensive hotel rooms. A lovely receptionist at one of the hotels phoned a linked Guesthouse to see if we could maybe get a cheap room for the night and then sent us there. We arrived at Lake View Accommodation and Guest House (RFr8 000/ special room, but we camped RFr5 000 or US$5) and couldn't believe our eyes, as there was a rooftop tent on a red Toyota Landcruiser parked in the driveway. How had this person managed to explain the concept of a rooftop tent and get permission to camp in Gisenyi??? Eric, an American guy, came over to say Hi. We asked at the guesthouse if we could rather camp in our rooftent than take a room, as we saw it was now possible. We were given a room to share with Eric, for a loo and hot shower. Yay! At last tonight’s dilemma about accommodation had been solved. Finally we'd met Eric [www.border-crossings.com], whose waypoints we were given by Gerhard and Theresa in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, so long ago. We had been using his waypoints up until Angola, which was as far as we had been given.

We chatted about where we had each been to and how our travels had been so far. Sadly him and his partner had split up along their travels, but they were both still travelling individually. Eric has seen Africa comprehensively and has just been through Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. We decided to cook dinner together tonight, which turned out to be one of the biggest disaster meals we've had so far. We used the "penne" pasta we'd bought in Malawi, which became glue and gunge and didn't work to make pesto pasta at all. Eric provided Vienna’s to add in. He very politely ate the meal, but both of us really struggled. After a fantastic evening together, even enjoying a bottle of SA red wine, we headed to bed.

Thursday 17th July 2008: Lake View Accommodation and Guest House, Gisenyi, Rwanda

GPS Info: S01° 41' 47.9" E29° 15' 24.0"

Miles Today: 112 Total Miles: 29 156

We both slept really well last night. We had our morning's hot drink with rusks and waited for the bathroom to be free, wondering what Eric was doing in the shower for so long. He hadn't appeared out of the room for hours. Heidz went to check if he was okay in the room, with the shower and toilet we were sharing, only to find it open and vacant with no Eric anywhere. She made the most of the hot shower while Ross began tightening the top of the front right shock. This shock had begun rattling again and he also wanted to put the rear right double-shock back on, to make the car less bouncy. Eric appeared down the driveway after having been out photocopying the necessary pages he needs for his onward long travel from our Lonely Planet. We cut up one of our very juicy Tanzanian pineapples and all tried to help Ross out as the sun beamed down. It got hot, but there was still sadly no view of the volcano nearby.

While Ross was busy working on Duz, Eric went through his itinerary of Uganda with Heidz. This was very helpful, telling us of road conditions and things he'd recommend we try to see and what we could rather leave out. He also told us of places to stay and to eat. Eric had also recently updated his waypoints so we were able to copy them onto our memory stick for all the countries we are going to still go through. With Duzi2 all fixed up, Ross all showered and clean, and Heidz all clued up thanks to Eric's tips, it was time for both cars to sadly go their separate ways. It would have been lovely to travel a few days together, but we were literally going in opposite directions.

On leaving Gisenyi today, we could actually see Lake Kivu, unlike when we arrived yesterday afternoon when it was hidden in the haze. We drove through more beautifully green farmlands, rising as high as we could see up some of the hills. Unfortunately the many volcanoes, forming a volcanic chain as the natural border between Rwanda, DRC and Uganda, were hidden under mist. We couldn't see how high they were, but could see the definite triangular volcano shapes. We have been amazed at how productive the Rwandans are and how the whole community gets involved in clearing or farming - men, women and children. We passed tea plantations, big banana plantations, many fields of lovely looking cabbages and crops that looked like corn, but they have a browny, rusty coloured bull-rush-looking head on the top of the stalks. Not sure what these crops are, but the women were carrying cut bundles of the brown heads on their heads.

We were very high in altitude all day, winding up and through numerous passes, all being around 2 400m or 2 500m or more in height. It was misty and cool most of the day, maybe due to us being so high up or due to the climate the volcanoes create. A lot of today’s drive up to Ruhengeri reminded us of the drive around Mount Cameroon, with long grass and grey mist hiding the volcanoes. In Ruhengeri we decided to drive to the Volcans National Park to see if we could get closer to the volcanoes and hopefully give the day time to clear a bit, for us to get a glimpse at them. Volcans National Park has five of the volcanoes in the chain located within its boundary and the only wild gorilla population found in Rwanda. All the $500 gorilla treks done in Rwanda start from here. We parked Duzi2 and read the interesting signboards scattered in the gardens, giving information on the gorillas. They also had a very clever illustration of the 7metre rule, showing where you should stand in relation to the gorillas and how far 7metres is.

We chatted to the guys at the park office, who immediately told us we would need to go on a waiting list for a cancellation, if we wanted to trek to the gorillas, as they are currently booked up until October. They told us all about the gorillas and answered every question we had. There are 7 groups of 8 people each, so 56 lucky people at $500per person, who trek every day leaving the gate at 7:00am. There are trackers who stay with and monitor the gorillas’ daily, so your chance of seeing the gorillas for one hour is pretty good here. We bought some Rwandan coffee and teabags from the shop, using up some of the last of our Rwandan Francs.

On the way back from the Volcans NP entrance we stopped in briefly at Kinigi Guesthouse in Ruhengeri (S01° 25' 57.4" E29° 35' 54.4"). The staff here are lovely and the views of the volcanoes on a clear day must be absolutely stunning as you look right onto them. Kinigi was established to support Rwandan women who have suffered abuse and other attrocities. The lady at reception told us that they have lots of South African's who camp here...but there seemed to be very few South Africans reflected in the tourism stats at the gorilla trekking base. They charge RFr3 000p/p/night for camping and have dorm rooms for RFr 5 000p/p/night. This is a really lovely place to stay and we would highly recommend it. From here we drove on towards Cyanika and the border.