Part two: photos in order
1. lake kivu at Kubuye (rwanda)
2. Lake Bunyoni (uganda)
3.the block of upgraded rooms I stayed in in Kibuye, lake Kive (rwanda)
4. more kibuye
5. the silver back that nearly walked into us (uganda Bwindi reserve)
6. last 3 photos .... amazing gorillas! (no im not a gorilla!)
The gorillas were unbelievable, we were very lucky as they were on the border of the national park, (2 days before some Norwegians had to trek 8 hours total) it only took 1 ½ hours to find them. They were so cool, they were literally all around us in bushes, up trees. WOW! At one point the leading Silverback male decided he wanted to walk exactly where we were, so all 7 of us were trying our hardest to move out the way. He was so close I could have touched him and he was bigger than I had expected. My photos are not the best as there was a lot of vegetation, however my memory of these animals will last forever.
So my Uganda trip has somehow turned into my Rwanda and DR Congo trip! After being at Lake Burnyoni less than 15 hours I was off again with an English couple to Rwanda. This meant traveling back the 2 and half hrs that I had come from yesterday, back to Kisoro and to the border. The border was the first time I have seen real rain since I left England and was not exactly prepared. Skirt, flip-flops and no coat, infact nothing warm to wear anywhere in my bag! In Rwanda you have to buy a ticket for ur bag as well as yourself as they actually have a seat per person here (wasn’t like this 4 years ago, but then 4 years ago I had to pay a $50 visa and now I don’t pay anything), so I decided that I would sit on my large rucksack which was on a seat to save money.
I stayed in Musanze for 3 nights in total, it’s a nice town but nothing much to do there. There are amazing views of the volcanoes that surround it and I had an apartment with 2 bedrooms and a large bathroom with a veranda that looked out onto the leafy grounds. In the time I was there I managed to sort out a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo for climbing volcano Nyiragongo, which has the largest lava lake in the world. All being well that my visa comes back I will be doing that trip on 24th Feb.
Today I headed to Kigali, the capital, which is bringing back many memories of traveling back in 2008 with my friend Andy. I realised today that I have nearly done the whole circumference of Lake Victoria! The bus from Musanze brought back and founded all my impressions about how beautiful this Rwanda is. There are hills after hills and banana trees everywhere, it is so green and lush. Maybe the thought of what happened here in the genocide makes me so much more shocked of this country’s beauty. What also surprises me is how progressed this country is, even after 4 years. Proper roads, motorbike drivers have to have helmets for passengers, all buildings lived in must have iron sheet roof, not grass. And more to the point its EXPENSIVE for Africa.
I headed south to Butare, where I decided to go to a genocide memorial, ,it said in the book it was the most graphic, but words cannot describe what I saw. 4 rooms full of bashed in skulls and a whole room of leg and arm bones just piled up. Then the really shocking part…. 3 rooms full of dried out corpses, from men to women to children…. All I can say is the smell was unbelievable (u wont see pictures as I was not allowed to take and it also felt very wrong) but you could also see the hair still there, even under their armpits, they were dried as they had been placed in the mass graves. No glass cases, just there with arms leaning out over the tables they were placed on, it almost felt like they were reaching out for me. I felt kind of wrong being there. They say they have done this so people NEVER forget, which considering I think is a good thing. More than 50,000 people were beaten, macheted, shot etc.. to death in about 6 hours. In a school they were told to go to for safety. So so sad.
Moving on ….. oh the motorbike ride there was beautiful, but oh my god, mountain roads, crazy driver, at one point I nearly grabbed him as we went round a corner, hmmmmm note to self…. Motorbikes are STILL a death wish.
From here I went to Kibuye, which in terms of genocide and tutsi mortality rates was the worst place hit. Needless to say I didn’t go to the memorial. But the place itself is unbelievably beautiful, on lake Kivu. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16394635 just read to see how impressive this is! I stayed in a beautiful lodge where I had lake view, garden, it was bliss, APART from the problems, ant infestation in the toilet, so every time u sat down u were worried about very large ants biting you, also the sink leaked badly so my whole room got flooded, and no hot water, let alone the pork I got half way through eating in near darkness before realising it was not cooked!!! I complained and they upgraded me to a $80 suite. It had a romeo and Juliet balcony, bed with a proper mattress (not since uk have I experienced that!) and most importantly HOT WATER! I walked around the peninsula for a few hours with breath-taking views, this place is the most beautiful part of Rwanda I have seen yet.
I came back to Kigali, got myself a kick ass deal with Kenya Airways from Kigali to Nairobi 29th feb. Got on a bus this morning back to Musanze on the hope that my congo visa had turned up…. No such luck. Im now sat waiting, having a beer, thinking SHIT. I need to get to gisenyi tomorrow to trek on Friday. I really hope it works out. Otherwise I might as well have been robbed all over again!!!
apologies that u now have to read two longlong blogs at once!
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