Home again

Back home.

The trip home was good - as enjoyable as any trip could be in cattle class. Final farewells to Ange, Cyrille and Gladys at the airport. Flight to Johannesburg on Rwanda Air's brand new 737, complete with new-car smell. It was less than half full so there was plenty of room to stretch out and enjoy the excellent view of the African continent drifting by 40,000 feet below.

It arrived 20 minutes early which meant a longer than expected wait at Jo'burg, but at least there was plenty of opportunity to drink coffee and browse the shops, of which there are a good many, including a shop called Out of Africa which is quite large and jam-packed with the most beautiful African products you could imagine. Waved goodbye to Julie as I headed off to board my flight to Sydney while she headed off to catch a flight to London for three weeks of R and R.

Had a bit of a turn when I took my seat and discovered that I was a lone Australian surrounded by South Africans going to the World Cup in New Zealand. (It seemed like most people on the plane were heading there.) I wasn't sure that admitting to being Australian would be a good idea given that we knocked them out of the semi-finals, and attempted to pass myself off as an Icelander, but they guessed anyway. Fortunately they didn't hold it against me and only gave me a gentle ribbing. Their view was that if South Africa couldn't win it then the next best thing was that it at least stay in the southern hemisphere. 

I was in luck when I arrived at Sydney. My scheduled flight to Canberra was one of only about three flights leaving Sydney that afternoon - most flights were cancelled because of industrial action by Qantas engineers - so I didn't have any problems getting home on time.

So all that is left is for me to reminisce on the amazing month I've just had. I have to admit it will be nice not to have worry about boiling every drop of water I drink, and it will be nice to be able to eat salads again, and to enjoy nice tender meat. And I can't say I will miss eating cassava at every meal (not a vegetable I took a liking to).

But I will miss all the people I met and their hospitality, generosity and affection. I know I'll visit Rwanda again in some capacity. I had some life-shifting experiences there which I won't forget - making eye contact with Kwitonda the gorilla, hearing Rosine describe her extraordinary experiences during the genocide, and seeing the emotional display at the Murambi Hill memorial centre.

So thanks to David Wheen for the opportunity to take part in the program, to Julie for all her support during the workshops, and to DGIE staff for their hospitality and generosity.

And thanks also to all those of you have read this humble blog and your very positive comments about it. It's been fun doing it.

So it's murabeho from me until next time.

Farewell dinner

Wednesday 12 October, evening

The Director-General hosted a farewell dinner tonight for Julie and me, and a welcome dinner for David, Mandy and Jennie. It was in the Indian restaurant at The Manor, where we went a couple of weeks ago (but tonight it wasn't raining).

It was a very generous dinner with lots of warm thank-yous on both sides. Another wonderful gift  - a bathrobe, slippers and bag, in one of the beautiful African fabrics. I had been looking with considerable desire at several of these at the craft cooperative only that morning. Just as well I didn't buy one.

Another example of how generous the Rwandan people are.
 

Meandering in Kigali

Wednesday 12 October, morning

 It might be a bit surprising, but today - the day before I go home - was my  first chance to actually wander around the centre of Kigali for a while. I had been in before but only quick trips to change money or do shopping.

It was also my first opportunity to catch one of the local buses, which is an experience - an enjoyable one though. There are four ways of getting around - get a lift with someone (which has been our main method I guess), taxi (also a method of transport we have used frequently), buses, and moto taxis.

 
The buses are very crowded but very cheap. Most of them are minivans which just keep coming - no actual schedule. Most of them have religious slogans on them, such as Trust God or Thank God - perhaps instructions as to what to do as you get on and get off! Newer, bigger buses are being introduced which have bus cards modeled on the Oyster Card in the UK.

The moto taxis are the cheapest and the most exciting. Apparently they are a lot safer than they used to be as they are now all required to have driving licences and to carry helmets for passengers (straps for the helmets seem to be still optional). They attempted to ban them because of the accident rate, but the city went on strike in protest as for a large proportion of the population it is the only form of transport they can afford. That is when they started regulating them - their licences are checked regularly by the police, and they have to wear safety jackets with their registration numbers on them. I haven't tried one, but if I was going to be here a bit longer I'm sure I'd pluck up the courage to do so.

Walking around Kigali centre is a different experience from walking around other capital cities I've been used to. I wouldn't call it pretty but it has a lot of atmosphere - noisy and crowded and chaotic. New buildings are going up all over the place which adds to the chaos. There are a couple of small shopping centres but mostly the shops are small and crowded.

One thing about Kigali and most of Rwanda as far as I can tell is that there is absolutely no litter. The pavements might be rough and the houses might be small and run-down, but everything is clean and tidy and there are always people sweeping the streets and the pavements.

The Group House

Monday 10 October, evening

David, Mandy and Jennie arrived exactly on time, so we are now a household of five. David's luggage showed signs of having been tampered with, and Jennie is sure there are some items of clothing missing from her luggage. This apparently is not an unusual occurence for any luggage going through Johannesburg. Julie's suitcase had been tampered with when she came through there as well, and I think my name tag might have been pinched.

Visiting the border post at Gatuna

Monday 10 October

Ange and Gladys picked us up at 9am to take us for a visit to one of the District Offices and the border post at Gatuna, on the border with Uganda in the north. An exhausting but very interesting day.

We called in to the District Office in a town called Gicumbi - two small offices in a complex of government offices, staffed by just two people. But they were very friendly and it looked to be very efficiently run. They issue passports, laisser-faire documents, deal with NGOs and also deal with a Congolese refugee camp which is on the outside of the town.

Then on to the border post at Gatuna, where we were welcomed and given a comprehensive tour. Gatuna is one of the border posts that are now open 24 hours a day - an initiative of the current President to free up trade movements through the country.

The Customs manager also showed us around their operation, the highlight of which was the new scanning machine, used to scan trucks to make sure they are carrying only what their customs declaration says they should be. Very high-tech with lots of flashing lights and really cool graphics. They say it has helped enormously to reduce the time taken for trucks to pass through customs.

The new scanning machine at Gatuna border post

We were also taken over to meet the counterparts on the Ugandan side, who were very friendly and just as at the other border post I visited there is a lot of cooperation between the two sides. 

Entering Uganda

Entering Rwanda

No-one seemed to mind my taking heaps of photos, even on the Uganda side - rather different from border posts in other countries.

We thought it was going to be a quick trip up and back - everyone said it was only an hour or so to Gatuna. But we didn't get back to Kigali until nearly 6.30pm, just in time to head to the airport to meet David, Mandy and Jennie.

Banana wine and chocolate - or, a very social weekend

Saturday and Sunday 8-9 October

A social weekend.

Saturday, gift shopping at a craft cooperative in town where almost everything is beautiful and it was hard not to buy more than I could possibly take home. Central Kigali may not be downtown Manhattan, but it's refreshing not to see cheap tourist traps selling junk everywhere.

Lunch with Rosine at the Bourbon Street Cafe - I had my favourite African coffee: expresso blended with milk, chocolate and ginger.

After shopping we had lunch with Rosine then she drove us to her place to meet her family who were absolutely lovely and genuinely thrilled to have us visit.

Rosine

 We know Rosine from when she did a Masters degree in Customs Law at the University of Canberra, and she became great friends with David and Mandy and Julie. She has been very generous while we have been here and it has been delightful to get to know her better.

Rosine's extended family

 Her family is quite big, with Mama and Papa, an uncle, a brother, two sisters and two nieces, plus a lady who helps out, all living at home. She also has three brothers living overseas.

Robert, Rosine's youngest brother, insisted on us having some banana wine - which I have to admit is not going to become my favourite drink. Sickly sweet (to my taste) with a very bitter burnt aftertaste. I managed a small glass but Robert said it was OK to have a Primus (beer) instead which I gladly accepted. Still, it's great to have the opportunity to try these things. The Rwandans also make a beer from bananas - which I'm sure is equally disagreeable!

Communication was fun as the older members of the family speak French but not English. But with translation from Rosine and Robert and a few bits of French thrown in, we managed very well. After a couple of beers, Papa engaged me in conversation in French which rather stretched me a bit with as it was a bit noisy and my conversational ability is rather rudimentary. However we persevered and with a bit of body language thrown in we sort of understood each other a fair bit of the time.

The only serious thing we did was to visit the memorial to the Belgian soldiers. This is the  place  where 10 UN soldiers from Belgium were  massacred on day one of the genocide . The soldiers had been deployed to protect the Prime Minister and when the fighting broke out Presidential Guard soldiers attacked the home, disarmed the Belgians and transported them to Kamp Kigali where they killed them. The camp is now a memorial site.

Machine-gun and grenade damage on the outside of the barracks where the Belgian soldiers were killed

The corner where nine of the soldiers died

Sunday we had a farewell brunch with Di who had been in Kigali for the last ten days teaching at the Central Hospital and was about to go back to Butaro. Di, who is the absolute font of all knowledge about eating places in Kigali, had suggested a new cafe called Shocolat Lite, about 15 minutes walk up the road, which is very nice and a bit of a discovery. They make the most amazing hot chocolate. It's in a new building housing offices, a nicely equipped pharmacy, a bank, two restaurants, and a very nice bookstore.

Di Longson, me and Julie

We browsed the bookstore and I could easily have gone crazy but the thought of trying to fit anything else into my luggage made me limit myself to an English-Kinyarwanda phrase book, which would have been useful four weeks ago instead of when I'm about to go home.

To wind the weekend off, Sunday evening we had a lovely evening with Melody and her family. Melody is the Executive Assistant to the Director-General and is just gorgeous.

Skywalkers

Friday 7 October

On the way back through the park next morning we visited the new Canopy Walk which has only been open since last October.

We didn't know what to expect - probably something like alighting from the car then stepping elegantly out onto a nice solid platform and strolling along a nice solid walkway through the treetops. After all, Josien had assured us we didn't have to climb up a ladder or anything to get to it - you just "step out onto it", he said.

What he didn't say was that we had to do a 45-minute hike down a steep slippery trail before we got to step out onto it. And that it is only about eight inches wide and the floor is made of flimsy-looking aluminium.

I'm assured it can carry up to 4 tonnes!

However it has a safety net up to chest height and quite strong cables at shoulder height that you hang on to. And Robert our guide - you can only do it with a guide - assured us that it is designed to hold four tonnes so we should be safe. It's 160m long and 60m high at its highest point. It's in three sections, the middle of which is the longest at 90m (and the highest). He assured us that he was well trained to handle people who panic (why did that not make me feel better?)

Anyway the first part looked easy so we headed off to the first platform where we got ourselves together for the middle part. It actually wasn't that hard to take the next step, and I only suffered a bit of vertigo for the first few steps. It was a bit unnerving when you were moving because it's impossible not to get some swaying from side to side going on. But when we stood still it felt pretty OK. And with the safety net up to chest height you would have to try fairly hard to fall out.

Does this look like a lady who's afraid of heights?

So there we were, standing on this flimsy-looking structure 60m above the forest floor looking out at the treetops. And neither of us regard ourselves as being good withheights. When I asked Robert how often he has to use his training in panic management, he said "Quite often!"

Looking 60m straight down

We didn't get back to Kigali until 6.30pm. Two stops on the way back - Josien wanted to buy fresh milk so he stopped at a little shop in a village which had even more than the usual number of cows around. He was pretty insistent that we buy some as well - even though it came in 5 litre olive oil containers. I bought some just for the experience and just to make him happy I guess. I was a bit surprised that the milk was hot, as it had been boiled - the only way fresh milk can be sold. Milk is such an important part of life here. When people receive visitors it is the custom to give them a gift of a container of milk, especially in country areas. In cities this custom is starting to disappear, or is being replaced by other things such as wine.

Josien also insisted we stop at a market and buy fruit, which was accompanied by a fair bit of yelling and hustling from the vendors, something I still find a bit overwhelming. However with Josien's help we limited ourselves to only four pineapples, two dozen bananas, two pawpaws and three dozen passionfruit and a carry bag - all for 3900 RWF (about $6.50). Just as well David is going to be here next week and he will eat passionfruit until it's coming out of his ears.

PS: Remember, click on the photos to see them full size

To the border

Thursday 6 October, afternoon

Josien suggested a trip to the the foot of Lake Kivu, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was about an hour's drive away and the road was a lot better then in the park. Lake Kivu is one of the Great Lakes of Africa and forms part of the border between Rwanda and the DRC. It is an important source of fish for Rwanda as well as being a huge leisure area.

Photo courtesy of NASA

Lake Kivu is one of the world's three "exploding lakes" and is apparently at serious risk of "overturn," a process whereby huge amounts of carbon dioxide and methane are released from under its surface, which could suffocate everyone in the surrounding areas. But Rwanda is starting to remove the gases from the lake and using it to make electricity. Apparently there's enough gas to power the country for the next 100 years.

We also went a bit further down to the town of Risizu where the border post is, and we were wondering if we knew anyone there from our work with DGIE. We eventually plucked up our courage (urged on by Josien) to go in and see, and behold - one of the managers was Gertulde who had been on the first of our workshops. The other manager remembered Julie from last year, so we were welcomed with open arms and shown around. They even took us over to the Congo side to meet their counterparts there. There is a lot of cooperation between the two sides and they are in constant contact. They were just as friendly and welcoming as our DGIE staff were.

While we were visiting the Congo side it started to pour with rain so we took shelter in the police cabin until it cleared. I was very aware that (a) technically I was in the DRC, (b) I didn't have a visa to visit DRC, and (c) I didn't have any form of identification or travel document on me. But I figured if I kept very very close to the DGIE people I'd be OK, which in fact I was, of course.

Josien then took us into town to have a late lunch. The most notable feature of lunch was that I had absolutely the most inedible piece of "chicken" I have ever had. It truly defeated me! To say it was like leather is doing a severe injustice to leather!

We got back to the guest house about 3pm and all we could think of doing was having a lie down, which was very welcome. Dinner that evening wasn't quite as good as the previous evening - no sign of the excellent soup and the chicken had been replaced by an indifferent dish of talapia (a fish from Lake Kivu).

And so far the lake hasn't exploded, so we haven't been suffocated.

Chasing chimps

Thursday 6 October, morning

We had to be ready at 4.45 am to depart for our chimpanzee trek. It was an hour's drive and even at that hour, still pitch dark, there were heaps of people walking along the roads on their way to work in the fields or on the roads.

The trail to where the cmimpanzees were believed to be started easy but quickly plunged steeply down the side of the mountain. We trekked for about an hour before we heard them - straight out of the sound track of a Tarzan movie! We heard them some time before we saw them - well, actually before the guide saw them. To see them we had to leave the trail and climb up the hill through the undergrowth. Unfortunately they moved fairly quickly, so we had to as well. However we eventually saw a small group up in the trees, and a couple of them climbed down fairly close before heading off again. So it was a fairly fleeting glimpse. Equally entertaing, if not more so, was a small family of mona monkeys playing in a tree not far away. These hung around in the tree for quite a while so we got a good look at them.

Heading back up the steep climb took a while. We were behind an Irish couple on their honeymoon, who had been way out in front on the way down. On the way back they stopped to take a photo of every blade of grass, every ant and every mushroom. We weren't complaining - it gave us plenty of opportunity to catch our breath and get some feeling back into our legs.

Nightfall over Nyungwe

Wednesday 5 October

Josien picked us up again to take us to the Nyungwe National Park, in the southwest of Rwanda. This was to be an all-day trip, not so much because of the distance but because of the road, and also because we were going to stop off at a couple of places.

First stop was in Butare, which we reached about midday. Butare is the largest city in the Southern Province and is regarded as the intellectual capital of Rwanda, while Kigali holds the political power. Butare has the National University of Rwanda, the National Museum and a number of other cultural and scientific institutions. It is quite an attractive city, more so than Kigali, I thought. We visited the National Museum which was excellent. Only had time for an hour but it's well worth a longer visit. It is often referred to in tourist brochures as the best museum in East Africa.

Then lunch at the Hotel Ibis in a very colonial setting.

Next stop was the Murambi Genocide Memorial, not far out of Butare. This is the site of one of the worst massacres of the Genocide, where 30,000 people were slaughtered while taking shelter in a technical high school. It's difficult to describe the impact of visiting this centre. It has a permanent exhibition, which describes the history of Rwanda in four displays - pre-colonial, colonial, the genocide period, and post-genocide. It is smaller than the one in Kigali, and, like the one in Kigali, has a mass grave containing 25,000 people (the one in Kigali has a mass grave of 279,000).

But the really chilling part is yet to come. When they exhumed one of the mass graves, they discovered that, because of the depth of the trench and the heat generated by the decomposing bodies, the bodies on the bottom hadn't decomposed and were quite well-preserved.  The National Museum preserved these bodies using lime, and about 800 of them are on display in one of the old classroom blocks. The detail is astonishing, and you can clearly see the expressions on the people's faces as they were killed and the brutal injuries they sustained from machetes and clubs. Particularly chilling was the room devoted to bodies of children and babies.

The spot was also marked where French soldiers, supposedly sent in afterwards to protect survivors, played volleyball on top of the mass graves to help disguise the fact that they were there. The complicity of the French (and other countries and institutions) in the genocide is very frightening.

While it was very confronting, it brought home even more than the centre in Kigali just how brutal the Genocide was, and how important it is to make sure it never happens again.

Murambi Genocide Memorial Centre

 After that, we made our way up to the Nyungwe National Park, through extraordinarily pretty countryside. Again, steeply terraced hillsides and in the valleys small farms and rice paddies. As we climbed higher, the plantations of bananas, sugar cane, corn and vegetables gave way to tea plantations, which was even prettier than it had been further down.

We entered the park just before 6pm, and our first sight was a family of Olive Baboons playing in the middle of the road. They weren't at all worried about the traffic and they obviously thought it was our responsibility to avoid them as we made our way past them. Apparently these baboons don't venture far into the park, preferring to live close to the villages so they can steal food.

Olive Baboons just inside Nyungwe National Park

We were soon driving through dense forest, and not far into the forest night fell. At the same time a big storm came over with some spectacular thunder clearly audible above the noise of the truck. As the weather deteriorated, so did the road. Perhaps the second-worst road I've ever been on, but maybe it was just the darkness and the rain. There is a lot of roadwork going on, which didn't help, and lots of trucks going to and coming from the Congo border which is not far away.

It took an hour to cross the park but it seemed like three. We arrived at the guest house we were booked into just after 7pm, just in time for a hearty meal. Excellent vegetable soup, and a pretty reasonable dinner including some of the best potato chips I've ever had, and quite a tender chicken dish and a very reasonable house red wine. The guest house was basic but comfortable with a bathroom and toilet down the other end verandah and lots of hot running water.

Mzungus in the Mist

Tuesday 4 October

Tuesday morning the King was awake at 5.30 am and received his bucket of hot water for a sort of shower/splash bath in the concrete area set aside in the back roundhouse for this purpose. Thank goodness it wasn't a cold morning, although the locals were all rugged up.

At 6.30 Josien, our excellent guide from EcoTours, drove me to the Park office where we were put into groups according to which group of gorillas we wanted to see, and to meet our guide. There are eight different groups that are habituated, which means they are used to humans. Trackers in the forest keep track of where the groups are so the guides know exactly where to take us. Josien decided I would visit the Kwitonda group, which is not too far away, about an hour's trek into the forest. He assured me it wasn't to do with the distance, but because he believed this is the best group to visit. It is the second biggest group, currently containing 21 gorillas, and is led by Kwitonda himself (the name means "patience' in Kinyarwanda), the oldest silverback in the forest at 35 years old. Other groups are much further away and it is possible to spend 8 hours catching up with them.

Entry to the park is strictly controlled, and no more than 80 people per day are allowed in. Permits cost $500 (US). At the last gorilla census in 2010 there were 780 in the forests of Rwanda and Uganda. Not all groups are habituated. Some groups are semi-habituated and are used for research, while some groups haven't been exposed to humans at all. Our group of trekkers, somewhat surprisingly, consists of six Australians and two Brits. Once we were assembled and briefed on the group and what the trek would be like, we were then driven in a convoy of three trucks to the park border, over absolutely the worst "road" I've ever been on (although Josien said it was the best of the roads to the park border). We got bogged at one one point but he got us out quickly. Not so the one coming behind which remained bogged and they (plus the people in the third truck) had to walk the rest of the way - fortunately we were almost at the point where the cars had to park.

We were met by some porters from the local village and even though my backpack was very light I hired one as a way of providing at least a bit of local employment. As well as carrying our packs they also kept an eye on us to make sure we were OK on the walk and would make sure we drank plenty of water.


Then a 20-minute walk through potato paddocks to the park border itself, marked by the "buffalo wall", a robust rock wall designed to keep the buffaloes from getting out of the forest and destroying the crops.

This is where we met the ranger (armed) who accompanied us in the forest, and were briefed on how to behave in front of the gorillas. The rules are:

• stay at least 7m from the gorillas
• no touching (mainly to prevent diseases being transmitted to the gorillas or from the gorillas to us)
• viewing time is limited to one hour.
• no spitting
• no flash photography
• no sudden moves
• no eating
• no sticks or backpacks with the gorillas
• keep your voice low.
• If a gorilla should charge or vocalize at you, do not be alarmed, stand still, look away from the gorilla and follow the guide’s directions.

 We then scaled the buffalo wall and headed into the forest. It was a reasonably gentle upward slope so it wasn't difficult trekking. The only difficulty was that it was quite slippery in parts.

After about an hour we were told we were almost to where the gorillas were so we had to divest ourselves of our backpacks and sticks, and then continued on about 50 metres until we rounded a corner and saw a black shape behind a clump of bamboo. Then three more black shapes materialised and we realised we were there!

No matter how many times you've seen them on TV, or seen photos of them, nothing prepares you for how beautiful they are in real life. There are a lot of young bamboo shorts at this time of year, which is the gorillas' favourite food and makes them very happy, so they were having a marvellous time.

What a comment!

While we tried to maintain the 7m, we quickly realised the gorillas didn't know what 7m looked like, and one of the younger silverbacks came over to us, turned his back on us and urinated in our direction. After a little while one of the other young silverbacks (there are four in this group, as well as Kwitonda himself) stood up and beat his chest but the ranger said he wasn't doing it in a particularly threatening way. However he did vocalise the "I'm not threatening you" noise - a sort of prolonged low clearing the throat - to let the gorilla know we weren't a threat. Nevertheless we thought it prudent to move back a bit and make our way around him. In doing so we came across Kwitonda himself, sitting by himself munching quietly on bamboo shoots. While I was standing there looking at him goggle-eyed, he caught my eye and we stared into each other's eyes for at least a minute. What an amazing experience! Not at all threatening, just curious.



There was a two-year old playing near his mother, and at one stage he rolled away from her and rolled to withing a couple of feet of us. There was also a mother nursing slightly apart from the group. It was while we were looking at her that a squabble broke out among the young males behind us. Lots of screeching and thrashing about in the bamboo, and in an instant the mother picked up her baby and shot straight past us to see what was going on, missing us by about a metre. Have to admit the thought of all those kilos of gorilla flesh fighting less 20 feet away gave us quite a start. But the ranger didn't appear worried as he said it was just a family spat and nothing to do with us. Eventually Kwitonda waddled over to sort it out and
the ruckus soon subsided and they all nestled down for a lovely grooming session and a bit of a nap.

Eye contact with Kwitonda

One of the young males was scratched in the melee and the rangers said they would have to keep on it to see if would need medical attention.

Madonna and Child?

By this time our hour was up, and we had to reluctantly make our way back down the trail, across the buffalo wall and out of the forest. The middle truck had become unbogged, but on the way back it had a flat tyre, much to the amusement of the hundreds of local kids.

Which one is which?

Back at the cultural village, the Queen (who did the gorilla trek last year) had done a tour of the local village, including a visit to the school and to one of the local houses, and exploring a cave that used to be used by the king (the real one, when they had one) and by the poachers to sneak into the forest. It had poured rain in the village, but fortunately my trek had been rain-free.



Back to Kigali in the afternoon - an uneventful trip and both the King and the Queen slept through most of it. The only stop was to buy eggs from a roadside stall. The eggs came in a very attractive bundle made from banana leaves. Also on offer were live rabbits and chooks, but we decided against either of those.

PS:  Not sure if you've noticed, but if you click on any of the photos you can see a bigger version. Then just use the back arrow to return to the blog.

King Ted and Queen Julie

At the cultural village  Julie and I discovered we had been appointed King and Queen of the village.

The village is a re-creation of a traditional village with a replica of the King's house and a number of smaller houses for guest accommodation. The village is the creation of the founder of Eco Tours with whom we are travelling, and his story is quite inspiring and reads like the script of a film. Edwin Sabuhoro founded the village to provide an alternative form of employment for poachers so they wouldn't have to resort to capturing and killing the mountain gorillas to keep their families from starvation. His story is worth a read at
http://rwandaecotours.com/the-beginning.html

There are examples of various crafts, including a traditional healer and a blacksmith. We got to try our hand at shooting with a bow and arrow and after about 30 shots I managed to maim a banana leaf. No meat for us for dinner tonight. Julie got to try her hand at making flour from sorghum. There was a musician who sang accompanied by a stringed instrument called an inange, sort of like a guitar. It started to pour with rain so the traditional welcome from the dancers took place inside the King's house, so we were up close and personal with them and in the heat of the moment we got up and joined in, much to their delight.

Demonstrating the effect of the latest natural medicine

After the welcoming dance and after the rain cleared we took a walk around the surrounding potato fields and met some of the people in the neighbouring village. We were accompanied by a retinue of local kids, starting with four but ending up with six.


Dinner was local vegetables and bananas (I wasn't kidding about no
meat - Rwandans aren't big meat eaters, which isn't surprising given the quality of the meat). Lots of potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, spinach and the inevitable plantains (like a banana but not sweet and cooked and served as a vegetable).

After dinner there was another song of welcome for the King and Queen, and more singing from the musician - a long and complicated tale about a local warrior, the King of Rwanda, the Queen Mother and the King of Burundi. Then we got to talk with all the workers and had a question and answer session where we had to ask them something and they would ask us something. They were all former poachers so we asked them about how their life had changed since the formation of the village. It was a bit eerie to think we were sitting chatting with people who used to make a living from killing gorillas. But it was good to hear them talk about how they they now regard the gorillas as their cousins and wouldn't ever contemplate returning to their previous lifestyle. In return they asked us about how we deal with poachers in Australia and whether there is any scheme like this to rehabilitate them. They were impressed that poaching wasn't as big a problem for us as it had been in Rwanda, but I'm not sure they were impressed by the fact that we just throw them in jail or fine them big amounts of money.

The only way to dry your hair when there is no electricity

Finally it was time for King Ted and Queen Julie to retire to thier respective beds, in one of the smaller round grass-thatched houses. Each house has a smaller one at the back which contains an eco-toilet and a space to have a wash in. Did I mention that there is no electricity, and that water for bathing is heated up on a fire and delivered in a bucket? Light and warmth is provided by a charcoal fire in the middle of the house. They aim to make the experience as authentic as possible.

Aerobics African style?

The bunks however are very comfortable and after all that dancing and singing and the warmth of the fire I had no difficulty in getting a really good night's sleep. Certainly an interesting experience but I think one night might be enough!

 

I get to do some metallurgy and wear a funny hat

Julie learns a new recipe to try when we get back to the apartment in Kigali

Road to Ruhengeri

Monday 3 October and we were picked up by Josien, our guide for the next few days from Eco Tours. We're off to the Volcanoes National Park so I can see the mountain gorillas. It's my first excursion out of Kigali so I'm quite excited. Ruhengeri is the major town nearest the park and the stepping-off point for the gorilla treks.

Once out of Kigali it becomes clear why Rwanda is called the Land of a Thousand Hills.

It's very very hilly and very very pretty, with the deep valleys covered with little farms growing vegetables and corn. The steep walls of the valleys are heavily terraced and little farming plots and banana plantations cling to the hillsides. The sun glints off the rooftops of the little farmhouses in their new tin roofs, courtesy of a recent government initative which saw all the old thatched roofs replaced with metal. In some valleys there are rectangular ponds where fish are bred. The ponds are bordered by rabbit hutches, and the rabbit droppings fall into the water to feed the fish.

 Leaving Kigali is like stepping 100 years back in time. A constant stream of people of all ages walking along the road in both directions - sometimes beside, often on it. Women dressed in colourful long wrap-around skirts and scarves carrying all sorts of bundles on their heads. Kids playing beside the road waving to us as we go past. Young men standing in groups with their bikes waiting to pick up a bit or work, or just standing watching traffic go past. In the fields people hoeing and weeding just as they might have done for centuries.

Bikes are a principal form of transport and carry everything from people (as a sort of local taxi), to big sacks of potatoes, building materials, timber, logs and car parts.

Josien stopped to show us a panoramic view of the River Nyabarongo, not far out of Kigali. The Nyabarongo is now considered by many to be the true source of  the Nile (at least the most distant from the sea). This spot has a rather dark history, as during the Genocide, thousands of Tutsis were either drowned here or killed and their bodies thrown into the river to float downstream. Hutu extremists had come up with a theory that the Tutsis originated in Ethiopa and that throwing them in the Nyabarongo would return them to whence they came.

Nyabarongo River, source of the Nile and site of one of the massacres during the Genocide

 The road was good most of the way, and there was a lot of roadwork going on, usually under the direction of Chinese foremen, as the Chinese government is providing a lot of aid in the form of expertise and assistance with roadbuiding.

We arrived at Ruhengeri in time for lunch, then on a further 30 minutes to the Iby’Iwacu cultural village where we were staying the night, right in the middle of the volcanoes. More about that and the adventures of King Ted and Queen Julie in the next post.