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 Dinner that evening wasn't quite as good as the previous evening - no sign of the excellent soup and the chicken had been replaced by an indifferent dish of talapia (a fish from Lake Kivu).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.