How can you top our Gorilla experience? Not easy, but Rwanda has so much else to offer. After the success of the Gorilla visit we headed off to Kigali. What a great capital city, and the basis of what we were to experience all around the country. A clean, well loved place, no litter, and no hassles. It is quite hard to imagine that this is a country that was almost torn to pieces no more than 14 years ago. As you might expect we gravitated to the large new shopping centre in town to have a look around before heading off for some lunch. We managed to locate a very nice restaurant, Chez Robert, and indulged in a stomach busting buffet. We were probably the scruffiest people in the place, very much a business lunch spot, but our money is as good as anyone else's, and we were warmly welcomed. Suitably stuffed we wobbled off to seek a home for the night and had one of those very frustrating afternoons. The first few options on our list didn't work out and we eventually ended up out near the airport at the La Palisse Hotel (S1 57.333 E30 07.926). It was not cheap at $10 each, but we were able to camp in the car park and they had free internet so we got plenty of browsing for our bucks! They had wireless but the strange thing was, fortunately for us, the signal was rubbish in reception where the computers were but it was just fab up in our tent in the car park! The latest set of photos we uploaded were done at the hotel.
As Rwanda is on a different clock to the rest of east Africa it gets light an hour earlier and we were able to get on the road sharpish in the morning to head west out to Lake Kivu. The road was stunning if not very straight! It was built by the Chinese not long ago and is quite an impressive piece of tarmac. Just recently Mufasa had been suffering from a lack of power and a few of the climbs were a challenge. We thought it was just crap diesel. Anyway, after a long but pleasing drive we descended onto Lake Kivu and the town of Kibuye. Again our accommodation options were limited but as luck had it we found the Moriah Hill Resort(S2 03.560 E29 19.945) right on the lake and they let us camp in their car park with a key to a room for ablutions. What a nice spot, and the hotel was empty. The rooms were new and the bathrooms luxurious, but badly finished. It chucked it down that night and I had to bail out the load bay in the morning with the rain that had leaked in through a mystery hole somewhere. Thankfully everything is in sealed boxes so no damage was done.
The next day we continued on down the lake from Kibuye on another great road but this one was gravel. The views of the lake and the surrounding hills were stunning. Our planned destination was Kamembe at the foot of the lake but our plans changed. We left the good gravel road and hit tarmac about 25km north of Kamembe, but the road was badly potholed. There was no definite location for the night in Kamembe and rather than having to backtrack later on we decided to head east instead and head for Butare where we thought we had a good sleeping spot planned. The road, sill potholed, took us up into the Nyungwe forest reserve, a rain forest. Angolan Colobus Monkeys playing on the sides of the road. Thankfully we didn't get wet but had a scenic and interesting drive on a slowly improving road, up into the hills and then down to Butare. A different town but same old story, couldn't find anywhere to stay. We checked out a mission that we knew had accommodation, but there was no space for us to camp. I then noticed that the Hotel Ibis (S2 36.128 E29 44.538) was labelled on the GPS as 'with camping'. What a result. We camped for FREE in their car park, and had free wireless internet, well when I managed to find a spot where the signal was good enough. They gave us a key for the conference suite for ablutions and as we were camping for free we felt obliged to eat in their restaurant. Oh, it was pouring down anyway so cooking was not an option! We retired back to Mufasa's cab after dinner as the rain was still dropping and watched a movie on the laptop. That is when the thing started playing up. About 40 minutes left of the movie to watch and it just kept crashing, bugger! So we gave up and went to bed, thankfully the rain had stopped and we were able to put the tent up without getting soaked.
From Butare we had planned to stop off at a couple of churches on the way back to Kigali that are memorials to the 1994 Genocide. Despite our best efforts we couldn't find the turn off to them from the main road back to Kigali. So instead we headed back to the capital for some coffee, shopping, a visit to the Genocide Museum, and then lunch.After a very interesting, thought provoking, but gut wrenching tour of the museum we were even more amazed at what we had experienced around the country. The story told was pretty horrific but with our own eyes we had seen such an industrious and proud society. Rwanda is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. There was barely a minute on the open road where we did not see a soul or a patch of land uncultivated. The infrastructure looked impressive, and the place is spotless. Plastic bags are banned and they only use paper packets at the shops. Trying to tie up all we had seen with the senseless mass murder that went on is very difficult. I would have to say that Rwanda would have to be the most civilised of all the countries we have visited on this trip. Our only problem after leaving the museum was looking at the people we saw and wondering, were you involved? As you travel the country you see groups of prison inmates, mostly dressed in pink outfits, working here and there. The majority of them are either accused or convicted of genocide crimes. All you can say is what an amazing turn around, and a credit to the new government and the people some of whom must have mind blowing memories to carry with them for the rest of their lives. Sadly we only managed a week in the country, so far yet to travel and the clock ticking. We stayed the night back at the La Palisse (S1 57.333 E30 07.926). I made use of the free internet again to try and troubleshoot the still sick laptop, but with no success. Then the next morning we were off to the border and back into Tanzania.
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