Akagera

After a night in Rwamagana – the provincial capital of the east, where we were introduced to banana wine – somewhat like sherry, we were driven on a tour of the Akagera national park by a friend. On the second time round a loop (by accident, rather than design), we came across a magnificent pair of giraffes, followed by impala and then a small herd of zebra. We saw several troops of monkeys and baboons, of various types, and even the beady eyes of hippos when they surfaced for a quick breath of air.

Lake Kivu

Despite scepticism, the Paradis Malahide really lives up to its name. We had a little round bungalow for the three of us, and spent most of our time on the beach or in the gardens overlooking the beach, watching the birds and the fishing boats. The boats are three dugout canoes lashed together like a trimaran. There are varying views on the risk of bilharzia from swimming in the lake, so we opted not to risk it, as it does not appear to be a curable infection.

Gorillas

We took the bus out to Musanze (Ruhengeri – like Wales, many places have two names), and then a 4WD up to Kinigi Guest House. A walk along to the park headquarters and an enquiry told us that sometimes there are no-shows for the gorillas. We also discovered that we needed our own 4WD or a driver with one as we have to get ourselves to and from where the tracking actually starts, which is different according to the group of gorillas you are tracking.

Next day, after much patient waiting, we got three cancellations and we were off to see the Agesha group. This is the second largest group, but with only one Silverback (dominant male over 12) and a lot of females which he has collected from Congo and Uganda as well as Rwanda. Where we tracked him down was only around a kilometre from the Congolese border. When females become adult, they generally leave the group; presumably nature’s way of preventing too much interbreeding.

Off we hiked up the mountain, eventually over a large wall built to keep the buffalo in and stop them raiding the villagers’ crops. The first thing we saw was an elephant footprint. This is why an armed ranger accompanies you as well as the gorilla guide. All the time your guide is in contact with the four or so advance trackers who have been following the group since dawn and will stay with them until they nest late afternoon. The gorillas’ day is get up, move and eat, rest for an hour, move and eat, rest for an hour etc until late afternoon, when they create a new nest in the trees every night. The biggest gorillas stay on the ground because they are too heavy. Agesha weighs 222kg and is the number one in the forest – none of the other Silverbacks will challenge him.

After another 30 mins or so, we leave everything except our cameras, as we are near to the gorillas. How near we did not realise until one literally dropped down from overhead right in front of Camilla. Our first sight was this and a few more sat around through the bushes. At this point we thought that this was it. How little did we know! By using a combination of two gorilla noises – one to reassure them that we don’t threaten them, and a warning one should any stray into our group (this was never used) we got to within a few metres of the Silverback. Cubs and youngsters played above us in the trees, showering us with dead leaves. Two played games climbing up and sliding down the bamboo right above Agesha. We slowly mover around the group – we are limited to an hour and each group is only visited once per day. Of the 17 groups, only 8 are visited, but apparently two more groups have been “habituated” – previously they were research groups. In the last few years, the number has increased by 30%, but even so the entire worldwide population of mountain gorillas is a fraction of that of our village back in England.

Agesha starts to stretch, scratch and then suddenly, in a matter of seconds he springs up and charges away from us taking most of the group with him and they are gone with some screeching, apart from a few lazy stragglers.

6th August – Visiting Nzige

To visit Nzige together the only sensible way was to use a car and driver. We had asked at the hotel reception the previous afternoon, and whilst the hotel had not heard of Nzige, the driver they called up had. It happened to be where he originally came from and he came round to see us so we could see the car and negotiate a price ($100).

This morning he turned up a few minutes early and proved to be a careful, considerate and sensible driver. The first part of the trip is along the main road towards Rwamagana, a smoother road than many back home with one noticeable difference – periodically there are mega speed bumps – not always for obvious reasons. I suspect that occasionally check points are set up. Yesterday down near the market we had passed the car test centre and today we also passed a driving test centre. It may be that some of the standards are not necessarily quite as high, but Rwanda has all pretty much all the same mechanisms of a modern society as we have, and is a peaceful and law abiding country.

Reading the news headlines from the UK later with shootings and riots in London, I think we need to look more in the mirror. I certainly feel safer on the streets of Kigali than some parts of London.

Back to the trip. At Kibuge, we turn off the main road; now like most of the roads, they are the typical red dirt. Everyone seems to be going somewhere – vehicles are few and cries of “muzungus” follow us. People are on foot, or on bicycles, and a few on the moto taxis. Bicycles are the beasts of burden – piled up high with bananas, planks of wood, or as many as 7 or 8 five gallon jerry cans of water and being pushed by two small boys, often up long hills. The piped water here in the countryside is intermittent and the public water points are often the only reliable source. As we found when we got to Camilla’s house, the water was off. You would sometimes see the wife and children also sat on the back of bicycles. The Rwanda bicycle is a much sturdier construction than the ones we are used to, with the wheels and tyres one step up from the ones you see on mountain bikes. The roads are such that 30-40km per hour is the maximum speed that can be maintained, dodging the worst of the ruts.

And so to Nzige – a place I already felt familiar with from the incredible detail on Google Earth. Camilla’s house is actually tucked behind one of the shops that faces out across the market place.

Walking round the village we met smiling kids saying “Hello, how are you” – learning English here now starts young.

First foray into Kigali

The first thing we had to do was get somewhere to get some Rwandan Francs. You would have thought that a big international bank like mine, Natwest, could supply these, but apparently not.

First impressions – at least mine – are that Kigali bears more than a passing resemblance to places I have been in southern Europe and Israel. At least, until you come to transport. Now you know you are definitely in Africa. In the city, the buses are minibuses – aging Toyotas, with fold down seats that bridge the gap in the aisle. Thus, when someone at the back wants to get off, everyone on the fold down seats has to get up and there is this shuffle along with the descendee going forward and the aisle sitters moving back. For the computer buffs, it is a most intriguing sorting algorithm.

You generally pay the conductor about half a mile before you want to get off. The whole thing may seem chaotic, but it works. The alternative is the moto – 125cc motorbikes, where you are provided with a helmet and jump on the back. Definitely personalised transport.

Some things here are close to UK prices – Bourbon Coffee – the local equivalent of Starbucks. Camilla took us into Kigali’s main supermarket (one of only two that we would recognise as a supermarket). Aimed at the expat crowd, some of the things are prices that would make even our eyes water. Marmite (love it or hate it, and I am the latter for a reason unconnected to the taste, but the fact that I spent a year visiting the ENT specialist as a child and that department is just across the street from where the stuff is made, so it doesn’t have the best associations for me) is about four times the price back in England.

Bargaining in the craft and fabric stalls is an art. Taking our lead from Camilla, we left when there was no expected splitting of the difference. On one occasion, we thought agreement had been reached, the goods bagged up, but then more than we thought we had agreed was demanded, so the sale fell through.

In the afternoon, we walked from the hotel to the market and back. The market is roofed to protect from the sun and rain. The premium on space means that some market stalls are more vertical than horizontal – on a 6 foot square stall, displays may be 12 foot high. Bev bought some material for a skirt and then thought she had found one like she had tried to buy in the morning. However a closer inspection showed that it was an inferior Dutch copy, rather than the genuine Cote d’Ivoire block wax print.

The Journey out

Nothing prepares you for flying over the Sahara – a desert the size of Europe – the continent where I live. Most of the maps we are used to on a small scale distort northern regions, making Europe look bigger than it really is.

About an hour and a half from Kigali, there was a large plume of smoke. I think this is the volcano that erupted for the first time in documented history a few weeks ago and had me concerned because the ash cloud from it had caused air traffic disruption as far away as Saudi Arabia, However, it was still streaming to the north east, away from our path, we were unaffected, If my memory serves me correctly, there are stable winds from the south west in these latitudes at this time of the year.

It also seems strange that as we go south in the summer, it gets dark earlier. I know why this is true technically, but one tends to associate heat with the sun, and thus you expect more sun as you go south and less as you go north. This is true for half the year – between the autumnal and vernal equinoxes i.e. over the winter months.

This is my first trip to Africa – I have only seen it in the distance before from Gibraltar. I have travelled extensively in Europe and North America, but outside of this I have only been to Israel, which I suppose is technically Asia. Unlike my daughter who is only missing South America and Antarctica from her tally.

For most of the next two weeks, we are all going to be out of the country as Doug is being sent at a few days notice to Taiwan and China for most of it as well.

It will also be my first visit to the southern hemisphere and I am interested to see if the Coriolis Force, which featured so heavily in my oceanography degree, really does make the water go the other way round down the plug hole.

Being sat on the left side of the plane, I have been able to see the Nile for much of the flight over Africa, as our flight routing took us down the Greek coast before crossing into Africa just west of the Nile delta.

On our descent, we turned first to the east and then a sweeping turn to the west. I thought I could see Rwamagana out to the west – I recognised the snake of the main road from my study on Google Earth, which means that we were turning onto the final approach quite close to where Camilla lives.

We got a taxi to the hotel the instant we got out, there was an overpowering scent from evening flowers – I think it might be Hibiscus. And on into the hotel. Never has a beer seemed so good.

It was great to see Camilla after 6 months, looking well and happy.

On our way - finally

Woke up after 3 hours sleep and got to the airport.

first the handle ripped out on one case and then another. Not a good start.

You should see the queue at WH Smiths - half way across Bristol Airport's new smaller departure lounge. Bristol is the only airport I know that makes things smaller (except duty free) in response to growing passenger numbers.

Next stop Brussels - relieved that I have gone to the right airport this time, and on time.

Further posts will only be when I have access to wifi as the data roaming charges are high and blogspot is not data friendly.