Adventure's with Dad continue

Well, time for another blog, and this time I am writing from the shores of Lake Kivu in a town called Gisenyi. And all I can say is, PARADISE! We arrived late last night and had a plate of chips, a couple of beers and some chats to other residents here at Paradise Malahide where we are staying. Now, if anyone ever travels to Gisenyi, you MUST stay here! We had a long lie this morning, finishing the movie we only got half an hour into last night and opened the curtains to glorious, glorious sunshine! I was so cold when we were at the volcanoes and now it is so much warmer, and a bit more “my thing” than colder regions. We will update later after our first day here. I’m already looking forward to swimming in the lake (no crocs etc) and reading my book!

So, to give you a picture of yesterday. If only you could feel the pain in my legs this morning. I can barely move, and even walking down steps and going to the loo is killing me! We woke early in Kinigi guesthouse and had a nice hearty breakfast of omelettes and coffee and a couple of bananas. We drove along to the Gorilla Tracking HQ, just down the road where at 7am, was heaving with people already. We had previously decided against the Gorilla’s as it is incredibly expensive, even for me, with a resident’s card and thought we might take a walk up to Volcanoe, which I can’t remember the name of to see the flooded crater at the top. After hiding the initial shock of the price of walking we set off in a group of five. Dad, me, Meri (more about her later), Bart and Zeuren. Now Bart and Z were very fit, and not bad looking I might add, and I could feel my lack of fitness start to voice itself before we’d even left HQ. So, off we drove to the foot of the Volcano, at around 1000ft. Meri came in the car with Dad and I. She is American. Retired and travelling the continent of Africa on her own. She has done so much, and didn’t we hear it! Bless her, but some people don’t know when to shut up and just enjoy the scenery! After trundling our way through the villages, lush, fertile landscape and a lot of volcanic rock, we made it to the car park. We were all given walking sticks, with little gorilla’s on them (SO touristy) and off we went with our guide, Vincent and a few porters, in case any of us needed carrying. Turns our Vincent knows almost all of my friends back in Kigali (where is that again?!) so we had some good chat until I got too puffed out to talk. We must have walked an hour up through the heavily cultivated field until we reached the Volcano National Park boundary. After the climb, I couldn’t believe we were only just entering the bloomin’ park! However, I was positive and still feeling relatively fresh so ready for the next climb up to a small clearing 3000ft up. Let me just take a minute to recommend not hiking in rainy season. Mud, mud and more mud. And also, let me say that I DID enjoy the time we had up there. In a humid rainforest, so high up with amazing views of volcanoes around us.

We reached the clearing, where Vincent told us that now the climb would start. Eh, what?! Haha! Dad said in Scotland, it would be classed as rockclimbing as we were on a gradient of about fifty percent for the most part. I had my friend, Timothy helping me up the big steps, which was such a blessing. And although my kinyarwanda is still painfully limited, we had a nice conversation about his family. We reached 10,000ft. Dad says that the effort it took, we could have easily climbed Ben Nevis, and boy, I believed him. Unfortunately, at this altitude, things were starting to go a bit fuzzy and I was feeling pretty faint. Dad was too, and we decided to call it a day and not hike for another 2.5 hours up. I wouldn’t have made it, and Dad claims he wouldn’t either, although I did feel bad for some time that we didn’t get to the top. There’s always next time right? We made it to the bottom and drove back ourselves. Sadly, our little Rav4 couldn’t quite make it the whole way back to the main road, and we had a pretty spectacular puncture 1km from Kinigi. What’s more interesting than watching a tyre get changed? Watching a tyre get changed by a muzungu! Well, we must have been the talk of the town that afternoon, and at least 100 people surrounded the car to watch Dad change the wheel. Although this is normal for me, it was definitely an experience for Dad to remember! Anyway, after that, back to the guesthouse for a quick coffee , then hitting the road to Gisenyi. Took us about an hour with no problems and straight round Lake Kivu to Paradise Malahide. We passed the still smoking volcano, which we will have another look at tonight, as it still glows.

Today, we had our long lie, then a beautiful breakfast. With lovely pottery and wooden cutlery and spoons, Fresh fruit salad, coffee, omelettes and toast. Perfect! We headed to the Lake Kivu Serena hotel for the rest of the day. Chilled out, read books, watched the water and (well, for me anyway) soaked up some sunshine. For a mere 3000rwf (3 quid) it was worth it and we really needed a day of nothing. We’re now just about to have our afternoon nap (because today has been so strenuous, you see) then head to another place for dinner.

Lots of love,

A rather pink Carla

Dadio comes to Rwanda

Here I am, in Volcanoes National Park, 4000ft about sea level writing this blog! It has already been an amazing adventure since Dad arrived last Tuesday. After only a few days, he is beginning to become more Rwandese. With sugar in his coffee, and his small kinyarwanda words. Papa Umugwaneza can now say Turkey, Good morning and No Problem without any help.

I will try and blog as we are doing things so that what I write can be fresh, and we don’t miss anything out. Perhaps Dad can have a wee paragraph here and there too.

Yesterday, we had quite the African experience in Akagera National Park, Eastern Province. As we are now, as a nation, in a week of mourning for the ’94 genocide, parks and tourist attractions are quieter. We had the whole park to ourselves, and the very good Sa’id as our guide. We stayed North, and had seen plenty of impala and zebra before we had even entered the park. We spent some time in the plains seeing zebra, impala, antelopes, buffalo, water buck, topi and the majestic giraffe. We were also lucky to see a couple of mongoose scampering into their homes, abandoned turmite mounds as we passed.  We took some time to chill out with a young, male giraffe which feels unreal when you are standing 30m away from it. The roads were rough, and this time we had Dad’s driving skills. All I can say is that my “African massage” was much stronger than Dad’s was! On the way to the lake, we saw what many people never get to see at Akagera. Grazing on the shores below us was a lone elephant. It does not feel like real life when you watch them. These are wild animals! In their natural habitat, with no fences or boundaries to stop them. No one looks after them, or gives them food. We are merely observers in their daily lives. We raced the rain to get down to Lake Mihindi where we saw hippo, croc and beautiful birds. Sa’id showed me the plant used by locals to treat ringworm which we squeezed all over my growing circle! Here it is called the money disease as the mark it leaves is similar to the coins. Finally, as it often does in rainy season, the rain hit us as we set off on the bumpy, horsefly ridden mountain road back to reception. I am SO thankful that I have a Dad who knows how to handle a car. Our little Rav just made it slipping and sliding all over the place. The elephants had passed through the day before. They usually follow the tracks, and they certainly left their mark in fallen trees, branches and a lot of dung! It was fun and a great experience. Many people criticise the park and compare it to the savannah in Kenya or Tanzania. But for sure, this is a real safari, with no tarmac roads and picnic places. It feels like you are really in the African bush, I can’t imagine how it was for Dad, after being in Scotland 3 days ago, and then that!

Unfortunately, the rain did not ease off and we had a nasty drive back to Kigali. Heavy rain, heavy traffic, no water or food and a crappy windscreen wiper. We both got back to the base, crashed into bed with banging headaches and had a well needed rest. We nipped out for a plate of steaming pasta for tea and then a good, solid sleep.

Feeling refreshed this morning, after a hot bucket shower and strong coffee, we nipped through town to get snacks and plenty of water and headed towards to northern town of Ruhengeri. The drive was spectacular. We probably reached an altitude of 5000ft. It was amazing to see this part of the country! After spending the majority of my time in Kigali city and out east, it was refreshing and eye opening to see this part of Rwanda. Land of a Thousand Hills really shines out it’s name as you drive along narrow roads between ridges of the mountains. People everywhere of course! To think that they walk this road every day, carrying water, wood and a million other things along the way. I have come to the conclusion that if I was to come back here in the future more permanently, I would have to live up here. City life is grand, but I’m a country girl through and through, Rural life suits me, and I would happily wake up to those views every morning! Ruhengeri as a town, feels prosperous and buzzing, mostly due to the mass tourism that passes through every day.

We also took the opportunity to pop up to Virunga Lodge for a coffee. Known as the most beautiful place in Rwanda, we had to agree. Stunning views of Lake Ruhuno and Bulera on one side, and the volcanoes on the other. All the way at the top of a very steep hill, you feel like you are on top of the world. We stayed for coffee and the best chips in the world, according to Dad. At $500 a night, I have to say, it’s worth it, if it’s within your budget! We had a private tour with John. Checked out the bar with it’s big central open fireplace and then down to one of the Bandas. A private little house, with the gorgeous views. Of course, we had to go inside and have a nosey. WOW! We could see that the Banda’s reflect the price. Maybe one day, we can take Mum there for the night. Dad says we would have to blindfold her for the slippery climb first!

So we will head out tomorrow morning around 6am. Have a big breakfast and hike for 4 hours. Hopefully our fitness level (or lack thereof) won’t present too much of a problem! We are secretly hoping the gorillas fancy a descent and stumble across us. The price is high for gorilla tracking, but we can always pray we bump into them hey?

Anyway, this blog is huge! Maybe a shorter one tomorrow. We head to Gisenyi, on the shore of Lake Kivu for some time on the beach by the water. Can’t wait! Peace out.

I feel highly honoured that I’m allowed to add a paragraph to Mugwaneza’s excellent blogs.  One of my favourite experiences is watching Carla move effortlessly among the local people here, and see their faces light up as she talks to them in their own language.  She’s very modest about how much she has picked up, but you would need to see the faces of the people we meet to understand what a difference it makes.  So the trip to the park yesterday (was it only yesterday?) was totally amazing – “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Selkirk anymore”  so surreal to be plucked from a frosty Scotland to stand on a vast African plain shimmering in the afternoon heat surrounded by the entire contents of Edinburgh zoo calmly grazing away.  And hey – no flies – something I’d slightly dreaded about the vast outdoors here.  After three days I’m now slightly less paranoid about any flying creatures that make the bad choice on landing on me, although I must admit I did shriek a couple of times when some nasties got into the car.  So now we’re in the volcano park, higher than Ben Nevis, surrounded by towering mountains partly shrouded in mist, and now under a dazzling array of stars in constellations that I don’t recognise.  I’d better stop now before I break into poetry.  It’s hard to take in but quite an experience.  Glad to say my “stress rash” from work (what’s that again?) has completely gone and I now fell I’m slipping into the African way of life.  This is greatly helped by the fact that my watch has stopped and my phone is flat, so I never seem to know what the time is.  Need to stop now and watch a film before an early night as we are trekking up to the crater in the morning.  Glad that I’ll be able to use the altitude as an excuse as to why I’ll be walking so slowly.