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
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