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Africa Coffee Tour 2023

May - July 2023
A 62-day adventure by Bartosz Read more
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  • TravelerAfrica Coffee Tour 2023
    Day 20

    It's all about people!

    June 16, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    My time in Huye is slowly going to an end. Everything that I experienced here, all upd and downs, happy and sad stories will probably find a place in some bigger piece of writing.
    But in the last post from here I would like to honor all the people that made this stay so special, cause in the end it's ALL about the people :)

    In a very random order, as the pictures are:

    - Eric, my guardian angel from the first to the last day, who became a friend for life and maybe even a business partner in the future. I could write the whole post about this guy, but I would rather link you there, to our fundraising action, please donate: https://gofund.me/f035d2bc

    - Aaron, who spent so much time with me roasting, packaging and grinding coffee and was first enthusiast of Aeropress in HMC

    - Rachel, who let me get deeper into the cupping and profile roasting, so I could really understand these last stages of coffee production. So many patience for my bad roasts ;)

    - Monique and Damascene, people doing so important work in data collection, bringing me so much inspiration for future projects. Plus pushing me to speak Kinyarwanda;)

    - Jonatan, unexpected bus buddy and the source of my social life in Huye, including long discussions about politics and future of the world

    - Mami, the one and only local friend, that helped me to get around in the town and brought so much insides about the present and past Rwanda

    -Jaques, the best, kindest and safest Mototaxi driver in whole country

    - last but not least ( and without the picture) : David , who made all of this possible in the first place!

    Of course there were way more people involved - workers, helpful folks in village, inspiring tourists on the tours - I'm not able to write about everyone without writing a book!

    If you missed it reading - donate to Eric ;)

    Stay tuned for the next adventure, on Saturday I'm on the way to Kitabi!    Read more

  • TravelerAfrica Coffee Tour 2023
    Day 21

    Let's go for a tea then

    June 17, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Finally departed! As sad as the last goodbye to all the amazing people that I had an honor to work with, I couldn't wait to start the "traveling part" of the trip. First stop was only 2h bis ride outside of Huye: Kitabi and charming Nziza Ecologe. Recommended and prepared by Eric, nothing could go wrong - the place is truly heaven on earth. Surrounded by tea plantations, on the border of Nyungwe NP, you can almost smell fresh air coming from the primary forest, hear the birds and water streams.

    Just before I go for a long hike tomorrow, I had a chance to learn more about tea and the forest itself on a short but very informative tour. It turned into a very fun coffee vs tea discussion with the guide, bringing yet another nice tourist business idea for the future ;)

    Being that close to the high altitude jungle and having such comfortable living conditions is really magic - I'm enjoying every minute of just looking into the lush green of the forest. Next step tomorrow, a motorbike taxi to the center of the forest and a 6h long hike :)    Read more

  • TravelerAfrica Coffee Tour 2023
    Day 22

    Rumble in the Jungle, part 1

    June 18, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    The day started with a very scenic but safe, 50 mom long motobike ride through the National Park, with a couple of military checkpoints and animals on the way. Then I went to discover Imbaraga Trail - very steep and quite long (almost 5 hours walking) trail in the jungle. Stunning views on every step, all possible shades of green, hunderts of different sounds in the background. I was lucky enough to also get a very well prepared guide, who not only could spot different primates on the way, but also explain to me their behaviour. It turned out to be a very interesting biology class :) unfortunately the primates we met were a bit shy, so no great photos, but nothing is lost - tomorrow I will have a second round with dedicated Colobus monkey tracking!Read more

  • TravelerAfrica Coffee Tour 2023
    Day 23

    Follow that monkey!

    June 19, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Early morning in Uwinka station and first disappointing message - "Colobus monkeys are very far, on the hard trail, maybe do something else". But then, after me insisting to go and other guide endorsing my "physical shape", we departed quickly, to catch the tribe before they move again. Which went well as long as we stayed on the trail. After 40 min we meet the trackers, inviting us to follow them on the very steep hill into the jungle, lucky cleared a bit with the machete. 700m up. More than one hour struggling, sweating, swearing and embracing the jungle. How great felt the moment of the first monkey staring at us from the tree above! And then the second one, the third one, they were everywhere :) very beautiful, peaceful animals, not easy to catch in the eye of a camera with all their jumps between branches. Seeing them in their natural habitat was definitely worth the effort and once in a lifetime experience. To say goodbye to the Forest, I could still get some nice shot of other monkey species, that preferred to stay on the road ;)

    Time to say goodbye to the jungle for now, the next one comes on Friday in the Volcanos National Park. In the meantime, I'm going to move to the next station tomorrow, Karongi on the Kivu lake.    Read more

  • TravelerAfrica Coffee Tour 2023
    Day 25

    Is the a lake? Is it a sea?

    June 21, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    A few hours and 2 buses after leaving Kitabi, I got out in a totally different climate zone. It's hard to believe in the first moment - I'm still in Rwanda, an east African country without access to the sea. Dry air, Mediterranean-like plants, smell of fresh water, maybe I just teleported to Croatia? This really shows how incredible this country is, combining so much biodiversity in such a small area! One thing that remained unchanged is the quality of service, yet again I had an amazing guide, who brought me for a boat trip with picturesque islands. Two of them had very special fauna on them, as you can see on the pictures ;)

    After enjoyable day, it's time to move again - next coastal town Gysenyi it's waiting for me!    Read more

  • TravelerAfrica Coffee Tour 2023
    Day 27

    On the way to the North

    June 23, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Not so much to write this time - to split a very tiring trip to the north I decided to have a stop in Gysenyi, another town on the coast. Way more restaurants and easy nicer beach, but apart of that, still quite sleepy place with few nice postcolonial buildings, having a bit of a charm of vacation town for rich people.

    Not my cup of tea, let's continue to the North ;)    Read more

  • TravelerAfrica Coffee Tour 2023
    Day 27

    Musanze in the mist

    June 23, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    After a very pleasant and short drive I arrived at the Northern Province and its capital Musanze. A very vibrant city, with a lot of traffic, feeling like a good balance between Kigali and Huye. And whenever I looked back, I could see more and more of the beautiful Volcanos appearing on the horizon :) Bonus points for first chemex coffee I got on the way, served together with the excellent cinnamon bun in apparently the best coffee place in the town :) To finish the day, I took long walk alone the villages between the town and Red Rocks Camp, such a special quality of Rwanda, being able to experience local live without having any security concern or discomfort!

    Tomorrow is the highlight, gorilla tracking!    Read more

  • TravelerAfrica Coffee Tour 2023
    Day 28

    Face to face with the gorilla

    June 24, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    The day has come - 10 years after seeing these marvelous beings in Bwindi Forest in Uganda, again I got the chance to track Mountain Gorillas in their natural environment. As everything in Rwanda, it's organized in maximal backpacker unfriendly way - nothing goes without a car and a driver, the whole briefing process takes ages and getting to the starting point is extremely complicated. Nevertheless - for the first time since I left Berlin I was in the crowd of white people. Was it a tourist trap? Definitely no! The tracking was very professional and Gorillas well habitated, so after a relatively easy and short hike in deep jungle we met our beloved Titus Family. It was such an honor and extraordinary experience to be about to start next to multiple gorillas for a full hour, I'm without disturbing their natural life. It was fascinating, how safe I felt seeing these gentle giants walking in my direction only to stop 0,5 meters before and sit, turning it's back to me.

    As much as Gorillas area being used for the whole tourism business, they are magnificent creatures deserving protection and and Rwanda is offering them the best possible one. Once in a lifetime experience and definitely worth the effort :)    Read more

  • TravelerAfrica Coffee Tour 2023
    Day 29

    Mud is the limit

    June 25, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Mustanze is definitely hiking location - so why not to continue with hiking one of the dormant Volcanos after the gorillas? Today's target was Mount Bisoke, 3711 m high, a serious mountain to climb. As usual in Virunga, the weather was very humid and misty, which brings this feeling of mystery and magic around you. Starting with the fields,we quickly entered the jungle on a quite steep, extremely muddy path, between the examples of crazy jungle vegetation. How lucky I was with my driver, strongly sugesting me to rent the "rangers boots"! At some point we were drowning in the mud, but all of this was worth it to reach the beautiful lake in the crater of the volcano. On the way down I realized, that this was probably my last "face to face" with the jungle in Rwanda. This year ;)Read more

  • TravelerAfrica Coffee Tour 2023
    Day 32

    Second chance for the capital

    June 28, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    When did it happen, already month in Rwanda? The last few days I decided to stay in Kigali , first exploring the city more and then going for an intense day trip to Akagera NP.

    To give this city a chance to convince me, after the initial fail, I tried to be more prepared and look for what I was missing in the last few days - art, culture and good non-african food. To my surprise,I found all of them! Stunning and authentic Indian cuisine, very sad and informative Belgian Peacekeepers Memorial, multiple interesting craft shops run by communities. The final part of the day was spent in the modern part of the city, around the Kigali Convention Center. I couldn't imagine the biggest contrast to poor villages in the North of the country... Luckily it's not only about business, there is also a place for true art there - Inema Arts Center, gallery created by the group of excellent local artists.

    Maybe it's still not the city to settle down, bit I'm slowly starting to understand the soul of Kigali :)    Read more

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