Rwanda
Kamukina

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    • Day 116

      Into rwanda

      January 10 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

      Can I talk about rwanda without beginning about the genocide and the atrocious modern history of the country? I cannot, but I will talk about the history in the next footprint; I had to mention it, as it is something that is just too overwhelming.

      From Kigali to Rwanda was a long haul, and one I was not particularly looking forward to, as it is just one long route for 300 km. I did the first day, climbing 1526 meters, and decided to experience a different important part of the culture here: bus rides. And that stands out as a highlight. The bus left at 6 and within 10 minutes we were on unpaved road of varying quality—sometimes very good, sometimes very poor. And on the poor sections you get tossed around so much that Jim Carrey’s impersonation does not do justice: you really get car sick from the speed they go over bumps. The only thing I could focus on was breathing, and to grin and bear it. Another “experience”.

      I did suffer from some diarrhoea that day but I am pretty sure that cannot be caused by bus rides; I did have to spend the next day in Nyakahura, where I got to taste the local (rather horrible) robusta coffee. And experience an amazing market where everyone gazes at me, but always in a friendly manner. I really got to like the openness of Tanzanians.

      On to Rwanda: had to wait 20 minutes for the visa because everything is so slow there and got all my bags checked; I filmed everything for my reference later. He did not want to check my undies. At first Rwandans seemed a bit distant and sometimes talking behind my back, and not openly like in Tanzania. They also speak another different language, sometimes without English, so my shouts of “mambo vipi?!” Where frequently left not understood.

      But the next day I got to experience the most attention I have gathered so far. I just went for tea somewhere, and suddenly there were 20 or 30 kids standing around me and my bike; they kept standing there when I went inside, and were just too curious that there was mzungu there. Yeah, they borrowed “mzungu” from swahili. Then when cycling, I got support by a banana crew, and sooo many young kids who wanted to run with me, wanted high fives, and yelled “good morning!” All day long. Pretty amazing support to be honest. Unfortunately I didn’t capture it on video properly, and I have trouble uploading, so you have to trust my word until later.

      And they run and cycle fast by the way, and there are a lot of cyclists here. Plus pretty good roads most of the time and many, many, many hills.

      That was Tuesday. Tuesday evening I got shown around my a local kid in Ramiro, with many homeless kids shouting “give money, give money!” which is a horrible experience: they were left on the street when their (single) parent’s could not provide for them, and now beg on the street…

      Lastly, on Wednesday something changed: not a single cry of mzungu, no kids running alongside, just one or two that greeted me. I got nearer to Kigali—maybe that’s it—or they just only do certain things on Tuesdays. But I visited a horrible memorial site for the genocide which I will talk about next time.
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    • Day 118

      Kigali

      January 12 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

      Culture shock. That’s how I describe Kigali after having been in poorer towns, and especially having spent so long in Tanzania. Kigali is busy, booming, business, and bars. There are so many young people working in coffee shops, startup hubs and co-working spaces, restaurants, that I just forgot I am still in Afrika. Plus sometimes really excellent (rwandan-sourced) coffee. Cars mostly behave here, it’s a lot less hectic than Dar es Salaam, but definitely more polluted with seriously disgusting trucks and busses sometimes. And very, very, very hilly. But all in all, it is the most European and modern city I have visited during this entire trip, excluding maybe Austrian cities.

      I stumbled on the prime minister’s office next to the hostel Im staying in, and it’s nothing short of a palace. Pictures not allowed. There is virtually no chance of political opposition in this country (usually tortured, imprisoned, or otherwise silenced, from what I read online), but mister Kagame did have an important role to play in stopping the genocide in 1994.

      Now I cannot possibly give a full account of the genocide and history in a travel blog, so let me give it to you in a dumbed-down version:
      - Rwanda is a former colony of first the Germans, and then the Belgians. The Germans already started in amplifying the pre-existent distinction between Hutu’s and Tutsi’s, which was formerly a distinction between economic classes (mostly; the Tutsi’s were also mostly the ones in powerful positions), but the Belgians divided everything by making it purely racial, and forcing everyone to have their “race” in the identity cards.
      - First Belgium missionaries and the administration only educated Tutsi’s, then they left after Hutu’s started an independence movement, and sided with only the Hutu’s. Suddenly.
      - Hutu’s were,due to the racial distinction imposed by the Belgians, convinced that all and only the Tutsi’s were to blame for their status, and full on attacks, and deportation of Tutsi’s, started after about 1962.
      - The Belgians and French fully backed the Hutu’s against the Tutsi’s, who were fighting against being deported or killed.

      And then in 1994 possibly the cruelest genocide in modern history began, with Tutsi’s being killed on the streets, in (claimed “safe”) churches, in stadiums, raped and worse, children killed so that the entire bloodline would be wiped out (all Hutus had tutsi blood because previously also cross-class marriages and children were very common, but hatred makes blind), etc. Churches full of bodies, streets full of bodies, which lasted about a 100 days. (Go and watch Hotel Rwanda; based on the account of a guy who turned into a opponent of the current regime and is now imprisoned…)

      I visited one of the churches, in Nyamata, and the huge memorial site in Kigali; while looking for the latter I found myself closer to a museum of Rwandan history in the Kandt house, were I also got to hang out with some deadly snakes and stand within a meter of a crocodile. Way better than a safari.

      In the church of Nyamata you still see gunshot-holes everywhere, holes from Granate explosions, and they also preserved some of the skulls for display of the traumas caused in the genocide. Really, really disturbing.

      Ok, finishing on a better note: I am heading to national parks and am going in search of some monkeys and coffee. I won’t leave Rwanda until I have a picture of me hugging a coffee tree. (Brought by the Germans by the way.)
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    • Day 108–109

      Kigali

      March 12 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

      Die Hauptstadt Ruandas empfängt uns mit Schmankerl, die wir schon vermissen. Wurst und Schinken, Souvlaki und Tzatziki, Swimmingpool und WiFi. Wir genießen den Luxus, bevor es weiter geht, in ursprünglicheres Afrika.Read more

    • Day 34

      Private taxis and traveling by motorbike

      February 28, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

      The previous night we were given the number of a reliable taxi driver to drive us to our accommodation. After all the horror experiences we made in the previous 24h, this worked super smooth. We called him, he said it would take him 10min to come, after 8min he was there, and found our place immediately via the most direct route. It was a breeze!

      But, without luggage, there are other opportunities to be had in Kigali. The most common mode of transportation is by far the motorbike. We grabbed a few motos in the morning and scooted over to IH again to be productive. I picked up lunch from a place nearby, which we ate between a few meetings that we had.

      In the evening, we followed a food recommendation from one of Anne's friends, and ended up walking to a rather fancy (and pricey) place. But the food arrived relatively quickly (an abnormality in Rwanda) and tasted good though out servers were a bit all over the place - not in a good way.

      Speaking of walking. In the places we had visited in previous weeks, the general recommendation was always to not move by foot after sunset. This was different in Rwanda, where we had been assured by many that it was totally safe to move around by foot also after sunset. A major reason for that is also that Rwanda has installed proper lights throughout the entire country, so it's a difficult task to find a "shady" area to get in trouble in.
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    • Day 28

      Genocide Museum

      November 6, 2023 in Rwanda

      Although very depressing, the genocide museum, which occupied most of the day, was one of the most shocking, interesting, depressing, reflective, and horrifying experiences in my life. Their capacity to paint an insane picture of the reality of life in Rwanda during the genocide was insane. The graphic photos, videos, commentaries, interviews, and much more meant that you could barely speak as you left. Of course, as is so common with dark parts of history, this all started with colonialism. In which the Belgians separated the people of Rwanda into Tutsi and Hutu tribes. Although these groups existed before colonial rule, the rigidification that the Belgians implemented meant that distinction between the two groups became increasingly easier, even adopting identification cards. Something that would be a horrible tool for catching and killing Tutsis during the genocide many years later. To summarise a somewhat intricate and long period of time, the Hutus were left in charge by the Belgians when the country gained independence. This led to widespread discrimination of the Tutsi people. A civil war between exiled Tutsi and the national armed force worsened tensions between the groups and an increase in anti-Tutsi propaganda. When the Rwandan presidents plane was shot down while landing in Kigali in 1994, the genocide started. Almost immediately, road blocks were set up to stop and kill Tutsis. Men, women, and children would be bludgeoned or machetesed to death while trying to escape the carnage. Neighbours and friends would turn on their Tutsi counterparts and ransack houses, killing anyone inside. Priests would allowed the demolishen and burning of churches, knowing that Tutsis had sought refuge there from the violence - thinking they would not murder in a religious buildings. Nearly a million Tutsi and moderate Hutus were killed in less than 100 days. Hutus who did not wish to participate in the violence or had married or had sexual relations with a Tutsi, would be viciously tortured and murdered. The violence was sudden and widespread. So suddenly, in fact, that 800,000 people had been killed in the first 6 weeks, equating to about 20,000 people per day. The violence only ended when the national army regained control of the country and pushed the extremists out. Many went to the DRC, and this has resulted in instability to this day. Random and sporadic terrorist attacks on Rwandans and tourists from the DRC are somewhat common and may be the reason for the Queen Elizabeth National Park terrorist attack. Those who remained in the country were prosecuted in the Gacaca courts. Though by the end of the genocides there were only about 5 judges and 20 lawyers remaining in the country. 1 million deaths and 2 million migrants left the stability of the country in tatters. As such, they relied on confessions, allowing perpetrators to confess to crimes, determine the location of bodies to give proper burials, and in return received half sentences. Many came forward to confess to crimes, and those who didn't would have the full brunt of the legal system to face and obtain full sentences. The new regime preached forgiveness and togetherness to move past the atrocities, and many followed suit to allow the country to rediscover their own national identity, culture, and stability. No photos could be taken from inside the museum, so I only have a few photos of the outside of the museum. We spent nearly 4 hours here but you could spend more.

      Eventually, we arrived at our accommodation for the night and began to get ready to head to a restaurant. For the first time on the trip, we had a meal paid for by the tour (or at least partly). Caroline joined us for dinner, and we had a few drinks and introduced her to everyone. It was nice to have a meal cooked for us where we didn't have to pay
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    • Day 13

      Journey from Kigali to Kayonza

      December 7, 2019 in Rwanda ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

      We had a later start to our journey today at 2pm, so it was lovely to have a restful and relaxing morning at the hostel catching up with social media and the highlights of the Liverpool football games I'd missed. The times for rest and recuperation have been few and far between on this trip, so it was very welcome to have a morning's break. A big, rumbling thunderstorm rolled around Kigali as we said our sad farewells to four members of our trip, Linda, her daughter Heather, and 'English' Sam. The other Sam from Dubai was also leaving the trip today but said his goodbyes last night as he was off to a pottery course today. On the truck we mused about the very unusual amount of rain we have been getting on this trip so far which makes the camping far more challenging for our morale. It will be nice to be journeying towards the summer season when we head down to the southern hemisphere in Namibia and South Africa - although we may have the excessive heat to complain about then! We drove through more lush green countryside with many banana plants which seemed to be the staple crop of this region. We arrived at our next stop, the Urugo Women's Opportunity Center near Kayonza. This women's centre has been set up to give local women the opportunity to develop their talents and to make some income. There was a roadside cafe and two craft shops with lovely handmade produce such as woven baskets, paintings formed out of dried banana leaves, small animal sculptures, bracelets, necklaces, and many other craft pieces all fashioned by local women. They also had camping and accommodation as another source of revenue. None of us fancied putting up our wet tents in the rain so we all upgraded to dorm rooms and safari tents. I booked a large safari tent which was the very definition of the term 'glamping' although the cold en suite shower didn't feel quite so luxurious. A women's choir sang a beautiful and evocative African melody on the site as part of their choir practice, some of which I managed to record on my phone. We had some dinner and got an early night for an early start at 6am tomorrow and a very long drive across the Tanzanian border.Read more

    • Day 10

      Back to Kigali

      June 1, 2018 in Rwanda ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

      The final countdown. Up for breakfast at 6am 80 miles ahead of us. The first group (who were taking it at a slightly slower pace) left leaving 6 of us (including Kiki, team Rwanda and our mechanic) to enjoy a Rwandan coffee at a coffee shop next to the guest house. We set off in peloton formation - something we hadn't done all week as normally the terrain was steep hills. This was different - gently undulating hills allowed good peloton riding - and we soon picked up the pace. The group came back together after about 30 miles which signified the start of the annual 'race' - the rules simple those that want to race start about 10 minutes after those that don't. The first group cycle and wait at an unknown point to the racing group and that is the finish. Five of us raced. A rolling start, Kiki took off - in fairness there was only ever going to be one winner so it was really a race for second place! The course was short and kind to the heavier rider finishing on an uphill after a down hill, so after clinging on for dear life at the start with the advantage of extra momentum I managed to finish in the middle after Kiki and Wesley thank goodness for those extra pounds!?!

      However my legs after that were shot and as hard as I tried I could not keep up with the faster riders any longer. While the scenery was perhaps not as breathtaking as in previous days - familiarity was perhaps a factor the roads were much kinder with none on the long brutal climbs we had had before. We all regrouped about 15km from Kigali to ride in together. This was potentially the most risky part of the day as we came into a busy city. Riding in was straight forward and fairly flat, although this was Rwanda and hills were always present and coming into Kigali there were some steep climbs as we made our way back to the finish of our guest house.

      We all rolled in, tired but exhilarated. We had made it. A really hard week, with a number of individual days being the hardest days most had ever experienced. Eric's chips and sausage awaited - a perfect end to an 80 mile day and a 500 mile week.

      Chips, brochettes and beer at a nearby hotel was the evening fare, exhaust but happy we lasted until about 9.30. An amazing week, great riding, great friends and a great God.

      'But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.' (Isaiah 40:31)

      Remember you can still give to the work of GLO. The work they do is amazing, it literally changes and saves lives. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hughwells

      Thank you to Tallis Woomert (instagram @talliswoomert) for the amazing photos - you'll imediately see which ones! Do go to his instagram for more you won't be disappointed!

      Thank you to Simon Guillebaud www.simonguillebaud.com) for organising - an amazing trip.
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    • Day 51

      Kigali - rondstap en dinge doen

      October 31, 2016 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

      Gister was Sondag, en ons het gerus. Vandag doen ons 'n paar dinge in die stad, beginnende met koffie, ontbyt en poskaarte skryf by Ikerezi-boekwinkel, sommer naby ons hotel. Dit kyk uit oor die stad, nou en dan draai 'n jakkalsvoël hoog verby. Hierna besoek ons die roerende Genocide Memorial, 'n museum en gedenktuin. Dit is nou al 20 jaar gelede, maar dit is merkwaardig dat die Rwandese na so 'n volkstragedie kon herstel.Read more

    • Day 49

      Kigali, Rwanda

      October 29, 2016 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

      Rwanda is dadelik anders: netjies, g'n rommel, beter paaie. In nat valleie sprei ryslande oop. Meer polisie (wat hou van kar deursoek). Geelbekwoue. Heuwels en nog heuwels. O, ja, en jy moet aan die regterkant van die pad ry... Kigali is groot en bedrywig. Vanaand het ons uitspattig gaan uiteet by 'n Indiese restaurant, en toe vir Patrick en Grace by die lughawe gaan aflaai - hulle vlieg nou terug SA toe ná drie weke op toer saam met my en Alice. Totsiens julle, dit was lekker!Read more

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