Rwanda
Musanze District

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    • Day 195

      Rwanda

      June 25, 2023 in Rwanda

      Onto Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, I spent a couple of days exploring the city which was the most developed city that I'd been in since South Africa. I visited the gut wrenching Kigali Genocide Memorial that teaches about the Tutsi genocide where over half a million people were murdered in 1994.

      Next I went to Kibuye on Lake Kivu where I enjoyed the quiet and natural beauty for a few days. I went on a boat trip to see the lake and visit some islands inhabited by monkeys and fruit bats. Then I moved onto Gisenyi on the northern shore of the lake, a town with a more lively scene where I celebrated my birthday with mojitos on the lake.

      Finally I made it to Volcanoes National Park in northern Rwanda for the main event, Mountain Gorilla trekking! We trekked into the jungle to see these magnificent creatures, it was so beautiful seeing them peacefully eating in their natural habitat, watching us as we watched them. The family we visited was the Amahoro family, which means peace in kinyarwanda, the local language. The family consisted of 2 silverbacks, and a range of gorillas of all ages down to young babies. We watched them in the clearing for a while then went to watch some of them climbing the trees. We're warned to keep a distance from the gorillas for their safety, but that can be difficult as they are clearly curious and wander past for a good look, even reaching out to touch at times. I felt extremely lucky to get to see them!
      I also went on a trek into a bamboo forest to see Golden Monkeys, a rare type of monkey found in central Africa which were also very interesting to see as they chomped away on the bamboo.
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    • Day 52

      Volcanoes National Park

      November 6, 2019 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

      We’re leaving the Twin Lakes today and heading into Volcanoes National Park. Martyn and Laura have secured permits for the gorillas, but we’ve decided to go for the much cheaper ($75 vs. $1500) permits to climb Mount Bisoke.

      We do realise, however, that whilst we’ve purchased permits online, we have no idea what to do. There are no instructions about where to go, what time to go, what you’ll need etc. We try calling the various numbers for the Wildlife Authorities, but they’re all clueless. Martyn and Laura decide to head to the office in the town of Ruhengeri to talk to someone, but it turns out that the office doesn’t exist.

      Finally, after checking in to our accommodation at Red Rocks, just south of town, we’re told to head to the reception at the bottom of the mountains, at 7am. It’s a fairly long drive there, so we need to set off before 6 to be sure we’re there on time.

      So, we head off for an early night, Martyn and Laura in their room, us in our tent. We quickly discover that the tent is not a good idea, since the bar just across the road blasts out terrible music all night, and our thin tent walls do not filter any of it out.

      We wake up at 5am, groggy and a little irritable. That’s not helped by the fact that the car won’t start. We’re not sure if the battery is flat, but we don’t have much time to find out, and we’re forced to get an expensive taxi to the start point.

      We make it there on time, but we’re faced with a new issue: the rangers don’t have any vehicles, and they themselves get rides from the tourists (who are mostly being driven around by their tour groups). Martyn and Laura are forced to splash out further on a taxi to their start point, as the driver of the other tourist in their group refuses to take them. We get lucky, and are driven by a French and German couple.

      We disembark at the base of Mount Bisoke and start the climb up the volcano. It’s steep and slippy, and Katie soon finds herself helped by the invaluable Leonard. We’re also accompanied by a band of ten or so heavily armed soldiers. They’re in full camouflage and armed with AKs. We’re told that they’re there to protect us from the buffalo that call the mountain their home. Whilst it’s true that buffalo are very dangerous, we doubt that ten AK-47s is necessary to scare them away. We suspect that it may be more to do with the fact that Bisoke lies on the DRC border, and rebels are known to operate in the area.

      It’s a fairly tough climb, but we soon reach the summit, at 3,711 metres. And the views are… rubbish. The entire summit is cloaked in a cold mist, and we can barely see a few metres in front. We settle down for our snacks, and some vodka coke, courtesy of some of our group. Then, quickly, the mist rises, and we’re treated to the incredible views of the crater lake, shared between Rwanda and the DRC. It’s monumental, and made slightly bizarre by the fact that, if you had your passport, you could walk a bit further into the Congo.

      On the walk back down, we overhear the French guy in our group ask one of the soldiers if he can borrow the AK. “Why?” asks the soldier. “Cos I wanna shoot a gorilla”. He doesn’t get a go on the machine gun.

      Gorillas do make the mountain their home, but they’re rare, and since we don’t have a team of trackers, there’s basically no chance of seeing any. It doesn’t stop us from peering into the dense foliage the entire time, checking for any movement. We don’t stop until we’re right at the gate leaving the national park. Dejected, we give up hope of seeing any gorillas. And right then, the rangers whisper: “Look! Up in the trees!”. And sure enough, right there is a silverback and two young ‘uns. It’s great to see, and we want to stay longer. However, the rangers don’t let us stay or take pictures, saying it would be unfair on the people who paid $1,500 to see them, so we’re led away. Still, we’ve now had two encounters with these incredible primates, and it’s no less special the second time around.
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    • Day 27

      Twin lakes fishing

      November 5, 2023 in Rwanda

      We had not had wifi or data for a couple of days now, and as such we could not communicate with Caroline (Vic's friend) to discuss what time they would have their driver pick us up. We had been told 8am, but it was a lot easier for him to pick us up first. So the time changed to 7:30am but we had no way of knowing. As such, I was in the shower when the driver arrived, and we ran around trying to make breakfast, organise our belongings, and have a coffee. Although slightly late, we eventually made it, picked up the others, and headed to the twin Lakes. We arrived at a port and participated in some local fishing. I'm not sure exactly what I expected when we decided to do fish, but when they sent us out in little wooden boats with some reeds as fishing poles, I was quite surprised. I did not know what we could expect to catch, but based on the gear, they didn't expect us to catch much. We paddled out to some floating grasses and began to drop lines out just to the side of the boat. At first, there was not much luck, but gradually, we started pulling in tiny fish, which i do not know the species name, unfortunately. Their size ranged from about 1 cm to 5 cm. This was quite strange as they would definitely have been below the legal limit in Aus, but clearly, no such rules exist in Rwanda. So there was no fish turned away, and eventually, the volume started to pick up. Vic secured the most fish of the day, and due to a late increase in performance by me, we probably beat the other boat with Caroline and her 2 friends. The views from the lake made the trip worthwhile, but the fishing was actually a lot of fun. Obviously, there were no big catches, but it was a lot of fun to be fishing and being almost certain to get a bite, at least every couple of minutes. It felt more like a game with the ease in which we caught them. The surrounding areas included mount Bisoke, an active volcano, a few dormant volcano's; Mikeno, Gahinga, and Muhavura. Not to mention, a few very large mountains such as Mount Sabyinyo and Karisimbi. This made for acceptional scenery the whole time we were on the lake, and it was truly a wonderful experience. We were out there for probably 2 hours in very overcast conditions, yet somehow managed to dodge all the rain- which started as soon as we got back to land. When we arrived back to shore, we gave the little fish we caught to the kids to add to their own collection. Our guess is that they cook and sell them to make money, so we were happy to help them out as best we could. We were then ferried across the lake to an island where we sat for a few drinks and lunch. Although this was only supposed to be for a couple of hours, our lunch literally took 2 and a half hours to get out to us. This meant our poor captain sat and waited this whole time, but it was out of our control. We were very frustrated ourselves with how long it took. We had been telling Caroline about our tour and she was very intrigued. So much so that she had decided she would join until Zanzibar. An exciting and sudden prospect. She would be joining us tomorrow in Kigali.

      After the low awaited lunch, we eventually got off the island and back to the mainland. We asked our driver to take us to Byiza Lodge. We only wanted to go here for the view, but it ended up being incredibly nice and fancy. The views were even better than we expected. We could see Lake Burera, all the mountains and volcanoes, the beautiful farmland, and even 360 degrees to Lake Ruhondo. Though the views to this lake were slightly obstructed, the rest of the views were incredible and easily made the trip worth it. We stuck around for a while, playing cards and drinking while we admired the view from the restaurant. By the time we got back, dinner was ready, and we basically ate and went straight to bed. Ending a great day.
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    • Day 12

      Musanze, Ruanda

      August 30, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

      SHOP TILL YOU DROP, das Motto heute😅
      Da fast alle das faule Programm für heute wählten (keine Biketour, keine Besteigung des Bisoke Vulkans und nur 1x Gorilla Tracking), gingen wir nach dem Ausschlafen (yeahhh😴) in die Stadt mit Kassim. Jeder hatte einen Wunsch, ich z.B. musste eine Apotheke finden, die Tresiba hat, da mir dieser Pen kaputt ging😬😲. Ich wurde gottlob fündig; kein Pen aber eine Ampulle und Spritzen👍
      Dann wurde Stoff in einem Einkaufscenter gepostet und Sigi und Johnny gingen zum Coiffeur, wo sich Rachel auch maniküren liess (was hier auschliesslich Männerarbeit ist🙃). Egal welcher Haar- und/oder Bartschnitt, es kostete ca. CHF 1.50 pro Mann!
      Auch der local market wurde besucht mit vielen Kindern im Schlepptau😅
      Dann fuhr Johnny und andere mit dem Velotaxi zurück ins Hotel. Die Velos haben einen gepolsterten Träger und Fussstützen. Gekostet hat es nur 25 Rappen für ca 2km leicht steigend...
      Zum Abendessen gab es zur Abwechslung Pizza auswärts🙃
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    • Day 101

      Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda

      August 15, 2017 in Rwanda ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      A very short drive took us to the area famous for gorilla trekking.
      We’d arranged to camp at a lodge near park headquarters, but arrived to learn they couldn’t accommodate ‘roof-top’ campers apart from in the parking lot. So, unhappily, we camped in the muddy car park while it rained heavily for hours (it was too late to go elsewhere). The good news is our tent stayed dry and the folks at the lodge were very, very nice and even provided us with hot water bottles to take to our tent. Comically, adding insult to injury, the village next door started choir practice over a loudspeaker at 5am the next morning.
      We couldn’t get out fast enough to find a room in town. Plus, our fuel tank had once again sprung a significant leak, so we had to get it repaired.
      We’ve been overwhelmed by how helpful people have been on our travels in Africa. It happened here when the hotel we found in town not only recommended where to go for repairs, but insisted one of the staff accompany us to act as translator and negotiator in case we could not explain what we needed or were being overcharged. Incredibly efficient mechanics finished the job in 2 hours and made us wonder why it had taken the Lusaka mechanics nearly 2 days to do the same repair?
      While in town waiting for our gorilla trek, we spent some time walking through local markets, John got a haircut (Alister was onto something), and we bought some rain boots for our trek. We also had a funny “only in Africa” experience. We asked a waiter at the café where we had eaten lunch where we could buy cheese (generally only processed cheese slices are available). He immediately grabbed a worker at the cafe and asked him to go get us some cheese. We gave him some money (~$5) and a few minutes later he returned, not with processed cheese, but with a whole wheel of local Gouda, made by some priests in a nearby village. I’m sure we looked ridiculously surprised, because we were…and delighted!
      August 18th was a date circled in our calendar for a long time since this was the day we had permits to visit the mountain gorillas, the highlight of our time here. This is something we’d been anticipating and planning for years. It’s the thing we were both most looking forward to experiencing in Africa. Anxiety was high, and we did not get much sleep the night before.
      Each group of 7-8 trekkers is assigned to a ranger and gorilla family before leaving the park headquarters at about 8am. We were lucky to be assigned to Umubano, a gorilla family of 13 members including 3 silverbacks and several young gorillas. We hiked a few hours, first through local farms to the edge of the park, where we were instantly in the densest rain forest/jungle we have ever seen. We were met at the park boundary by an armed tracker, one of many who are there to protect us from other wildlife, the gorillas from poachers, but also guide us to where the gorillas were last seen. A short hike through the dense bamboo, and vegetation (including crazy stinging nettles) brought us to a couple more trackers, and we realized this was a sign we were very close. We were given instructions on how to behave when we approached the gorillas and signs and actions to take if they became uncomfortable with us being there (this included bowing down, making grunting noises, and avoiding direct eye contact). We crawled through some more dense bushes and there was our first gorilla, calmly eating some tree roots! At first, we were afraid it would be very difficult to see the gorillas because of how steep and thickly vegetated the hillside was. However, after a few minutes they moved down the hill a more open area where we enjoyed watching them eat and interact for an hour. Several even came close enough to brush by and playfully hit us (Christy got lightly kicked by a juvenile once, while John was slapped and kicked a few times by a few different gorillas). It was a very humbling and unforgettable experience being so close to these majestic creatures. It was the fastest hour we’ve ever experienced, but everything we hoped it would be. What an amazing day!
      We were also very happy to learn that the Mountain Gorilla population has grown to nearly 1,000 in the wild today, up from ~260 in the 1980’s.

      We had been talking about how John’s brother, Gerard, who visited the gorillas back in 1989 in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) had inspired our strong desire to see them in the wild. Gerard was a pioneer “overlander” as he joined a group of travelers who spent 7 months driving a truck from London through North and West Africa and then across to East Africa down to Victoria Falls. He visited many countries that would not be advisable to travel through today. This was before this sort of thing was done. And done with no infrastructure (disappearing roads, no organized campsites etc), support or modern equipment such as GPS, cell phones, Sat phones, internet. An amazing and inspiring adventure that would have been so much more challenging than anything we’ve come across. When we get back to NZ, we will need to sit down with him and go through all his photos and maps.
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    • 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

    • Day 26

      Rwanda 🇷🇼

      November 4, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

      After a big day of gorillas yesterday, I was keen for a chill one today. And that is exactly what I got. Although some went for a short walk to Lake Mutanda, I gave myself an extra sleep in, a bit more time to organise my belongings, and some journaling. Around lunchtime, we headed off to Rwanda to complete the border crossing and arrive at our campsite. This was a relatively smooth operation, not a lot of driving, or waiting, and nice roads. This meant we arrived relatively early to Red Rocks, where they would debrief us what activities were available. Although there were some things that could be completed in the afternoon, it was mostly things like beadmaking, Pottery, etc. There was the option for trying to make banana beer, which was tempting, but I decided I needed a chill afternoon to relax and so laid down for some journaling and reading. Not to mention. The taste of the banana wine was burnt into my brain, and I couldn't imagine a world where banana beer tasted good. After dinner, Vic had mentioned that she had a friend who was also in Ruhengeri, the larger town we were in the outskirts of. Quite strange given we were in the middle of butt fuck in Rwanda, but I figured I would join her to visit. Mostly because I was keen to meet some people outside our group, but also to ensure she would be safe getting to and from. Tensions in the group have really started to boil over in the last few days, and I was keen to escape it and meet some people closer to my age. We had 3 new starters, who are quite a bit older, and they had already created some friction in the group. As such, I was keen to escape it even for the night. So after dinner, we jumped on the back of some scooters and headed into town. We met at a restaurant and had some drinks. There were 3 of them and 2 of us, and they were really cool. We eventually planned to join them at the twin Lakes tomorrow, as no one from our group was very keen, and if we jumped in with them, then we would save a lot of money. After this, we decided we would get a taxi home so that Vic and I didn't have to split up. As soon as we left, we were surrounded by bikes, but we obviously wanted a car. Eventually, we jumped in with 2 young guys because it was cheap, and they seemed nice enough. In the end, we figured that they were likely quite drunk, but the main thing is that we made it back safely and headed to bed.Read more

    • 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 :)
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    • 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!
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    • Day 13

      Golden Monkey trekking

      July 12, 2017 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

      Another 6.30am departure and drive to the ranger station for registration. This is where the gorilla and monkey treks leave from, so there was a car park full of 4WDs and around 200 people there. This is the cash cow of Rwandan tourism and the government recently doubled the price of the gorilla permits overnight, from $750 to $1500... and there's talk they will double it again to $3000 to reduce demand whilst maintaining income. Hopefully they won't kill the goose that laid the golden egg...

      We're doing the Golden Monkey trek today, an easy 45 minute walk, firstly through the potato plantations, then into a bamboo forest. There are 120 monkeys in the family, and it didn't take long to spot them. Golden Monkeys are endangered and only found in the volcanic mountains in this area. They live in the mid region of the forest away from their two main predators - eagles at the top of the trees and wild dogs on the ground. They feed quickly and store the food in cheek pouches for later digestion, so look very cute with their chubby cheeks!

      We returned to the lodge for lunch, then headed into Musanze for some shopping at the local market. At 4pm we visited the Dianne Fossey Gorilla Fund Museum for a guided tour, and paid an impromptu visit into Team Rwanda cycling team headquarters on the way back. We spotted their sign on the way into Musanze, but the gate was closed when we got back - it didn't stop Aloys who soon had us inside, and got a tour of their facility! Unfortunately they didn't have any merchandise to sell 😕

      When we arrived back at the lodge there was a local dance troupe waiting to perform for us. It was an energetic performance, including some crowd participation (not only can we not jump, turns out we can't dance either!)

      Dinner was a buffet in the lodge restaurant, early bed at 9.30pm
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Musanze District, District de Musanze, Akarere ka Musanze

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