Rwanda
Southern Province

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    • Day 2

      Zipline drones en die pad na Nyungwe

      August 8, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

      Hermien is siek. Sy sê sy is gesond. Maar sy jok. Sy drink darem (van) die medisyne wat ek vir haar gee. In elk geval... ons het opgestaan en ontbyt geëet by Step Town. Die vrugte is super lekker hier. Ons het net roosterbrood bestel en ons avo van gister se markie op die brood geëet.

      Ons ry toe oppad na Nyungwe woud, waar ons vanaand deurbring. Dis net 190 km, maar vat ongeveer 5 ure volgens Google Maps. Ons besef baie vinnig hoekom dit so is. Die spoedgrens is 60 km/h en vir klein dele van die pad 80. Daar is verskriklik baie karre, motorfietsies, trokke, fietse en nog wat op die pad. Ek het ook (natuurlik) ons eerste boete vir die trip gekry (vermoedelik). Die polisie het glo 'n fluitjie geblaas vir my. Ek het die geluid gehoor, maar nie besef dis wat gebeur nie, en aangery. Oh well.

      By Muhanga het ons gestop by Zipline. Dis 'n mediese drone sentrum. Hulle het ons aanvanklik nie laat ingaan nie, omdat ons nie 'n afspraak gehad het nie, maar die vriendelike hekwag gee toe 'n nommer wat ek kan bel om te hoor of ons kan ingaan. Ons praat toe met Charity en sy sê sy sal ons by die hek kom haal en 'n toer gee van die plek. Sy is 'n mediese tegnoloog en kom van Rwanda af.

      Zipline is ongelooflik. Ons was in verwondering. Dis deur 'n Amerikaner ontwerp, maar word in Rwanda aanmekaar gesit. Hulle noem die stasies waar als gebeur 'n nes, en die drones word voëlname gegee. Tans word hulle swaeltjies genoem en kan ongeveer 1.5kg se produkte op 'n slag vlieg. Die eerste nes was die een in Muhanga, maar daar is nou al 'n hele paar neste in verskeie lande.

      Bloedprodukte, noodmedisyne, of selfs geskeduleerde medisyne, asook veearts medikasies, word gevlieg na mediese fasiliteite oor die land. Daar is net 'n paar areas wat nie bereik kan word nie, so hulle produkte word dan na die naaste fasiliteit gevlieg. Die bestellings kom in as nood, roetine (vervanging van produkte wat gebruik is) of geskeduleerde bestellings. Vir nood produkte moet die bestelling binne 5 minute verpak wees en binne nog 5 minute gestuur wees. Dit word dan binne 50 minute (vir die verste plek) met 'n valskermpie laat val, volgens koördinate en die drone kom terug na die nes. Hy word dan met baie akkuraatheid deur 'n vangtou gevang aan sy stert. As die drone ongeveer 'n minuut weg is kry die nes 'n sein en word liggies rooi sodat mens nie naby die vangnet kom nie. Sodra hy dan gevang is gaan haal die drone hanteerders die drone af en haal sy vlerke af, herlaai die battery en haal die voorkant (wat van styrofoam gemaak is) af en maak dit reg vir die volgende vlug. Die batterye vat so 40 min om te herlaai as hulle basies leeg is. Die drones word uit 'n launcher geskiet, wat amper soos 'n groot kettie werk. Charity sê die drones vlieg 24 uur 'n dag, in alle weer, maar as die weer te sleg is draai die drone om en kom terug nes toe. Dit kan ook in die lug gehou word vir 'n tydjie as daar lugspasie is waar dit skielik nie kan vlieg nie, hulle noem dit holding space. Daar is 'n groot holding space naby die nes, waar klomp drones kan vlieg as te veel gelyk terugkom, en hulle kom land dan een-een, afhangende van wie se battery die laagste is. Daar is 35 drones en hulle vlieg omtrent 250 produkte 'n dag. Mens kan dit nie indink nie.

      Ons ry toe verder na Nyungwe Nziza Ecolodge, teen slakkepas. Die GPS laat ons eers in 'n klein straatjie afdraai, wat vol klein winkeltjies is, maar ons draai gelukkig om en volg die pad verder tot by Nyungwe. Ons slaap in 'n tent vanaand en daar is net koue water vir stort, maar hulle sal more vir ons 'n sleutel gee vir een van die huisies sodat ons warm kan gaan stort. Daar is egter 'n groot groep mense van Frankryk wat op motorfietse deur die land toer en hulle slaap vanaand hier, so die huisies is redelik vol.
      Ons is 2400m bo seespieël, en kan dit voel, veral met die gehoesery. Hermien klink soos 'n ou roker. Ons drink toe 'n lekker glasie witwyn op die dek en kyk uit oor die reënwoud en luister na al die geluide. Baie rustig.
      Ons gaan eet aandete by die restaurantjie en Mien bestel die grootste vis van mens se lewe. Maar dis 'n baie lekker vis. Ek eet 'n hoender sosatie en groente. Daar hardloop ook 'n groot(erige) spinnekop oor die vloer, waarvoor die een Franse meisie doodbang is, en die ander Franse meisie hom uitvat met 'n papier. Hermien sien ook 'n rot agter die tv inhardloop, maar oh well, dis afrika.
      Nou gaan ons slaap sodat ons hopelik vroeg môre wakker is om die sonsopkoms te kyk.
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    • Day 121–123

      Nyungwe forest

      January 15 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

      Nyungwe forest is one of the best preserved rainforests in africa, with a very wide biodiversity of plants, birds, and, the primary visitor attraction, monkeys. And it has an canopy walkway.

      They advertise „chimpansee tracking“ and other kinds of tracking, to only go after that certain animal with some chance of success (it isn’t guaranteed), but also many nature walks which they advertise with all the things you can see. Which is what I did and, to cut straight to it, I hardly saw any monkeys. No chimps, no colobus monkeys, no other monkeys during the entire hike except for mountain monkeys and baboons on the road and the visitors center, and only a handful of birds worth mentioning: among them turacos, which are definitely very beautiful birds. The hike was nice, the info from the guide very interesting, but after paying 140$ I cannot help feeling that I kind of left empty-handed. (It was also foggy, so the grandiose views of lake kivu or burundi were also not given to us.

      Some words on the way there though: leaving kigali I, of course, had to climb a lot, and was accompanied by some of the most disgusting trucks and busses I have ever experienced. The black smoke that comes over those things — and they really crawl up the hill— is unbelievably disgusting. I did meet another cyclist on the way who had pretty much the same route in mind (rwanda, uganda, kenya) but we split up to go each at our own paces. I went to a museum of the old kings palace, took a detour across gravel which I thought would be quicker but was incredibly slow, and I stumbled on coffee plants. I actually thought they were trees but hugging these would probably result in me breaking something, so I refrained.Also, next to Nyungwe forest there are huge, really huge, tea plantations, and I absolutely love the tea with milk here. (Its like chai masala…)

      Before Nyungwe no nice children running alongside, only children and people begging for money: they come up to you and just say “give me money”. Its horrible that Kigali is so well-off, but there seems to be so much poverty in other districts. (Not all, villages are generally not very poor, but I constantly get approached for money in some parts; also while cycling.)

      My experience of people alongside the road changes in the next footprint ^^.
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    • 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!
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    • Day 11

      Why is it called washing station?

      June 7, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

      After multiple corrections finally I have enough material to answer a very common mistake: no, I'm neither working on the coffee plantation nor the coffee farm. It's a washing station, so the place that gathers, process and evaluates the coffee from different farmers. Washing is one of the processing methods and I was super lucky to be able to actually take part in it :) winning not only knowledge, but also respect of another group of workers. With some bonus muscle pain ;)Read more

    • Day 10

      Dry jobs and wet jobs

      June 6, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

      Days full of different jobs: dry ones ( roasting, packaging and dealing coffee for the local market) and very wet ones (depulping coffee cherries and placing them in the fermentation tanks). Lesson of the day - all the sorting I was doing till now was only for natural processed coffee, the washed one is sorted AFTER depulping and washing so without the fruit. Every day I see more and more complexity in this process and multiple levels of filtering / grading the product, that is "just a cup of coffee" in Europe. So much knowledge that the consumers have no idea about!Read more

    • Day 6

      Deep diving

      June 2, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

      Today was the longest Friday I had since a while, an 11h long day full of new experiences. New stages of the coffee production : floating and washing (workers freaked out seeing me at 7.30 in the morning, they got instructed to let me jump into the water and do the job next time ;) ). Then finally breaking ice with sorting ladies, some learned my name and stopped just calling me muzungu. And last but not least first sample roasting, which will be a big part of my work next week. On top of that - after work beer with colleagues in a local bar in the village. Hard to believe that I live here for only 5 days!Read more

    • Day 4

      From the seed to the cup

      May 31, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

      Highest chance to get my hands dirty - finally I got a chance to work with sorting the cherries, a very crucial part of the process to get high quality speciality coffee. "Strange Muzungu" was the description I got from the workers, but after a few hours I also learned that I'm "good at it" ;) It's hard to describe without all the senses - the small or partially fermented coffee, the stickyness of the fruits, never ending chats and laughter in Kinyarwanda. Then afternoon on a very shaky truck to collect the fruits from the farmers, in a very deep province of Rwanda. Every day makes me understand more and more the complex way of coffee until it reaches the cup :)Read more

    • Day 2

      Huye Coffee Mountain, day 1

      May 29, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

      Starting day with a long trip to the southern border of Rwanda, to the small town Huye, where I'm going to spend next 3 weeks. All formalities done, first and last day of being a tourist here :)

      Surprising topic of the day - bikes, bikes everywhere! I never have seen so many of them in a single African country than in the Land of Thousand Hills. Used for everything, they can also transport heavy stuff, like furniture, bricks or ... coffee ;)
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    • Day 38

      Tenting over the tea plantation

      March 4, 2023 in Rwanda

      We arrived at our accommodation just around sunset, and got to enjoy some great views over the hilly tea plantations. When we did the check-in, the receptionist (and general manager) gave us some information about the Nyungwe national park that I found very hard to believe and digest. Combined with the car breakdown, I could really feel that it really soured my mood and I ended up being quite grumpy in a way - an emotion I don't really observe in myself usually.

      It didn't really help that we had paid 75 USD for our accommodation for the night, and it ended up being a tent overlooking the parking lot and construction material storage. With the tent being in a rather shitty state, with broken zippers and moldy corners. But at least the beds placed in the tent were decently comfortable.

      The location was otherwise super picturesque, and we were glad that we managed to catch a few glimpses of it during sunset. We ordered some food for dinner and ordered it to be delivered to the campfire we then spent the last few hours at. Tomorrow we had an early start at around 06:30.
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    • Day 38

      Roadside Party

      March 4, 2023 in Rwanda ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      Once we left the city, we immediately learned once more why Rwanda is called the country of a thousand hills. There were hills everywhere we looked. The roads were in really good condition, and there were even street lights installed in very short intervals, making driving at night a breeze. The biggest risk from driving at night is usually from livestock being on the road and the drivers not able to see them on time. It hurts both car and donkey or cow when they crash. With lights everywhere, this risk was significantly reduced.

      It was difficult to find a spot that was safe to pull over at while still offering a great panorama. After some hours of driving, we felt we found a good spot. Anne jumped out of the car to take the picture while I remained in the car with the hazard lights on. Once she returned to the car a minute later (the spot wasn't as good as it seemed), I accelerated to make it up the slope we were on. Or rather, tried. As I was doing that, the red battery warning light went on in my dashboard. The engine was dead.

      Well, neither of us are mechanics, but we knew that rolling a car could be helpful in trying to restart the engine. So, Anne jumped out again, grabbed some bystanders in the vicinity (mostly kids), and pushed the car sufficiently up the hill so I could make a u-turn in a curve. Once the car was lined up with the downhill slope, she jumped back in and off we went. It was a big hill, but across 1.5km of downhill rolling, we did not manage to restart the engine. Since powersteering had gone, as well as proper braking, I really did not feel safe rolling too fast because I never knew if I would be able to make the next turn without activated powersteering.

      We came to a stop at an uphill section and called Frank from the agency to ask for advice. He said he would immediately dispatch a new replacement vehicle, but it would take a few hours. We had driven for 2.5h by the time we broke down, even though we only covered 86km in distance. That's because of the many twisty roads in Rwanda, and a general top speed allowance of 60km/h, a velocity that is quite hard to achieve in many spots and we were mostly going 40-50km/h.

      We had hoped to lock the car and grab some lunch, somewhere, while we were waiting, as it would take at least three hours for the replacement vehicle to arrive. Unfortunately, the car had died completely and absolutely. The hazard lights were fading more and more until they turned off, and with a last *click* the doors unlocked and would not lock again. This meant that one of us was forced to stay with the car, as we couldn't just take our luggage out and leave the car there.

      Generally speaking, not a lot of small businesses are listed on Google Maps, a tool which we have grown to utilize a lot to find specific venues. For some unexpected reason, I had discovered that in the tiny village up the road there was a restaurant. It had no opening times, pictures or reviews listed, which is always a reason to approach the matter with a bit of doubt. So, I agreed with Anne that she would stay behind in the unlocked car and I'd go and grab some food for us.

      After walking uphill for about a kilometer I found the spot that was listed on GMaps. It looked more like a deserted village bar, but when I approached the woman behind the bar and asked about food, she led me to the back. She didn't speak any English, and only a little bit of French. She introduced me to the chef, who exclusively spoke Kinyarwanda. The kitchen was a tiny place, maybe 2m x 2m. There was a charcoal grill on one side, and some meat on the other side. A few bananas under the counter. And that was it. No running water or electricity.

      They had meat skewers, grilled bananas, and alcohol. Nothing else. I ended up ordering a few meat skewers and a few bananas, because both Anne and I were starving. She is vegetarian, and I try to be very conscious about the meat I consume, but when out of options... The next challenge was transporting the food. They had no infrastructure to prepare food for takeaway, and I ended up wrapping out skewers in some napkins we found somewhere in a remote corner of the bar.

      Hence I made my journey back to the car, this time attracting a lot of local stares, and many people who passed me yelling out "brochettes" (the local term for the skewers) in utter amazement - no idea why... Some elder ladies who came up the hill got very active upon seeing me, and were excitedly shouting at me in Kinyarwandan, pointing downhill first and then at me again. I suspected they were telling me that they had just moments ago spotted Anne at the bottom of the hill when they passed the broken down car there.

      I made it back to the car, and was surprised that suddenly there was a crowd that had formed around the car. As I got closer, I discovered that there was a group of around 15 kids of all ages that had assembled around the car, and Anne had gotten out my Bluetooth speaker and was playing African songs for the kids. Some of them they were singing and dancing along to, and others they didn't know. It seemed fun, though I could tell that Anne was tense, as her door was open and the kids were all over her.

      I climbed into the car, and immediately had a bunch of people showing up on my side of the car, begging me for money. Once I managed to tell them that I wouldn't give them any, they left, but more kids showed up. At some point we had around 30 kids crowded around us. Not too many adults, fortunately, because those that stopped just begged for money. I made a few more calls to Frank and found out that the replacement car was almost with us.

      Once the car arrived, Sam, the replacement driver, tried to fiddle with the batteries, but we had to shut down his attempt. We still had three hours of journey ahead of us and only 2.5h of daylight left. We had to leave immediately if we wanted to enjoy anything of our accommodation. So we changed our luggage from one car to the other, loaded in Sam, who only barely managed to hire a local guy to watch the broken down car in his absence, and dropped him off at the next town 20km down the road. From there, we continued on our planned itinerary.
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Southern Province, Sud, Intara y’ Amajyepfo

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