Date: 15/01/10
Location: Lake Bunoyni Overland Camp
Miles travelled: 174 Miles (89 miles Kigali to Kinigi, 85 miles Kinigi to Lake Bunyoni)
Weather: 26ºC, a wee bit chilly
Today we mostly listened to: Prince

We picked up Will from Kigali airport late on Thursday night and because we were booked in to see the gorillas first thing on Friday we had to do the 2 hour drive up to Kinigi in the dark.  Not something we like doing, but it couldn't be helped.  We arrived at the Kinigi Guest House around midnight to find no-one around.  After banging on a few door and generally making quite a lot of noise a blurry eyed man in his boxer shorts came out of a hut and showed us to our rooms.

The next morning we were up at 6am, ready to meet at the gorilla trekking headquarters at the unreasonable hour of 7am.  Being the only people there not part of an organised tour we watched everyone else get in to groups and start their briefings.  Eventually we decided to ask which group we should be in - I think they had forgotten about us.  As it turned out this was a very good thing as we ended up in a group with just the three of us - perfect.

So after a short drive on a terrible road we started the long trek to see our hairy friends.  We were told at the beginning that it could be a 1 hour trek, it could be 2, it could be 6!!  The rainforest was much harder terrain than what we experienced in Gombe.  The route we took was steep and dense - the worst part being the huge stinging neetles.  After about 1.5 hrs we started to hear the gorillas and we met up with the trackers that follow them all day.  So after leaving our bags and sticks behind we moved in closer to spend our precious hour with the group.

The particular band we were visiting was run by one silverback - Charles, a few black back males and an assortment of females and babies.  What can I say about Charles.  An imposingly large character, he spends most of his time eating, beating his chest, being groomed and farting (loudly).  They were a lot calmer than the chimps at Gombe, and also a lot bigger.  A couple of times Charles came extremely close to us, leaving us all clinging to a cliff edge to let him pass - it was extremely exhilarating, but a little scary.

For the hour we were with the group they moved around quite a lot so we had to move quite fast to keep up with them - not the easiest thing in  the thick jungle environment.  All too soon our time was over and just as it began to start raining we headed back down the mountain to the start point.

As we were finished around lunchtime we decided to drive on to the Ugandan border as we had heard about a lovely place to stay at Lake Bunoyoni.  The roads on the Rwandan side were perfect, however the same cannot be said about Uganda!  I really really like Rwanda - the people are very friendly, corruption isn't as bad as in other East African countries and the infrastructure is pretty good.  Just goes to show what an African country can achieve with strong anti-corruption laws, strong leadership and foreign investment.

The Ugandan border was pretty straight-forward, although i nearly got in to an arguement with the immigration guy because he wouldn't take a 100 dollar bill that was printed in 1998.  For some insane reason some f@*kwit officials will only take dollar bills after the year 2000.  I had to leave his office pretty sharply before I said something I'd regret.  Ric was left to smooth things over and get us all in to the country!  Probably not my finest hour.

The drive on to the lake was longer than expected due to the awful roads, but we got there eventually and set up camp.  Many gin and tonics followed.

Date: 12/01/10
Location: Auberge Caverne, Kigali
Miles travelled: 0 miles
Weather: 26ºC, overcast
Today we mostly listened to: Jazz, yeah....

Kigali is a nice city - which is pretty amazing when you think of the events that took place here just 15 years ago.  It is one of the more modern cities we have visited with much building going on - it certainly has the feel of a place on the up in Africa.

We've had a relaxing few days, doing a little shopping, organising our gorilla trekking for later this week and visiting the Kigali Mermorial Site which contains mass graves of the many Rwandans killed during the genocide.  They are still finding unmarked graves throughout the country even today and bringing them to the memorial for a dignified resting place.  The centre is a very powerful, emotional and informative place, as you would expect.  Words fail me a little here, but I can recommend you taking a look at the following website, which contains an exhibition of photos taken by genocide survivors and perpetrators...

http://www.un.org/preventgenocide/rwanda/visions.shtml

Date: 10/01/10
Location: Auberge Caverne, Kigali
Miles travelled: 374 Miles (09/01/10 Kigoma to Kigali)
Weather: 32ºC, muggy
Today we mostly listened to: The Last King of Scotland

We left Kigoma after breakfast yesterday, still elated from our recent 'near-death experience with a chimp' - you can see how the stories have become exagerrated already!  The road was a bit better and we made much better progress than we thought we would.  So we decided to motor on towards the Rwandan border, finding somewhere to stay along the way.

We passed a check-point where a very friendly policeman asked us where we had come from.  When we replied Kigoma, be smiled, laughed and said that if we were going back that way he would make us take an escort.  'Really, why?' we asked.  'Because there are animals in the trees with guns.'  After establishing that the way forward was safe though we rapidly sped off and left the slightly-strange policeman behind us.  No idea whether he was talking about guerillas from Congo, refugees from over the borders or literally animals in the trees with guns.

Before we knew it we were at the border and we hadn't seen anywhere suitable to stay overnight.  So we went through to Rwanda and had the easiest country crossing to date.  We were through in about 20 mins.  Instantly I felt like we were in a different country.  The landscape became very hilly and very beautiful.

We reached Kigali around 8 - having driven across half of this tiny country already and went to the 'One Love' campsite.  I use the term campsite loosely - it was a carpark.  Still it supports a good cause - people who lost limbs during the genocide.  A super of rice and sauce followed and an early night.  Just before getting in to the tent we got chatting to the security guard - Emanuelle.  He had the biggest smile and cheekiest laugh I think I've ever seen.  Rather soberingly though he told us that he'd lost his parents during the 1994 genocide.  He was just 11 at the time and his sisters were 9 and 4.  That's the strange thing about Rwanda - almost everyone you look at or speak to of a certain age was affected or involved in the genocide in some way - pretty somber thought.

We awoke this morning and realised that the car-park we were in was also right next to a church that was preparing for its Sunday service.  We packed up quickly before we were subjected to more out-of-tune singing and headed to the 'carwash'.  We had heard about this place that is a bar/carwash all in one.  Actually it turned out to be more like a carwash, that happens to sell Tusker beer.  We watched Monty change from a reddy/brown colour back to white again.  Shame he will just get dirty again soon.  We also think the shock absorbers on the back have gone so we're going to look at changing those whilst in Kigali.  We're waiting here anyway until Thursday as our good-friend Will is flying in to join us for a few weeks.

Unable to face another night in the carpark we're staying at a little Auberge closer to the centre of Kigali.  It is very nice and the owner extremely friendly.  That is something we have noticed about Rwanda so far, everyone is much friendly here.  It is also wonderful to hear people speaking French again and we managed to get a glass of red wine each in 'Chez Robert' restaurant - lovely.  We tried to go for a drink also in the famous 'Hotel Rwanda', but the car-park was absolutely full and we couldn't get in!