Tanzania Experience 2: Week 30 in Rwanda (part 2)

Week 30 in Rwanda - Sunday, 20th October 2013

This week I will finish off our Rwanda trip.

Gorillas, chimps, colobus monkeys, blue monkeys, golden backed monkeys and last but by no means least, the Rwandan Genocide.

For those reading the online blog, there is more if you click on the Read more>> button below.

A few facts on Rwanda.
It is approx 30% the size of Tasmania with a population of over 12 million at a density of 419.8/km² compared to 2.8/km² in Australia, so half of Australia's population in 30% of Tasmania. The result is most land is farmed or has housing, even on the steepest slopes. I'm not sure how the whole place doesn't just wash away. The rivers are mostly brown, so it is happening.

The itinerary for our gorilla trip was (My comments in italics):

Day 1: 10th Oct. Transfer to Nyungwe National park.

In the morning, you will be picked by the tour guide and set off a scenic drive to Nyungwe National park. You will have en route visit to Nyanza Kings palace for cultural visit, Butare national museum, Murambi genocide museum among others. Proceed and Reach Nyungwe in the evening for dinner and overnight at Gisakura guest House.

Did this in last weeks blog

Day 2: 11th Oct. Chimpanzee tracking and afternoon Colobus monkey tracking. Forest

Canopy walk/Nature walk.

In the morning, you will set off to the forest for chimpanzee tracking adventure. Embark to the hotel for lunch and in the afternoon, either go for colobus monkey tracking where you will encounter other primates as baboons, vervet monkeys, and others. Or go for forest canopy walk or Nature walk in the forest. Dinner and overnight (Day 1).

Did this in last weeks blog

Day 3: 12th Oct. Transfer to Volcanoes national park.

Early morning, you will set off a spectacular drive to Volcanoes national park with stop overs for photography and lunch. Reach Volcanoes national park in the evening for dinner and overnight at Muhabura Hotel.

Today was another early start. Breakfast at 5am, or it was supposed to be. The kitchen staff had lost the key so it was on the road and breakfast a few hours later.

After breakfast it was a short drive to the Murambi Genocide Museum. One of seven memorial sites in Rwanda remembering the 1994 genocide. To think that nearly 20 years on, some of the people who instigated the Rwandan genocide are still arguing their innocence and still remain unpunished.

The Murambi Genocide Museum was the site of a school where 27,000 people were killed. It is now a place where hundreds of corpses are preserved and currently displayed in three of the school buildings. Although confronting I made a point of looking in each and every room as my little way of paying respect. Although allowed, I couldn't bring myself to actually enter any of the rooms, and in fact I walked along the opposite wall.

Denise and I are only just learning what really happened in Rwanda, and some of the foreign governments who are implicated. All this happened in the presence of the UN and the Catholic Church to name but a few. What were they thinking???

After seeing Gallipoli and Kokoda, war is petty crime compared to the Rwandan genocide. In war it is kill or be killed, but here it was the planned extermination of your countrymen, neighbours, friends and in some cases husbands or wives and even your children.

I am ashamed to say that I was one of the many in the world who stood by and did nothing. I'm not sure what I could have done, but how did I ignore this atrocity?

At the same time, Rwanda has moved on, but the world should never forget.

After visiting the museum, it was a very sombre trip Muhabura. The total journey taking about 5 to 6 hours of driving.

Some of the farming in the valleys is fish where the ponds have wooden boxes suspended above them about 15-20mtrs long by about 1mtr x 1 mtr. We were told they house rabbits as the rabbit droppings are a great supply of food for the fish.

Day 4: 13th Oct. Gorilla tracking and afternoon cultural walk.

Early morning, with packed lunch, you will go to the park headquarters for briefing before embarking on the gorilla tracking adventure. In the evening, you will go for a cultural walk to Iby'wachu for cultural visit where you will learn more about the Banyarwanda culture (Optional at 20PP). Later visit the Batwa community and learn about their culture as well. Dinner and overnight(Day 3).

Today was another early start. Breakfast at 6am and on the road by 6.30am for a 20 min drive. We were supposed to see the gorillas today, but the itinerary was changed to Golden Monkeys.

After the previous nights dinner I wasn't feeling well, so I didn't mind when they said it was an easy hike. The monkeys were nice, but all I wanted to do when we got there was go home to bed.

I lasted the hour with the Golden Monkeys, but only lasted as far as our packs before losing much weight. I trekked back to the car and slept most of the day. No food for me, so that would have saved some money.

Day 5: 14th Oct. Golden monkey tracking and Transfer back to Kigali.

Early morning, you will go for golden monkey tracking. On return, transfer back to Kigali, reaching early to visit the gisozi genocide memorial, local markets among others.

Today was the final day of our tour and with the star attraction of our trip waiting to see us. Once again we had breakfast at 6am and on the road by 6.30am for a 20 min drive.

As I had been sick and hadn't eaten for over 24hrs we were placed in the easy walk. I won't tell you my thoughts on getting placed in the easy group, but you can probably guess them. In the end I was glad we got this group as it took no energy to get there and back.

At the briefing we were told we MUST keep at least a 7mtr gap, although the gorillas don't always obey. So off we go to see gorillas at a very slow pace. Only 30 mins walk in and we found them and what an amazing site to behold. There was one silverback and about 20-30 other gorillas of various ages and sexes.

The first encounter was from about 1-2 mtrs. Remember the 7 mtrs limit....

We stayed with them for the full hour and were amazed with their acceptance of humans. All the normal activities you would see and expect of gorillas with a few close encounters. One brave juvenile male wanted to take things off people or grab an arm or leg at which point the guides would growl at him and attempt to chase him away.

At one point we were watching a mother and 6 week old baby when the silverback decided enough was enough and got up moved quickly towards the mother and in the process pushed one of the visitors out of the way. Not violently, but enough to push her over. He then sat down between us and the mother and there he remained.

The rest of the gorillas continued with their climbing of bamboo (yes gorillas can climb bamboo), playing and beating of chests.

After our hour we started to head back at which stage the juvenile male decided he wanted to continue playing with us so ran into the group and continued to do this all the way back to our packs. At this stage the guides decided he should go back to his group so chased him off...eventually.

This has got to be the highlight of our whole African experience. Expensive, yes, but worth every cent, and more.

After leaving the gorillas it was back to get certificates to prove we had seen them and Denise did some shopping. Guess what, we now own a gorilla that is coming home with us.

Had a quick lunch then back to Kigali for a shower and farewell to Enos who did a fantastic job.

15th Oct. Kigali.

Today was the final full day in Rwanda so we got up late - 7am. After breakfast and a check of emails we walked into town to see if we could get a free map of Kigali at the Tourist Bureau. They had none, but we could have paid for them outside even though they had printed on them Not For Sale.

We did want to walk to the Genocide Museum in Kigali, but it appeared a little too far and without a map and no local language was going to prove difficult. So after lunch we caught a taxi there. This was not as emotional or confronting as the Murambi Genocide Museum, I think because we were prepared for it this time, but we still had the same feelings.

15th Oct. Kigali to Arusha via Dar es Salaam.

Today's itinerary was travel in taxis and planes to get home. Leave hotel at 8.30am, fly out at 11.30am, arrive at Kilimanjaro at 4pm, and home by 5pm.

Road rules in Rwanda

You do have to put your seatbelt on here...finally
Pedestrian crossings are where you can cross the road if the road is clear, otherwise good luck.
All other road rules are the same as Tanzania...a guide if police are round.
As in Tanzania, police escorts are used for people who want you to believe they are important. You know the types, politicians.