6 – 9 OCTOBER 2011

MUSANZE (formerly Ruhengeri), KIGALI

GORILLAS IN THE MIST

 Travelling to Musanze, the gateway town to Parc National des Vulcans the day before my trek which it is only two hours away, the bus was easy to find, easy to board and leaves on time, the road is excellent and the scenery stunning with verdant hills all being cultivated to the tippy tip top of each one. It’s raining when we arrive and I check in at the Tourist Rest House to contact Dakin there who is running a Peace Club and a Girl Guide member.

the short, but heavy rains

I thought we arranged to meet at the Fatima Centre and amidst another massive downpour (a long short rain perhaps?) I wait and wait and exchange many sms to ascertain that she is still coming and is only minutes away. After waiting nearly two hours I give up and return to dry off and ponder the state of the mountains tomorrow after all this rain. Tonight I realise I have left my head torch at the Kigala hotel – bugger. Try ringing but telephone number on receipt is not connected. I ring Ange and ask if she has time, to call in and collect on my behalf? She will try. This afternoon I have to try and find transport to Kinigi in the morning and after trying a few hotels in town and leaving my number jic, I decide there are no tourists here. I get a quote of $80 from a local driver so I eventually try ORTPN who tell me they have a car going tomorrow morning to transport some hikers already at Kinigi.

Volcanos in the distance

I ask if it’s possible I could get a lift in the car – he asks if I could take a bad $5 note that he obviously cannot cash and we both agree ‘it’s possible’. The suggested price is $15 and I will be picked up at my lodge 6am tomorrow  YEEAAHHH !

I pay a visit the Gorrila Information Resource Centre and read up on lots of information about Dian Fossey and her experiences at this park, including disproving the ‘savage’ reputation that the wild gorillas  had. She was murdered, presumably by poachers in 1985 but has been immortalised by the film Gorillas in the Mist.

I learn a lot from DiGit news, www.gorillas.org including how at risk the habituated gorilla families are form human respiratory diseases.

It also reported that research is showing an increase in the mountain gorilla populations now at 480 , an increase of 100 since the 2003 count and double the amount recorded in Dian Fossey’s first census in the 19602. With the numbers in Bwindi and  DR Congo, this puts the population at 786!! I also read about measures being introduced to discourage determined silverback gorillas from invading/destroying local lands and crops as this annoys the farmers and puts the gorillas at risk.  All in all a great visit and I am really looking forward to my visit tomorrow with hope that I will see a mountain gorilla safe in its own habitat.

This gorilla liked my rain poncho

Early wake up because I am so excited – and then think I have the wrong time and have missed my lift because it is so light outside? I ask someone the time am told 6.15am, argh have I missed the lift? Telephoning Jason at ORTPN, who reassures me and soon enough the car arrives and I am very relieved not to have ‘done my dough’ because there is no refund on a no show for the trek. On the way the driver explains that because of the hikers that he may not be able to come back for me until late – I should try and find a lift back if I can. But I can please pay him half the money now – which is what I had planned to do anyway. We arrive at Virungas Park HQ, and its very peaceful there before the other muzungus turn up with their tour groups. I approach some tour guides who are all chatting together and explain that because I am independent that I am looking to join a group to get to the car park.

The Peregrine guide says they have 6 and can take me in their group and I thought we successfully communicated this to the ranger but alas when groups are sorted, Peregrine have been allocated another couple. There is a group of six – 4 UN staff from Arusha (working on the Genocide trials) and a couple from US/UK. The couple have a 4wd so they take the Guide and myself. The road to the trail head is appalling – local kids are all waving along the way to the muzungus in the 4wds dashing past them in their bare feet and rag clothes. At the car park we meet up with our armed guard to walk to the edge of the forest where we will then find out how far away the gorillas are. Here at Virunga there are gorilla trackers who head out each day to find the gorillas that have usually only moved within a kilometre or two from where they were previously the day before. We are visiting the Amahoro Group/ Family—Amahoro meaning peaceful has 17 members led by the peaceful Silverback Ubumwe.We are told that Amahoro is a more strenuous group to access compared to Group 13 or Sabyinyo.

MUD MUD MUD               GORILLAS GORILLAS GORILLAS

Onwards and upwards on the muddiest track I have ever walked. This is no walk in the park even if there is a semblance of track to follow. As I stepped, the mud rose over the top of my boot and as I walked, I was pulling each foot out of the ooze hoping not to leave the boot in it! Ahead the guard was hacking away with his machete, at the undergrowth of the forest to vaguely clear the way for us. So for an hour and a half we traipsed, ducked, slid and marched slowly up the volcano to get nearer the silverbacks.  Our guide is in contact with the tracker and soon we are in hearing distance of his hoots. We leave our bags and walking sticks in a pile and only take cameras and raincoats with us to be nearer the family. I hear rustling and soon spot a young gorilla who sizes us up while cameras are madly clicking away.

It soon sidles up to me to tug at my poncho and the guide eases it away, whilst I am so thrilled to be so close that I have to resist picking it up for a cuddle! As we step away we notice more of the family about us. There are a couple of nursing mums, the alpha male silverback lounging away on a nest in the sun

Our hour is soon over and we slip and slide and battle though the hacked undergrowth of bamboo back down the volcano. Have I mentioned the pouring rain? It is very hard going and I am typically awkward especially with the slippery, muddy track. Eventually we reach the edge of the park, cross the trench dug to discourage the animals from wandering into local fields and I topple down over the volcanic rocks very slowly, with each limb landing one at a time ending with my head – It’s a bad feeling knowing that your head is about to hit rocks and you don’t have a hand to save it.

I was very lucky not to be badly hurt and assure the guide that I have no fractures – I bet they were grateful they didn’t have to haul me out! Lol Even though we were off the volcano by then we still have some pretty muddy paths to get through across the fields to the car. One by one we all succumb to the muddy paths and Carol slips hard making her very dizzy with the pain from her fall. I slip again in the mud and upon being hauled up a second time, the guide says ‘what is that’ pointing to a huge swelling on my arm as big as egg!!

OMG I have never seen such a thing and wonder if I have been bitten – the guide says ‘no problem, if it does not hurt its ok – it’s a contusion.’ I place a VERY firm pressure on it, wishing this lump away with great success. By the time we make it back to the cars the bruising is coming out and the lump is much diminished. However closer inspection of my legs shows another couple of contusions coming up on each shin along with some beautiful bruising. I show them to the driver who immediately feels sorry for me and insists that he can drive meal the way back to Muzanse after dropping his clients off at their hotel. I chat with them on the way back – it is Eric’s second time to trek the gorillas and they have climbed Kilimanjaro and did a safari in the Masai Mara. I wonder at the state of the roads up here at the villages and wonder if some of the minimum US$20,000 earned a day from the gorillas couldn’t be ploughed back into the local villages. Eric authoritively tells me that Rwanda doesn’t have a budget and relies on foreign aid. He says that money is used to build schools and clinics for the local villages. I didn’t like to argue cause they were giving me a lift but I still think that once you build a school and a clinic they are finished and you could go on and build a decent road?  After dropping Carol and Eric at their lovely 5star lodge to rest by their private open fire, I get driven back to Musanze for which I am grateful of the lift and pay the driver the equivalent of $15 and he’s pretty pleased with that.
I wash mud from everything I have worn including my boots which are caked thick with the stuff. After an hour or so of washing, rinsing and wringing I think I have conquered the mountain’s mud, nursed my wounds and bruises along with displaying them to the lodge staff who are ‘very sorry’! Feeling somewhat presentable I telephone Clementine of the Musanze Girl Guides to arrange to visit the Region office. The local moto taxi says he knows where to go, but of course he doesn’t, so after many stops, starts and useless directions I make another call and Clementine explains where she is – on the main road of course and we have already ridden past it!! I am warmly welcomed and shown around 2 rooms set up – one with knitting machines and the other with many, many sewing machines. They are producing knitted goods like scarves and school jumpers which are very popular hereabouts. I am invited to return tomorrow to meet the Guides which I eagerly accept. Wandering around town looking for dinner, I now firmly believe that Musanze just may be the Buffet capital of the world! All restaurants serve buffets – all the same foods and it doesn’t change between lunch and dinner. But checking out the market, passionfruit are in season, which make a yum addition to bananas.

A tennis club!!

Next day I decide to rest up my bruises, walking around town to sight two entcourt*** courts complete with clubhouse and gardens planted with roses. I settle down on the seats to watch some talented lads play tennis at the first tennis courts I have seen in all of Africa! I’m meeting Clementine and the Guides at 11am – Clementine rings to say can we make it treize – 1300 – 1pm. I detour to tourist hotel for some lunch and spend an hour or so sorting out my ebook reader’s ‘collections’. Time passes soon enough and I continue walking to the Guides, where a lovely young Guide appears to guide me to Clementine’s home where I meet her husband, check out family and Guiding photos and eat a second (albeit small) lunch. The Guides turn up and we head off to a local cave that I suspect may be part of a greater Musanze Cave complex that forms part of the Albertine Rift Valley. 

Of course we attract much attention – the muzungu and girls wandering the highway on a lovely sunny day.  I teach the girls a couple of songs - ‘Everywhere we go’ and ‘Ram Sam Sam’ which they pick up quickly and seem to enjoy.  We get ‘snapped’ by a local photographer and walking back into Musanze some of the girls run ahead ‘because she is hungry’. Walking around I could not help but notice that there seems to be many more armed military on each street corner here – when I asked Clementine about it, she laughed it off saying that ‘we are scared in case we have another genocide.’ Despite an outward appearance of calm, I feel that Rwanda may still be a fragile country. Someone else also referred to this saying “there are many people over the border in DRC who think that the ‘job’ (genocide) is not finished”.

We return to Clementine’s home where her son who has the house key has not returned. We wait out front and I teach them an easy game, the key turns up and the girls eat the remains of lunch. Clementine’s sister turns up to tell her that her very young daughter was locked in the house – everyone forgot about her being put to bed and left her alone for several hours!

Fields of pyrethum daisy

They all found this quite funny but I was really shocked because I witnessed the girl being put to bed and I didn’t give her moment’s thought either! Clementine gets stuck into her sorghum bee and is very insistent that I should return to Rwanda with my husband next year in August for a catholic ceremony of some sort for her children. She declares “I invite you!”  I tell her I will do my best but feel very lousy because I feel there is no way I could ever make it back here then even though if I could, I would. After singing and dancing together the girls and Clementine walk me back to the main road and I am encouraged to pick a gift and when I decline they pick out a scarf for me because ‘it can get cold in Kenya’.

Next day I make a day trip to Gisenyi, on Lake Kivu on the DRC border, only 60kms away from Musanze on another good road with fantastic scenery all the way. Lake Kivu is estimated at being one to five million years old (you’d think someone could have a nearer estimation that that?), with a depth of 485m! On a lovely sunny day waves are lapping at the shore which is bordered by fantastic gardens and tree lined roads. It’s Sunday so everyone is about, either walking to or from church or basking by the beach here. However this lake also has an interesting side to it – not only was it used a dumping ground for many, many bodies during the genocide – it is also one of only three lakes (the other two are in Cameroon) that experience limnic eruptions!  Apparently rare, this event is caused by carbon dioxide suddenly erupting from the depths of the lake and gathering into a deadly cloud on its surface causing death to animals and humans alike!

Not today though as the current water pressure is twice that of the gas pressure and that methane is being utilised for electricity production. It’s the weekend and lots of folk out enjoying the beaches and parks here on the lake.  I walk the shores and take a short cut through a large hotel, ending up at their deliveries gate where I was told that ‘guests are not allowed to exit this gate’. I try reasoning with the two security guards that am not a guest, have taken a shortcut and want to pass through their gate to the road beyond. ‘NO, not possible, guests cannot come out this gate.’

No thatched roofing here in Rwanda!!

Sometimes Africa is soooo frustrating – they have been told what to do and they cannot think past it. Again I try explaining and hit a wall – they even take out their cell phones wondering who to call because this mzungu wants to go out the gate! In the end I walk past them both, push the gate open and pass through closing the gate behind me. Believe it or not, we are all happy –me because I got through and them because they ‘did not let me pass’, as per their instructions. How I got through was not their concern – they can’t lose their jobs for what a mzungu chooses to do, can they?  I find the Bikini Tam-Tam Bar and Restaurant – what a name and spend a lovely few hours relaxing and reading Little Women by the lake in lovely sunshine. It’s an easy trip back to Musanze and next day I take another scenic drive back to the capital, Kigali in the hope of retrieving my head torch.

Abundant produce - carrots

Arriving at the bus park, I buy a ticket for Uganda with a departure at midday, leave my pack at the office and get a moto to Auberge la Caverne to retrieve my torch. The staff tell me that someone came and picked up my torch on Saturday – Ange says they should have got a receipt and they must be keeping it. Ah well if someone else liked my torch more than I, so be it – the trip back to the capital was no great hardship and if anything very pleasant and I’ll have efficient transport from here to across this border as opposed to my earlier the alternative of local cars on back roads.

NOTE: The current government, Paul Kagame’s RPF won 93% of the vote in the August 2010 election, the second poll since ‘Divisionism’ legislation was implemented in 2002. This law provides hefty prison terms and fines for sowing discord between Hutus and Tutsis, but detractors cite the legislation as vague and being used by the current government to suppress political dissent and opposition.