We were feeling rather schizophrenic. Rwanda was a breath-takingly, jaw-droppingly spectacular country and my heart races even now when I think back on our time there. But it was also small and after only two weeks we were running out of things to do. Unlike Namibia, Rwanda did not feel like home so we weren´t looking to settle in the same spot for a while, but equally we didn´t want to leave anytime soon.
Despite not planning to see gorillas here, or climb volcanoes, we headed towards the Volcanoes National Park in the hope of finding a campsite where we could at least enjoy views of the five volcanoes that give this area its name.
After some research I had found a place that looked rustic and charming and seemed to have perfect views over the volcanoes themselves. The road there was bumpy and confusing and we ended up being very grateful to a group of young boys who happily ran alongside guiding us to the campsite entrance for a small tip.
We had been unsure about this place as the photographs of the tents did not look appealing and some reviews talked about the campsite itself simply being a patch of grass outside the gates with no easy access to any facilities. When we arrived, sadly, the place lived up to expectations
For some reason we could find no good explanation for, the staff would not let us look inside the tents nor see the toilets or showers. The whole place seemed quite run down and we would have been camping outside the gates with no security and no view. So in the end we left and decided to try somewhere else
The next place was only a few kilometres away but the road was even bumpier and it was slow progress. We arrived eventually, more than a little weary and with Henry´s rivets shaken to breaking point. But it had been worth the trek.
As with many places in Rwanda, if we wanted to sleep inside Henry we had to camp in the car park but here the car park was very secure, surrounded by greenery, there was a toilet within easy reach and we were given the key to a lovely room where we could use the shower.
But the best part was the beautiful garden
And the picture-perfect view
We settled in happily and spent the rest of the afternoon planning our Ugandan itinerary, luxuriating in the cool, bug-free air 2,400m up.
The next morning the volcanoes came out from behind their clouds as I was training by the bar
After breakfast we headed out on a short drive to the Dian Fossey foundation
The exhibition was fascinating, teaching us all about Dian Fossey, her work and the lives of the gorillas she made so famous
The buildings were interesting and quite unlike anything else we had come across in Africa
There was a 3D room where we were surrounded by virtual gorillas for a few moments and I tried the virtual reality show with my head set on and the chair wobbling about but James didn´t fancy it!
Afterwards we went for a stroll around the grounds following various trails and ended our visit with a good lunch and cakes to take back for later.
The whole place was very slick and professional, a credit to Dian Fossey´s memory.
We spent the afternoon cleaning Henry and I had a frustrating couple of hours applying for our Ugandan visas – the first visas we had had to apply for in advance since Malawi.
Throughout the day we could hear the locals singing and laughing in the fields around us and a group of children called to say hello through the gates, waving and smiling. One little boy shouted out that he was hungry, a common opening line to ask for money, but I simply replied that he should run home for his dinner then and the other kids punched him in the arm and laughed at his disappointment.
Having enjoyed our visit to the Dian Fossey foundation and the beautiful view of the volcanoes it was time to move on, this part of our Rwandan visit starting to feel disappointingly like a tick box exercise. Volcanoes – tick. Dian Fossey – tick.
We were heading for our last stop before leaving for Uganda – the Twin Lakes. We had done a lot of lakes, it was a long way down difficult roads and I wasn´t sure what we were going to do when we got there. But if we didn´t go our only other option was to set off for Uganda and not only was Rwanda too beautiful to leave, we also did not have our Ugandan visas yet.
So we set off rather half-heartedly and were not at all surprised to find that the sat nav was having difficulty finding the right road to take, each one we tried being rough and bumpy and narrow. We pressed on for a while but the numerous little bridges we had to cross over the rivers and streams were getting increasingly old and crumbling and James was concerned that they wouldn´t take Henry’s weight.
So after an hour or so we decided to turn back and give up on the lakes altogether. Given how much we had loved being in Rwanda it was surprising to find that our hearts were not in it right now.
We headed back to the town and a hotel with a large garden where IOverlander said we might be able to camp. As soon as we arrived our spirits lifted – it was lovely. The people were friendly and welcoming, the garden was large and perfect, the ablutions were spotless and, despite being in the middle of town, it was peaceful and quiet
This was the perfect place to wait until our visas turned up and we suddenly didn´t mind too much how long they took! Although, being high up in the mountains so close to the equator, the weather could change in an instant and when it rained it really rained!
We ended up staying for three days. We got all our laundry done including our bedding, finalised our Uganda and Kenyan itineraries and ate samosas, pizza and coleslaw at the restaurant. We utilised remarkably fast wifi to download photos for the blog and ended up feeling very relaxed and in control. When our visas finally came through the staff kindly printed them out for us.
But then that was it, our time in Rwanda had come to end rather too quickly and we were on our way to Uganda. We were excited to be starting a new adventure but conscious that Rwanda had spoilt us – how would we feel plunging back into the chaos of a more traditional African society again after the clean, well organised Rwanda where everything actually worked?
Things started off well. The border was easy and friendly. We drove to the nearest town of Kisoro where we found cash and an Airtel store for our new SIM card – in fact the staff there were so kind they gave us an extra 3GB of data free of charge for no particular reason.
We managed to buy chicken at the Isoko Chicken shop and bought lots of snacks at the local supermarket. Next door was a large fruit and veg market where we stocked up on all the healthy stuff.
With our stores bulging it was time to head towards a homestay we had booked on the shores of Lake Bunyoni. We drove along beautiful tar roads twisting through the mountains 2,500m up.
Eventually we turned onto an interesting dirt road along the lakeside which was a great drive
It was already becoming clear that Rwanda had a challenger for the most beautiful country in the world!
At one point we came across a lorry that had got stuck coming in the other direction and were worried that we wouldn´t be able to make it any further. But the locals were working hard to free it and before long they were out of the mud and managed to pass us safely as we pulled Henry out of their way up the mountain side.
Once at the homestay we were a little disappointed. The place was built on the steep slopes down to the lake which was beautiful but rather impractical. We were again relegated to the car park at the top and the toilets and showers were right at the bottom. The manager walked with me to show me where they were but after a few minutes of wobbling down the steep slopes I gave up and told her we would use our own toilet.
As we settled in for the evening there were some local women sitting around the gate who smiled and waved at us, it felt very much as though we had crash-landed into a remote village.
We had booked to stay two nights with home-made lasagne on the second night but the impracticality of the arrangements meant we decided to stay only one – which was disappointing as we had heard their home-cooked meals were great.
Our first impressions of Uganda were positive but not glowing. It was clearly not as clean as Rwanda and around here it seemed quite poor. Some of the people were very friendly but not all. The kids shouted ´welcome, welcome, give me sweets!´. In hindsight I think that we had low expectations of Uganda in comparison with Rwanda. Our views changed completely over the next few days.
The next morning as I was doing my training, I could hear drums beating and the villagers singing all around me and I started to feel the rhythm of a very authentic, unspoilt country
We left the campsite and drove around the lake towards the Arcadia Lodge which had a reputation for stunning views and good food.
When we arrived we found that the first part had certainly not been exaggerated – it was fabulous
As it was only 10am it was rather early for lunch so instead we ordered two pots of tea and settled in to enjoy the surroundings
It was all very posh and the waiters were very attentive. We tried our hardest to persuade them to allow us to camp there but to no avail
And eventually we managed to stay so long that we could justify ordering an early lunch and had a fabulous Butter Chicken despite it being only midday.
As we were eating our waiter asked us whether we had booked a boat trip on the lake. I had hoped to arrange something at the homestay the day before but all they had been able to offer was the use of a rather dilapidated boat to row ourselves with no guide. So when the waiter said he was a part-time guide for the hotel we jumped at the chance and booked a trip with him for later than afternoon – giving us more excuses to stay at the hotel even longer!
The trip was brilliant. We started by taking the boat across the lake to see some of the multitude of tiny islands that Lake Bunyoni is famed for
We saw waterbuck snoozing under the bushes
And were thrilled to get our first close-up view of the wonderful Crested Crane, the national bird of Uganda
We the headed for one of the larger islands which housed a school
We chatted to the teachers and the children and were taken into the classroom to see a lesson in progress
We then walked across the island and met our boat on the other side
Here we found an old church which was fascinating to wander around
As we carried on our journey we talked to our guide about life in Uganda. He was well informed, well educated and very considered. Talking to him turned out to be one of the best things about the trip
On education we discovered that children start school at 3 years old but only go on to secondary education if they pass the relevant exams. Government schools charge fees, albeit not high, but do not take much interest in the children or their welfare. Private schools are much better and proactively ensure that the children attend and are cared for. But a private school will cost around 300,000 Ugandan Shillings a term (£60) which is out of reach for most people – although about the same amount as we had paid for this boat trip as I grimly observed.
On health care, most people in Uganda will use traditional medicine which he commented was ok for smaller complaints but many people die of more serious illnesses as modern hospitals are too far away and too expensive. There are Healers in every community who know herbs and natural remedies. The only way a pregnant woman can find out when she is likely to give birth is through consulting a Healer, otherwise she will just wait and see.
A large number of people died from AIDS between 2008 and 2012 so there are a lot of orphans and orphan schools are common. The situation is much better now as the government gives out free antiretrovirals but too many people still only trust traditional medicines.
Working in the poorly-paid hospitality industry, our guide earnt around 380,000 Ugandan Shillings a month which is less than the national average, whereas a tour guide will earn up to 100,000 Shillings a day. His guiding work is part-time but is allowing him to save up to buy a 50 x 100m plot of land at a cost of around 10M Shillings (£2,000). He thinks it will take him 10 years to achieve that goal. It will then take another 10 years to build a house on his land – most people start building until their money runs out then leave it standing until they have saved up enough to get going again.
This was fascinating to us and explained why we had been seeing so many half-built houses all over East Africa.
Typically, land is passed from parents equally to all their children so with large families (he was one of 13) the land is becoming increasingly fragmented and most people these days need to buy their own land to farm and subsist.
He was a wealth of information and knowledge on so many subjects as we rowed along the lake. He talked about gender equality – a pregnant woman whose boyfriend refuses to marry her is ignored by the community (a step up from the past when she would have been taken to one of the islands on the lake to die unless rescued and married by a man who couldn´t afford to pay a bride price). But education is equally available to both girls and boys and the government is actively trying to empower women by offering them jobs as head teachers – and their Prime Minister is female. Our guide apparently spent many years giving his entire salary to his parents to pay for his sister´s education.
His wife paid 800,000 Shillings as a bribe to an NGO who insisted on the payment before giving her a job. Despite the money having been paid she wasn´t given the job – the NGO had taken payment from numerous applicants and only one got the position. Corruption is rife but at least if you pay to secure a government job and don’t get it they pay you the money back for fear you will report them – NGOs and private companies don´t care.
He commented that Rwanda is the only country in Africa with no corruption but the people are tightly controlled. In Uganda the people are free but the president always loses the election and simply changes the results! He now plans to hand the presidency over to his son to continue the game – the ruling party having been from the same family for generations.
As he said, the rich get richer whilst government officials steal the money and materials meant to help the poor and justice never comes. It is ever the state of the world!
We arrived at a new island where an enterprising and very professional group of young men had set up a brilliant adventure playground. Whilst we didn´t fancy the high wires and climbing walls we were keen to try the zip wire over the lake.
We were kitted out with all the right equipment and given our briefing
Then climbed up to the platform and clipped ourselves on
James, of course, was brillaint and sure-footed as we clambered over the rope bridge to the first platform
As for me, I was little more wobbly, although after the huge zip wires in Swaziland and the more recent canopy walk in the Rwandan rain forest any nerves I might have had in the past were long gone
And we were both able to simply enjoy a thrilling ride and a lovely view
Although the end of the ride could get a little bumpy!
With our boat ride over, our friendly guide dropped us off at a new campsite right on the lake edge and, with a smile and a wave, left us to our own devices.
This campsite was so different from our homestay it was hard to believe we were still in the same country. The views were spectacular
We were camping some way from the main hotel so it was peaceful and calm
We spent half a day up at the restaurant having lunch and doing some admin
But there was construction work underway and eventually the banging got too much and we headed back to Henry for some quiet
It was lucky that the campsite was so lovely as we were having a few gorilla-related problems that kept us there for a few days. Everyone we had spoken to and everything we had read up to this point told us that we should buy our gorilla trekking permits at the gate of the national park the day before we wanted to go. Everyone said that we shouldn´t book through an agent as they charged such high fees. So it had come as a bit of a shock to find out at the last minute that the national park gate was no longer able to sell tickets – we would either have to drive 10 hours to the capital city of Kampala or find an agent to help us.
Even then we started off unconcerned as most campsites and lodges around the national park were able to organise tickets for a fee. But after we had spoken to a couple of them we gradually realised that this was not going to be as easy as we had thought.
We needed to pay someone the full amount of $1500 for the two tickets, they had to go to a bank to pay the money in and fill in the relevant forms and only once the national park gorilla admin team confirmed receipt would they issue the tickets. The biggest problem was that that it was a Friday, the national park admin team did not work at week-ends and the following Monday was a national holiday.
So, having arrived at this campsite on Thursday expecting to drive to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest on Friday and do our gorilla trek on Saturday we were now looking at being stuck here until Tuesday and not go on our gorilla hunt until Wednesday.
A four day delay in itself would not normally be a problem but we had spent the last few days of our time in Rwanda sitting around looking at volcanoes and waiting for our visas to come through. We were champing at the bit to get going and start doing a bit more. We were in danger of our travels grinding to such a slow pace that we would lose the sense of freedom a nomadic life gives when what we really wanted to do was to speed up a bit.
At one point we were offered ´unofficial´ tickets which meant entering the forest with a group of rangers who were not officially working and without a permit, but the risks seemed high and we were not keen to either break rules nor pay money to people who would simply pocket it rather than it going towards gorilla conservation or supporting the local community. So we declined and waited until we could get through the official process.
Finally, on the Sunday we came to agreement with the manager of a reputable lodge who was able to clearly explain the process and who had been recommended by other travellers we knew. We would go to the lodge that evening and camp there whilst we waited. He would get us our tickets on the Tuesday and we would hopefully be able to join a trek on the Wednesday. Having sorted this out and gained more certainty we were able to relax a bit more.
Our next challenge was finding a way to get the equivalent of $1500 out in cash – that would be over 5.5 million Ugandan Shillings, quite a sum to get out of a cash machine and carry around with us! We drove to the town of Kabale and by juggling four different credit cards and three different banks we finally managed to get everything we needed – although our pockets were bulging to breaking point and we had had to pay some very high fees at the only bank we could find which accepted our rarely-used Mastercards.
Whilst in town we found an amazingly good supermarket which sold chicken – a bit of a treat round here – as well as a lovely bakery where we got chipatis and cake. As we drove up to the bakery James pulled over to the opposite side of the road to park near a group of women selling vegetables on the pavement. They looked panic-stricken as a huge Landrover came for them, shrieked and jumped up to run away. James neatly parked a good few feet away from where they had been and leaned out of the window with his best smile and a wave calling out to them ´Honestly, I wasn´t going to run you over´! They relaxed immediately and looked a bit embarrassed, smiling and giggling at their panic.
We pressed on out of town towards Bwindi and the lodge. The roads wound their way through the mountains and yet again we were mesmerised by the beauty of the country
Half way up a dirt road we saw a chameleon sitting on a mound of grass. James pulled over and I jumped out to photograph it
As I was walking back to Henry a man drove up on a motorbike with a passenger on the back. He saw me walking up the road and called out ´is anything bad?´. ´No´ I replied with a smile and a wave, ´everything is good´. He smiled back, raised his hand and drove away leaving me with a renewed sense of the strong community here where everyone looks after each other.
As we drove the twisty, mountain roads we entered the Bwindi national park and had to sign the entrance book – although there were no fees to pay whilst we stayed on the main road. If the scenery had been beautiful before it went into the next gear at this point with the tar road giving way to dirt and gravel and the views being almost unreal.
We saw monkeys of all types in the trees and even had a black and while colobus running across the road in front of us
We passed through a village where everyone was dressed up to the nines and walking towards a marquee where it looked like a wedding was taking place.
Just before we arrived at the lodge we passed the main gate into the national park itself. On the off-chance we stopped to double, triple check that we couldn´t get our gorillas permits there. We couldn´t but we met the head ranger, Benson, who was incredibly helpful and said that if I reminded him about my dodgy knees when we finally go back for the trek he´ll make sure we´re put in the group going to the closest family of gorillas. He then asked whether we could give him a lift to the village so we piled him in the back of Henry and dropped him off at home!
On arrival at the lodge we were once again relegated to camping in the car park but when we walked down to the lodge itself we could hardly believe our luck
It was breathtaking
We met the manager, Moses, who I had been speaking to about the gorilla permits. We were going to have to hand over the equivalent of $1500 of cash to him and watch him drive away with it to sort out the permits. But within five minutes of chatting to him any concerns about that vanished, we were clearly in safe hands.
As always, we were given access to one of the chalets to use the shower which gave us a great opportunity to see how the ´other half´ live! I went for a shower and as I came back I found three young girls sitting in our camp chairs chatting with James. They were trying to persuade him to visit their school and meet their teachers and when I arrived they tried pleading with me in case I was a softer touch! I said maybe tomorrow which pacified them for a while. But they didn´t want to leave, they asked endless questions about how our chairs and table worked, how the water worked and what vegetables we were cutting up for dinner. They were very sweet – but they never came back to take us to their school the next day or any other day.
So we settled in to our fabulous lodge waiting for the banks to open so we could finally sort out our gorilla permits
Nearly three years in Africa had been building up to this point – meeting the gorillas of central Africa is a privilege very few people are lucky enough to experience and we were on verge of having that chance.
Of all the amazing things we had done on our travels so far, something told me we were about surpass them all…we just needed to wait another couple of days…..
The Sidetracked Sagas 