Chris and I canoeed on Lake Bunyonyi for a couple of hours. He was so serene… until the storm clouds came closer. Plans for an afternoon walk disappeared when the rain fell.
Luckily we woke up to clear skies (though still dark) the next morning as we set off before dawn for the meeting point for the gorilla trekking. We climbed to Ruhija, through the mist, watching the sun rise over the mountains. Tom and Chris toured the Bitukura family of mountain gorillas, although “toured” might be a bit of an exaggeration. The bouncers were only a few hundred meters from the road! However, regardless of the length of the hike, it is still an amazing experience to sit so close to these animals and watch their interactions with each other. You can really see how we are related to gorillas and there is something profound about sitting in the forest with such close relatives.
From Lake Bunyonyi we made our way through the mountains to Rwanda, Ruhengeri (or Musanze, as it is also called). We spent half a day with John, a local guide who showed us the twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo from the magnificent vantage point of Virunga Lodge. We enjoy lunch by the lake, dreaming of buying land and owning a vacation home in this stunning corner of the world.
Early the next morning, Chris and I headed to the Parc National des Volcans to hike the Golden Monkeys. Like the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, the Volcanoes National Park is a dense forest. And like the mountain gorillas in Bwindi, the golden monkeys don’t like roads to make it easier for us to reach them. But there’s a real sense of adventure as you fight your way through what seems like uncharted territory to find these rare creatures.
We decided to change our itinerary a bit and head to Lake Kivu instead of spending an extra night in Ruhengeri. The main tourist town on the lake is called Gisenyi and is highly recommended. However, it is right on the Congolese border with Goma, just a few kilometers away, and on the same day, M23 rebels entered Goma and took it over. Learning that the rebels were almost at Goma, we decided to avoid Gisenyi (it was too close for comfort) and went to Kibuye instead. To get to Kibuye, the most direct route again would be to go to Gisenyi and head south along the lake shore. But we felt safer taking a different route and ended up traveling through some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable, well worth the detour. Our guest house, the Hotel de Sainte Bethanie, was situated right on the lakefront and our rooms faced the water.
We took a boat ride across the lake in the morning, landing on Napoleon Island for what we were told would be a bird watching tour. You don’t see a bird, but thousands and thousands of bats circling overhead. The island was actually a fairly tall mountain jutting out of the lake, and we hiked to the top. From the top we could look out across the lake towards the Democratic Republic of the Congo in one direction and (closer) Rwanda in the other, as well as all the small islands that dot Lake Kivu.
Kigali was our last stop, where we visited the Genocide Memorial. It’s a powerful exposition, but challenging to discuss further without sounding hackneyed or losing pages. Our final dinner was at the Hotel des Mille Collines, with pre-dinner cocktails by the pool before going up to the Panorama fine-dining restaurant. What a way to cap off a fantastic trip. Thank you Tom and Chris for being such amazing fellow travelers and great first customers!