Into Rwanda

After leaving the gorilla camp we headed to Rwanda! We decided to take a week's holiday and it's come just at the right time- after my malaria and Emma's stressful last week where she was the only person covering surgery, plus having to look after me! We got a lift from the camp to the border and the lovely driver helped us with the immigration. British people don't need a visa to go to Rwanda which is nice, I think it's because they've just joined the commonwealth so are feeling friendly towards us! It always seems strange how informal land border crossings are and how quick it is to change country. On the other side we got a minibus to the first town, Musanze. I hate mini-buses and we've so far avoided them on this trip (and plan to not get any more!). They are small and cramped and go so fast. I was too tall to sit upright so my back was killing by the end. Luckily it only took an hour and then in Musanze we changed onto a bus which was much bigger and felt much safer! Rwanda is very hilly and very pretty. It's more arid than Uganda but also seems very fertile. Rwanda seems richer that Uganda too. Most of the houses seem properly built rather than made from mud and straw and the country is really clean. Plastic bags are even banned and you can get fined for bringing them into the country (although nobody checked!). On the way we passed a concentration camp (and we'd seen one in Uganda too), presumably for refugees from the DRC but they both looked pretty empty. Our first stop was a place called Gisenyi on the banks of Lake Kivu, a lake bordering Rwanda and the DRC. We stayed on a peninsula 7 km out of town. It was absolutely beautiful. The hotel was right on the water's edge and we could hear waves lapping from our beds. We barely left the hotel and spent 3 days reading, catching up with the news on the internet and eating different food from the 5 meals we cook at home in Kagando. I finally feel normal again and almost back to full strength! Every evening we'd see the fishing boats heading out for the night. They would row in groups of 3 with long poles sticking out and you could hear the men singing. I spent ages trying to get a good photo but I think I failed! From the beach we could hear music from the local village. Sometimes it was gospel music from the church, sometimes traditional local songs and sometimes Western pop music- a strange combination. Everywhere you go in this part of the world people are singing or dancing and there's music playing.

Across the lake you could see the mountains of the DRC, it looks so peaceful and it's so sad to think of the constant fighting and problems there. Meanwhile, Rwanda is now one of the safest countries in Africa and certainly feels very unthreatening.

It's been nice to speak a bit of French too. Interestingly, however, the Rwandan government is trying to change the country over to speak English instead. A few years ago the schools were forced to start teaching in English instead of French and quite a lot of signs are in English. Most people speal Kinyarwanda as their first language and then the more educated speak French, but also English is definitely seeping in. I find it pretty hard to understand the French here as it's structured differently and accented but it's fun to try!

So after 3 lovely days we got on another bus and headed to Kigali, the capital for 3 nights of city life. It was hard to tear ourselves away from the lake but we have Zanzibar to look forward to in a few weeks!