Wednesday, February 15
After dinner last night we spent some time sitting by the fire in our room just listening to music on the iPhone and chatting. It was a nice way to end the day and enjoy the comforts that the lodge has for us. It's not necessarily cold here (60s at night) but it is damp and the fire keeps the room comfortably warm.
I did make it a point to be in bed early, however. So by 9:30 we had packed it in and called it a day. The 5:15 wake up call would come soon enough.
We had a nice buffet breakfast at the lodge. I ordered an omelet and had a piece of whole wheat bread with jam and a couple of small slices of french toast. The orange juice was good and I loved, but didn't finish, the coffee, for fear of having to go the bathroom a million times today.
We drove out to the same rangers' station again today and Tim went off to do our bidding for a group. I was a bit nervous because I told him we could definitely not do an advanced hike and maybe not even a sort of advanced hike. I don't think he picked up the message, because he ended up getting us an intermediate hike. We were trekking to the Amahoro family. We had wifi at the rangers' station so I quickly looked up this group to see what the scoop is. They are a family of 17, with two silverbacks. The gorilla research website said that "getting to this group is a hassle, but most travelers are rewarded by a fulfilling encounter." Hmmmm. While it seemed promising, I had in my mind that it'd be some work to get there. I wasn't wrong.
I purposefully went into the day with a better attitude, that all this mud, sweat and cursing is a means to an end. That seemed to help me muddle through. Well, that and my porter Appollonaire. We met the porters about 20 minutes from the rangers' station at the start of the trailhead (Gisha Trail) where we hired as many as we thought we'd need. There were 8 travelers in our group, plus our guide. Kim and I were the only ones who hired porters. I'd read that even if you don't think you'll need a porter, hire a porter. Many of them are former poachers (killing gorillas and selling the body or body parts for money) and this is a safe, legal way for them to make a living that results in a better future for the gorillas. So that's how Appollonaire and I got acquainted. He spoke no English, I spoke nothing he could understand, but somehow he managed to get my butt up and down the volcano and thanks to him, I'm alive to tell about it.
So off we went. It was about a 10 minute walk through flat farmland to the famed cobbled wall surrounding the national park and the start of the trail up. It seemed to go well enough for a bit and then we hit the muddy bits. And when I say muddy, I mean, step quick or my shoe will get stuck. Or I'd keep hearing that sucking noise I'd expect to hear just before I'm vacuumed down into quicksand. It was tiring to trudge through this. I'd trained on clear cement pavement, even treadmill and level steps, this was nothing like any of that. And that's where Appollonaire came in. He'd pull me up steps, be there to help me step down, navigate me around the worst of the muck and yank me up by the arm when I'd start to go down. I only officially fell once, and not into mud, but without him I'd have spent a good part of the day on my ass.
Our guide would stop every 15-20 minutes to let the group catch its breath and have some water. We hiked for about 90 minutes before we caught up with the trackers. The trackers are yet another part of this team. They stay with the gorilla families until they start to build nests for the night. They remember the location and return there early the next morning to see if the family is still nearby. If it is, they radio that location to our guide and we head in that direction. If the family has moved, the trackers need to find the family before we get too far into the hike, or we end up hiking after them. Even a half hour before we ultimately got there, our guide still didn't know where our family was. That made my stomach sink because I'd heard of cases where the trekkers are chasing the families all day. Our guide told us that one day last week he was out until after 5 p.m. on a trek because the family kept moving. Gulp.
Early on we stopped and I decided to take a drink and put my jacket in the backpack (on Appollonaire's back). I was now at the back of the line of hikers and Kim was just ahead. I heard the guide saying something up towards the front but I wasn't really paying attention. Kim told me to look up and there the guide is, holding a stick overhead with this massive floppy flesh colored work. It looked like a 12" floppy uncooked hotdog. I squealed like a girl and looked away. The guide said to the others "hurry and take a picture so she doesn't have to look." It was funny but gross and downright appalling if you ask me. Who needs worms that big??? And even less funny was the second one I almost stepped on on the trail right after that. Gross.
At a later stop, the guide said "we are close now, we know where they are." I asked how close. He pointed downhill and said "see that bush? Behind there." We were surrounded by bushes and shrubs and small trees. That question would be akin to my asking folks at home right now "see that snowbank?" And just pointing out the window. Sometimes it's better not to know.
Finally we reached the trackers. We left everything with our porters about 25 yards away from where the gorillas were. We went with a couple of trackers and our guide deeper into the undergrowth. If you'd told me I'd be weaving and dodging through god only knows what kind of foliage this is, I'd have told you you're crazy. This isn't me. I'm not outdoorsy and I don't enjoy being THIS close to nature.
Our guide reminded us of the rules. He will tell us when and where to move. We're not to touch or reach out to the gorillas. If approached by a baby or juvenile, we're to step aside. If the silverback approaches lean away and look down. Keep together in a straight line as a group. Seemed simple enough. You'd think.
We were stepping over foliage that had been trodden down or cut down by machete by the trackers. Earlier that day, all of that was still standing. I had no idea what to expect. In my head I'd hoped for a nice little clearing with the gorillas all gathered around in a nice family portrait-like setting but of course it's not that easy. This is how they live, in and amongst thick brush. I was anxiously scanning the bushes until I finally saw the face of a silverback. It was a face and shoulders, but enough to tell me I'm here, I'm among them, I'm in there world. Finally.
And then that moment that I've had before crept back in. As we got closer (and it was a hell of a lot closer than 7 meters or 21 feet) the silverback acted out. He hollered some and rose to his full height. The tracker and the guide both made guttural noises like we clear our throats and he settled back down. But we don't belong here. We've cut this path up the hill to them, we've flattened the foliage around them for better views and better photos. And this guy is making it known he's uncomfortable. The guides settled him down, but still.
That's not to say that I would trade the next hour for anything in the world. It was incredible. We kept working our way around the larger bushes and followed the silverback, a blackback, a juvenile female and a couple of babies around. And we were so damn close. It was just so intense to see their eyes, their hands and their expressions and realize there's no cage there, no glass there, nothing at all between us. It was incredible. I am a very fortunate person to have the privilege to be this close to such amazing creatures.
I took a fair amount of photos, which was a challenge given we were not under cover, and the sun went from full-on sun to total overcast to partly cloudy. I did cheat for a while and shoot in Program mode with some white balance, but still. I think I did well. I took 462 photos today, which is pretty extreme given that all we did was the trek.
Finally the guide said our hour was up and we needed to head back down. I started to hear thunder in the distance and was somewhat anxious that we'd end up in the deluge that we saw yesterday. But we were blessed by the weather gods, and made it down the same steep, muddy climb that we came up. It was just over four hours all told and it did sort of go by in snap.
The guide asked if any of us would be back tomorrow and when Kim and I said we would, he promised us a very easy group tomorrow after what we went through today. Here's hoping he sticks to that!
We returned to the lodge for lunch, which was another buffet of some tasty food. I had the vegetable lasagna and some french fries with caramelized bananas for dessert. I figured I earned all the carbs. Generally I'm eating healthy except for the desserts.
Back to the room after lunch, shower and nice sit by the fire. I think I'll be able to sleep without Ambien tonight. Tomorrow we trek and then head back to Kigali. I'm so curious to see how the two treks compare!
PS -- Standing in the lobby posting this, I just said "hi" to Jack Hanna! If you don't know him, it won't matter, but I watch his wildlife show every Saturday morning at the gym!
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Trekking Day One -- Redefining "Easy"
Tuesday, February 14
Looking back I'm glad we did the golden monkey trekking first, before two days of gorilla trekking. It was a day to learn what to do, what not to do and what to do right on our next days' treks.
First wish for a do-over, better sleep. The portable heater they put in our room annoyed me. Even in my Ambien-enduced sleep, I felt like I was waking every time the heat shifted on or off. The 5:15 wake up call came way too early for me.
We ate a good breakfast with omelet, toast, fruit (mango, pineapple, apple) and freshly blended pineapple juice. We were still the only guests here, so we had a staff looking after just us. Tim came for us at 6:30 and off we went to the rangers' station to get our assignment for the day. When we arrived, there was a local music and dance troop performing for all the folks who would be trekking today. They entertained us while the guides got everyone registered and assigned.
There wasn't much question as to what we'd be assigned to, as there is only one group going out to golden monkeys. Golden monkeys are endemic to this area (which means we can only see them here) so it's truly a once in a lifetime thing (unless I'm foolish enough to do this again!). There are 125 members in this troop of monkeys. The trackers had found where they were and we were headed off. The group formed a caravan and drove about 20 minutes to the start of a trailhead. There were a few storefronts at the stop and a bunch of porters there for hiring. That was mistake number two. Despite ALL the trip reports that said "even if you don't think you'll need a porter, hire a porter," I didn't. Tim said "it is very flat and very easy, you will not be tired." Tim lied. Well, Tim didn't lie, he just undersold the hike.
So off we went, with me carrying my own backpack (which wasn't very heavy anyway) and with my borrowed walking stick. It started out flat enough in wide open fields. In fact, it stayed pretty flat most of the time. What got difficult were the pockets of mud, uneven ground, waist high grass, pricker bushes and bamboo stands that had to be navigated. I'll be honest, if we were trekking just to trek, with no animal at the other end of this, I would have bailed. The sun was peeking out and even though it was 60 degrees when I got out of the car, it was warming up and I had the raincoat on, which, as my mother says, "draws" and the rain pants on, which do much the same. I was percolating inside myself. Mistake number three was I didn't shed the raincoat early enough. Tomorrow, I'm heading out with just the long sleeved shirt on, unless it's raining. I overheated sooner than I needed to.
I trained for this for four months. I ran hills, did the step mill, worked on lower body strength and core balance work. I think it all served me well today, but what I couldn't train for was altitude and such uneven, unstable ground. I was a bit frustrated by the hassle of it all, but stuck with it. I'm not an outdoorsy type but I wanted to see what is at the end of this trek. But soon enough the ranger told us to stop and drop our things. We left backpacks and walking sticks with our porters and followed the trackers into thicker bamboo. There overhead were a bunch of monkeys, lots of them, hard to follow, harder still to photography in the dark, backlit canopy of bamboo overhead. Five minutes in and I was a bit discouraged with the photography. We were still navigating up and over very uneven, muddy, moss covered terrain. There was always the risk of stumbling, stepping in a hole or sliding off rocks. A nice photographer from Zimbabwe was finding it hard to take photos too, so he told me to follow him and he angled us right under a good looking big male right overhead, the sun behind us. It was at this point, finally after about 10 minutes, I found my groove. I was able to plant myself in a spot, focus on a monkey or two and just shoot some photos. And they were looking good. This camera is performing just swimmingly.
The monkeys didn't give any thought to us whatsoever. It was really as if we weren't there at all. To be able to just sit or kneel or walk amongst them as they played and wrestled and ate was pretty cool. The monkeys came down from the trees soon enough and were playing and eating on the ground right in front of us. At one point, two were wrestling just a couple feet in front of me. It was really no different than watching the cats at home, who can ignore me equally well as they go about their business. I couldn't count how many were around, above and near us, but I'd say I saw maybe 50 or so on this trek. There may have been many more I couldn't see through the canopy or thick bamboo around us. It was pretty crazy.
Finally the ranger said our time was about up. We are only allotted an hour and it went by so fast. He let us take a few more photos and we turned around and went back the way we came. It seemed shorter heading back, but I think it was all mental.
Along our route both ways were some little villages with kids playing outside their homes. The little ones would wave exaggeratedly and shout "how are yooooou?" It made me smile. They are so cute and outgoing and not afraid to smile or say hi. I supposed they aren't as conditioned against strangers as kids are at home.
Once we met up with Tim again, he took us back to Da Vinci Lodge, where we were to pick up our bags and move to Gorilla Mountain View Lodge where we'd been booted due to overbooking last night. Two staff members got us to sit on a bench, where they proceeded to remove our muddy boots, socks and gaiters off, then they gave us a foot massage! Oh my, I was not expecting that at all! It was welcomed but a bit awkward too, with 9 staff members standing around watching us.
So we moved off to our originally scheduled lodge and got inside just as the heavens opened up and it poured and thundered heavily for about 20 minutes. We took advantage of the wifi in the lobby (when the power was on) and then had lunch around 1 with Garth and Terese. I know Garth from Safaritalk forums and it just so happened to be here at the same time. What a delightful couple. I've enjoyed getting to meet them and share lunch with them.
After lunch (buffet, with lots of veggie salad and a sort of pomodoro pizza with eggplant on it) we both had a shower and decided to rest the rest of the day. We have two big early morning trekking days ahead, and if today was any indication, we'll need all our energy for that.
We napped, read, dozed, chatted until about 7. I almost felt human again after being hot, sweaty, gross and tired after the trek. Dinner was buffet style again, dishes of note were fabulous sliced avocado with tomato, onion rings (yes, you read that right) and really good veggie-stuffed tomatoes. I'm still pretty full from lunch but knew I needed to eat to fuel tomorrow.
This lodge is more worn down than the last. A lot of it could use some attention. Things like loose or soft floorboards, a leak on the floor I can't find the source of and just looking a bit tired are what we find. The room is quiet though, the portable heater is quiet and the fireplace is really nice. The room overall is warmer than last night's. The challenge of the day is the shower, which is a half-shell in the corner of the bathroom, with a hand-held nozzle and no shower curtain. That's a treat. We have full electricity which goes on and off on a whim. Wifi only in the dining and reception areas. There are a lot more cabins here than at Da Vinci.
Looking back I'm glad we did the golden monkey trekking first, before two days of gorilla trekking. It was a day to learn what to do, what not to do and what to do right on our next days' treks.
First wish for a do-over, better sleep. The portable heater they put in our room annoyed me. Even in my Ambien-enduced sleep, I felt like I was waking every time the heat shifted on or off. The 5:15 wake up call came way too early for me.
We ate a good breakfast with omelet, toast, fruit (mango, pineapple, apple) and freshly blended pineapple juice. We were still the only guests here, so we had a staff looking after just us. Tim came for us at 6:30 and off we went to the rangers' station to get our assignment for the day. When we arrived, there was a local music and dance troop performing for all the folks who would be trekking today. They entertained us while the guides got everyone registered and assigned.
There wasn't much question as to what we'd be assigned to, as there is only one group going out to golden monkeys. Golden monkeys are endemic to this area (which means we can only see them here) so it's truly a once in a lifetime thing (unless I'm foolish enough to do this again!). There are 125 members in this troop of monkeys. The trackers had found where they were and we were headed off. The group formed a caravan and drove about 20 minutes to the start of a trailhead. There were a few storefronts at the stop and a bunch of porters there for hiring. That was mistake number two. Despite ALL the trip reports that said "even if you don't think you'll need a porter, hire a porter," I didn't. Tim said "it is very flat and very easy, you will not be tired." Tim lied. Well, Tim didn't lie, he just undersold the hike.
So off we went, with me carrying my own backpack (which wasn't very heavy anyway) and with my borrowed walking stick. It started out flat enough in wide open fields. In fact, it stayed pretty flat most of the time. What got difficult were the pockets of mud, uneven ground, waist high grass, pricker bushes and bamboo stands that had to be navigated. I'll be honest, if we were trekking just to trek, with no animal at the other end of this, I would have bailed. The sun was peeking out and even though it was 60 degrees when I got out of the car, it was warming up and I had the raincoat on, which, as my mother says, "draws" and the rain pants on, which do much the same. I was percolating inside myself. Mistake number three was I didn't shed the raincoat early enough. Tomorrow, I'm heading out with just the long sleeved shirt on, unless it's raining. I overheated sooner than I needed to.
I trained for this for four months. I ran hills, did the step mill, worked on lower body strength and core balance work. I think it all served me well today, but what I couldn't train for was altitude and such uneven, unstable ground. I was a bit frustrated by the hassle of it all, but stuck with it. I'm not an outdoorsy type but I wanted to see what is at the end of this trek. But soon enough the ranger told us to stop and drop our things. We left backpacks and walking sticks with our porters and followed the trackers into thicker bamboo. There overhead were a bunch of monkeys, lots of them, hard to follow, harder still to photography in the dark, backlit canopy of bamboo overhead. Five minutes in and I was a bit discouraged with the photography. We were still navigating up and over very uneven, muddy, moss covered terrain. There was always the risk of stumbling, stepping in a hole or sliding off rocks. A nice photographer from Zimbabwe was finding it hard to take photos too, so he told me to follow him and he angled us right under a good looking big male right overhead, the sun behind us. It was at this point, finally after about 10 minutes, I found my groove. I was able to plant myself in a spot, focus on a monkey or two and just shoot some photos. And they were looking good. This camera is performing just swimmingly.
The monkeys didn't give any thought to us whatsoever. It was really as if we weren't there at all. To be able to just sit or kneel or walk amongst them as they played and wrestled and ate was pretty cool. The monkeys came down from the trees soon enough and were playing and eating on the ground right in front of us. At one point, two were wrestling just a couple feet in front of me. It was really no different than watching the cats at home, who can ignore me equally well as they go about their business. I couldn't count how many were around, above and near us, but I'd say I saw maybe 50 or so on this trek. There may have been many more I couldn't see through the canopy or thick bamboo around us. It was pretty crazy.
Finally the ranger said our time was about up. We are only allotted an hour and it went by so fast. He let us take a few more photos and we turned around and went back the way we came. It seemed shorter heading back, but I think it was all mental.
Along our route both ways were some little villages with kids playing outside their homes. The little ones would wave exaggeratedly and shout "how are yooooou?" It made me smile. They are so cute and outgoing and not afraid to smile or say hi. I supposed they aren't as conditioned against strangers as kids are at home.
Once we met up with Tim again, he took us back to Da Vinci Lodge, where we were to pick up our bags and move to Gorilla Mountain View Lodge where we'd been booted due to overbooking last night. Two staff members got us to sit on a bench, where they proceeded to remove our muddy boots, socks and gaiters off, then they gave us a foot massage! Oh my, I was not expecting that at all! It was welcomed but a bit awkward too, with 9 staff members standing around watching us.
So we moved off to our originally scheduled lodge and got inside just as the heavens opened up and it poured and thundered heavily for about 20 minutes. We took advantage of the wifi in the lobby (when the power was on) and then had lunch around 1 with Garth and Terese. I know Garth from Safaritalk forums and it just so happened to be here at the same time. What a delightful couple. I've enjoyed getting to meet them and share lunch with them.
After lunch (buffet, with lots of veggie salad and a sort of pomodoro pizza with eggplant on it) we both had a shower and decided to rest the rest of the day. We have two big early morning trekking days ahead, and if today was any indication, we'll need all our energy for that.
We napped, read, dozed, chatted until about 7. I almost felt human again after being hot, sweaty, gross and tired after the trek. Dinner was buffet style again, dishes of note were fabulous sliced avocado with tomato, onion rings (yes, you read that right) and really good veggie-stuffed tomatoes. I'm still pretty full from lunch but knew I needed to eat to fuel tomorrow.
This lodge is more worn down than the last. A lot of it could use some attention. Things like loose or soft floorboards, a leak on the floor I can't find the source of and just looking a bit tired are what we find. The room is quiet though, the portable heater is quiet and the fireplace is really nice. The room overall is warmer than last night's. The challenge of the day is the shower, which is a half-shell in the corner of the bathroom, with a hand-held nozzle and no shower curtain. That's a treat. We have full electricity which goes on and off on a whim. Wifi only in the dining and reception areas. There are a lot more cabins here than at Da Vinci.
Monday, February 13, 2017
Experiencing Kigali
Monday, February 13
Today was one of those days where I just learned so much it made me tired. I knew coming to Rwanda for the first time that there would be a learning curve, I just didn't know how much of one.
First things first, however. I think both Kim and I slept the sleep of the dead last night. I took the Ambien at 10 and the next thing I knew it was 5:25. Not bad. We dozed a bit until the alarm went off at 7. A quick shower and breakfast downstairs, which was quite good. I had an omelet with onion, cheese and red pepper and a couple of breakfast rolls with some mango and pineapple. The coffee is really good here too, as I think we've come to expect in Africa.
On today's agenda was a city tour of Kigali. We drove around what is "new Kigali" (built after the genocide in 1994) and old Kigali, which existed then. The contrast is ridiculous. The newer section is more modern and richer feeling. It's obviously built with new money for new money. When I asked, I found out that it's mostly foreigners who either work here or want to retire here that are buying up the new properties. The older sections have seen much better days but really aren't too much different than other urban parts of Africa I have seen, like Nairobi and Arusha. A lot of open storefronts, a lot of roadworks with mostly manual labor.
Rwanda is looking to the future and it seems as if there are a lot of initiatives to replace "old Rwanda" with "newer Rwanda". There is a lot of hope and expectation that that will happen in the next 10 years or so.
One thing I can say is Kigali, the capital city, and everywhere else we drove today, is insanely clean. As we deplaned last night, we were warned by the airline staff that plastic bags are forbidden here, so get rid of them before you leave the airport. That is pretty representative of the country's approach to litter generally. There just isn't any. The sidewalks and roads are immaculate, to the point where you could almost eat off them. Much of newer Kigali is exceptionally manicured with lush green grass and palm trees that Beverly Hills would envy. Everyone is compelled by law to spend three hours on one Saturday a month cleaning up the country. Everyone does it, including the prime minister and/or his wife. That forced service in turn means that people take ownership of how the city/country looks and thus won't litter if they know that one of them is going to have to clean it up. Tim told us that it wasn't an easy transition to learn to do the service, but now that they've been doing it, it's old habit now. I think it's a fascinating idea.
Our first stop was at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center. I knew this would be on the itinerary and I had studied up before I came so that I wouldn't be a total ignoramus. I don't consider myself easily rocked, but one point here really got to me. I knew there was a genocide here in 1994 between opposing tribes (Hutu and Tutsi) but I didn't know that it had been brewing since the 50s and that there'd been a "first" genocide in the 60s. In between genocides, friction between the tribes just grew. Tutsi were required to register as such with the government, and jobs were limited to a certain number for them, based on their representation in society (sound familiar?). In 1994, an order to kill Tutsis came from the top (day after the president was killed in a plane crash) and Hutus took it seriously, killing any Tutsi they could find. Neighbors were turning in neighbors, friends were turning in friend. Worse still, they were killing them too. It was incomprehensible.
So I stomached the personal commentaries, the graphic photos, the tools of the trade (machete was the weapon of choice). I saw photos of the mass graves and the decomposing bodies. But nothing, absolutely nothing, got to me like the Children's Room. Here, they honored about 15 children who were victims of the genocide. They listed their names, favorite food, favorite play thing, who was their best friend and how they died. Most were by machete or by hand grenade. But one little girl, one beautiful little girl with the biggest, brightest smile, loved her chocolate sweets and playing with her big sister. She died by being "slammed against a wall." Slammed against a wall. Are you fucking kidding me? Who does that? I honestly don't think I'll ever be able to wipe her face out of my head. Or how horribly she died. Or what level of coercion, or bad judgment or mental incapacity someone had to have to do that to her. All over being a different ethnicity, having a bigger nose or a narrower face. Sick.
After that we visited the mass graves in the garden. All of these are unknown bodies. 2 million people died in the three month genocide, and not all were found and/or identified. The bodies that were recovered were buried in mass graves here. There are a few cement slabs that could be just about anything under them, but as Tim said, to convince the non-believers, they left one open with a glass covering, so that you can see coffins and flags with crosses on them over them. Yes, that's a mass grave. Apparently as with other genocides, there are a fair number of non-believers here.
We passed by Hotel des Milles Collines which was the location where Paul Rusesabagina harbored many Tutsis who were looking for protection as the genocide happened. I was struck by how big the hotel was. I'd watched the movie (Hotel Rwanda) recently and remembered it being smaller there, but this was good sized, yet still not big enough to harbor 1268 who would have otherwise been killed. There is a pretty fountain outside the hotel that honors the 10 hotel employees who were killed in the genocide.
Our last stop before lunch was the Belgian Genocide Memorial, which remembers the 12 Belgians who died in the genocide. Ten were Belgian soldiers protecting the First Lady of Rwanda as the genocide began. 12 were aid workers who were there. All of this is unbelievable, more so when I consider it was just over 20 years ago. I'm dumbstruck.
Tim told us that many people served time for their role in the genocide and some got early release if they admitted their wrong doing. He said that two things came out of the early release: first, the wrong-doers had trouble reintegrating into the society where they had killed (no, really?!?) and second, a LOT of killers ended up marrying victims' family members. That is just incredulous. Throughout the memorials we saw and through Tim, I've learned that this country has a very high capacity for forgiveness and moving on, whether it's so they themselves can survive and carry on with life, or for the betterment of the country. It's admirable, but makes me wonder if I'm capable of the same. Some of these people lost their entire family at a very young age. How do they not harbor intense distrust and bitterness?
Lightning the mood, Tim and Cyrus took us to the Heaven Restaurant for lunch. Tim had done his research to find one with good vegetarian options for me, and this was delicious. We ate outside on a beautiful, quiet deck and I had a mojito and a beet risotto which was wonderful. We got a chance to chat with Tim and learn more about him and about Rwanda. He is a delightful host.
Over lunch, Norbert, the local director for Treks2Rwanda showed up and chatted with us. Turns out that our originally booked accommodation for gorilla trekking is overbooked and we have been moved next door for one night. So we're at the Da Vinci Lodge. It's cute; we have a little thatch roofed cabin.
From there, the drive to Musage, where the gorilla trekking is, was about 2 1/2 hours. Most of it uphill, most of it pretty slow. Cyrus is a great driver and he's ably dodging people walking in the streets and the many motor bikes that dodge through traffic. The drive reminded me of a combination of the Mohawk Trail out in western MA and Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, with lots of twisty turns and a lot climbing and fence-less edges.
I will note that as my compatriots in Boston deal with another foot of snow, it was 91 here when we left Kigali, and as we climbed up the mountains toward the gorillas, it dropped to low 60s. At least we won't be hot hiking the next three days!!
Dinner tonight was a pumpkin soup and spaghetti pomodoro. It was ok. We did get a free bottle of Merlot though, which is good! Hopefully we sleep well and are in good shape for the trek.
Finishing up the blog tonight and then off to bed. Up at 5:15 tomorrow for breakfast at 6!
Today was one of those days where I just learned so much it made me tired. I knew coming to Rwanda for the first time that there would be a learning curve, I just didn't know how much of one.
First things first, however. I think both Kim and I slept the sleep of the dead last night. I took the Ambien at 10 and the next thing I knew it was 5:25. Not bad. We dozed a bit until the alarm went off at 7. A quick shower and breakfast downstairs, which was quite good. I had an omelet with onion, cheese and red pepper and a couple of breakfast rolls with some mango and pineapple. The coffee is really good here too, as I think we've come to expect in Africa.
On today's agenda was a city tour of Kigali. We drove around what is "new Kigali" (built after the genocide in 1994) and old Kigali, which existed then. The contrast is ridiculous. The newer section is more modern and richer feeling. It's obviously built with new money for new money. When I asked, I found out that it's mostly foreigners who either work here or want to retire here that are buying up the new properties. The older sections have seen much better days but really aren't too much different than other urban parts of Africa I have seen, like Nairobi and Arusha. A lot of open storefronts, a lot of roadworks with mostly manual labor.
Rwanda is looking to the future and it seems as if there are a lot of initiatives to replace "old Rwanda" with "newer Rwanda". There is a lot of hope and expectation that that will happen in the next 10 years or so.
One thing I can say is Kigali, the capital city, and everywhere else we drove today, is insanely clean. As we deplaned last night, we were warned by the airline staff that plastic bags are forbidden here, so get rid of them before you leave the airport. That is pretty representative of the country's approach to litter generally. There just isn't any. The sidewalks and roads are immaculate, to the point where you could almost eat off them. Much of newer Kigali is exceptionally manicured with lush green grass and palm trees that Beverly Hills would envy. Everyone is compelled by law to spend three hours on one Saturday a month cleaning up the country. Everyone does it, including the prime minister and/or his wife. That forced service in turn means that people take ownership of how the city/country looks and thus won't litter if they know that one of them is going to have to clean it up. Tim told us that it wasn't an easy transition to learn to do the service, but now that they've been doing it, it's old habit now. I think it's a fascinating idea.
Our first stop was at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center. I knew this would be on the itinerary and I had studied up before I came so that I wouldn't be a total ignoramus. I don't consider myself easily rocked, but one point here really got to me. I knew there was a genocide here in 1994 between opposing tribes (Hutu and Tutsi) but I didn't know that it had been brewing since the 50s and that there'd been a "first" genocide in the 60s. In between genocides, friction between the tribes just grew. Tutsi were required to register as such with the government, and jobs were limited to a certain number for them, based on their representation in society (sound familiar?). In 1994, an order to kill Tutsis came from the top (day after the president was killed in a plane crash) and Hutus took it seriously, killing any Tutsi they could find. Neighbors were turning in neighbors, friends were turning in friend. Worse still, they were killing them too. It was incomprehensible.
So I stomached the personal commentaries, the graphic photos, the tools of the trade (machete was the weapon of choice). I saw photos of the mass graves and the decomposing bodies. But nothing, absolutely nothing, got to me like the Children's Room. Here, they honored about 15 children who were victims of the genocide. They listed their names, favorite food, favorite play thing, who was their best friend and how they died. Most were by machete or by hand grenade. But one little girl, one beautiful little girl with the biggest, brightest smile, loved her chocolate sweets and playing with her big sister. She died by being "slammed against a wall." Slammed against a wall. Are you fucking kidding me? Who does that? I honestly don't think I'll ever be able to wipe her face out of my head. Or how horribly she died. Or what level of coercion, or bad judgment or mental incapacity someone had to have to do that to her. All over being a different ethnicity, having a bigger nose or a narrower face. Sick.
After that we visited the mass graves in the garden. All of these are unknown bodies. 2 million people died in the three month genocide, and not all were found and/or identified. The bodies that were recovered were buried in mass graves here. There are a few cement slabs that could be just about anything under them, but as Tim said, to convince the non-believers, they left one open with a glass covering, so that you can see coffins and flags with crosses on them over them. Yes, that's a mass grave. Apparently as with other genocides, there are a fair number of non-believers here.
We passed by Hotel des Milles Collines which was the location where Paul Rusesabagina harbored many Tutsis who were looking for protection as the genocide happened. I was struck by how big the hotel was. I'd watched the movie (Hotel Rwanda) recently and remembered it being smaller there, but this was good sized, yet still not big enough to harbor 1268 who would have otherwise been killed. There is a pretty fountain outside the hotel that honors the 10 hotel employees who were killed in the genocide.
Our last stop before lunch was the Belgian Genocide Memorial, which remembers the 12 Belgians who died in the genocide. Ten were Belgian soldiers protecting the First Lady of Rwanda as the genocide began. 12 were aid workers who were there. All of this is unbelievable, more so when I consider it was just over 20 years ago. I'm dumbstruck.
Tim told us that many people served time for their role in the genocide and some got early release if they admitted their wrong doing. He said that two things came out of the early release: first, the wrong-doers had trouble reintegrating into the society where they had killed (no, really?!?) and second, a LOT of killers ended up marrying victims' family members. That is just incredulous. Throughout the memorials we saw and through Tim, I've learned that this country has a very high capacity for forgiveness and moving on, whether it's so they themselves can survive and carry on with life, or for the betterment of the country. It's admirable, but makes me wonder if I'm capable of the same. Some of these people lost their entire family at a very young age. How do they not harbor intense distrust and bitterness?
Lightning the mood, Tim and Cyrus took us to the Heaven Restaurant for lunch. Tim had done his research to find one with good vegetarian options for me, and this was delicious. We ate outside on a beautiful, quiet deck and I had a mojito and a beet risotto which was wonderful. We got a chance to chat with Tim and learn more about him and about Rwanda. He is a delightful host.
Over lunch, Norbert, the local director for Treks2Rwanda showed up and chatted with us. Turns out that our originally booked accommodation for gorilla trekking is overbooked and we have been moved next door for one night. So we're at the Da Vinci Lodge. It's cute; we have a little thatch roofed cabin.
From there, the drive to Musage, where the gorilla trekking is, was about 2 1/2 hours. Most of it uphill, most of it pretty slow. Cyrus is a great driver and he's ably dodging people walking in the streets and the many motor bikes that dodge through traffic. The drive reminded me of a combination of the Mohawk Trail out in western MA and Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, with lots of twisty turns and a lot climbing and fence-less edges.
I will note that as my compatriots in Boston deal with another foot of snow, it was 91 here when we left Kigali, and as we climbed up the mountains toward the gorillas, it dropped to low 60s. At least we won't be hot hiking the next three days!!
Dinner tonight was a pumpkin soup and spaghetti pomodoro. It was ok. We did get a free bottle of Merlot though, which is good! Hopefully we sleep well and are in good shape for the trek.
Finishing up the blog tonight and then off to bed. Up at 5:15 tomorrow for breakfast at 6!
Sunday, February 12, 2017
And finally getting there
Sunday, February 12
Incredibly, my flight arriving from Boston was directly across from my flight to Kigali, so transfer time was about 30 seconds. But they were boarding almost immediately, so no real time to stretch the legs and remember what it's like to stand again.
I paid up for Economy Comfort seats on all legs of the trip, which is worth it to me with long legs in coach. I was on the window for both flights and had a reasonable person on the aisle who didn't mind my repeated bathroom breaks.
I did forget though how painful the flight from Europe down to Africa can be. We were nearly 90 minutes delayed leaving Amsterdam due to ground problems ("we are changing the runway", which is a rather open-ended statement, what does that mean, why does it take 90 minutes?) but we still arrived in Kigali pretty much on time. I spent a lot of it sleeping off and on, watching movies, documentaries, tv shows and playing games on the iPad. Somewhere mid-Atlantic yesterday, I lost any brain power to read. That will come later.
For all my relief at getting a visa for Rwanda before I left home, it was pretty pointless. I still had to wait in three lines, but they moved far faster than in Kenya. So it was more organized but still pretty pointless. The only thing I didn't have to do is pay, since I had paid online.
Tim and Cyrus from Treks2Rwanda met us and they are both very sweet, grabbing out luggage and loading it into the car, and telling us not to process anything if we are too tired, we'll do it all tomorrow. So Kim and I are now settling into our hotel for the night in Kigali, having arrived here at 9 pm local time. It's pretty warm, low 80s I'd say but not oppressive. It feels good.
Going to take some Ambien and get some quality sleep, hitting the city tomorrow before driving out to Volcanoes National Park for the gorillas.
Incredibly, my flight arriving from Boston was directly across from my flight to Kigali, so transfer time was about 30 seconds. But they were boarding almost immediately, so no real time to stretch the legs and remember what it's like to stand again.
I paid up for Economy Comfort seats on all legs of the trip, which is worth it to me with long legs in coach. I was on the window for both flights and had a reasonable person on the aisle who didn't mind my repeated bathroom breaks.
I did forget though how painful the flight from Europe down to Africa can be. We were nearly 90 minutes delayed leaving Amsterdam due to ground problems ("we are changing the runway", which is a rather open-ended statement, what does that mean, why does it take 90 minutes?) but we still arrived in Kigali pretty much on time. I spent a lot of it sleeping off and on, watching movies, documentaries, tv shows and playing games on the iPad. Somewhere mid-Atlantic yesterday, I lost any brain power to read. That will come later.
For all my relief at getting a visa for Rwanda before I left home, it was pretty pointless. I still had to wait in three lines, but they moved far faster than in Kenya. So it was more organized but still pretty pointless. The only thing I didn't have to do is pay, since I had paid online.
Tim and Cyrus from Treks2Rwanda met us and they are both very sweet, grabbing out luggage and loading it into the car, and telling us not to process anything if we are too tired, we'll do it all tomorrow. So Kim and I are now settling into our hotel for the night in Kigali, having arrived here at 9 pm local time. It's pretty warm, low 80s I'd say but not oppressive. It feels good.
Going to take some Ambien and get some quality sleep, hitting the city tomorrow before driving out to Volcanoes National Park for the gorillas.
And away we go
Saturday, February 11
I fully acknowledge that I am my own worst enemy. I had an entire day to kill until I left at 4 p.m., and I spent most of that poring over my iPad and worrying about the snow (only 3 inches) that was creating "Substantial" airport delays in the eyes of many flight tracking websites. I'd had a mental breakdown midday and started to make plans for how I'd spend my unexpected layover in Amsterdam. But alas, all that is not to be (at least not as of right now) because the flight left on time. I'm 20 minutes into this flight, somewhere over Bangor right about now. Phew.
I say this every February that I do this, that I'll never book winter travel again, that it's not worth the stress. And it's not. Until I get there and it is the glorious Kenyan summer and all is right with my world again. This set of flights has a tighter connection in Amsterdam and only one flight onward to Kigali, so to miss would be traumatic. I'd rather not put my trip insurance to use, thank you.
That's not to say there was no stress leading up to this. Rounds of virulent illness made their way around my floor, so I worked holding my breath and washing my hands until they bled (literally). It's always a chore getting things set up to continue in my absence, and this was no different.
Now it's all behind me. My day bag and carryon are with me, I pulled it off again packing everything into my tiny Lipault carry on for 2 weeks. I have to think Graceland would be proud of me. I really need to consider adding this feat as a line item on my resume. I honestly don't remember now the last time I checked a bag. Although I may on the way home so I can shop in Amsterdam's airport during the four hour layover!
So now all that lies ahead of me is what's going to happen on this safari. I planned a good deal of it myself, which is pretty impressive given that this is only my fourth safari. I'm just so anxious to see Rwanda, Kigali, the monkeys, the gorillas. Oh the gorillas, what on earth is that going to be like? And there's the Mara. My heaven on earth. I can't wait to get back there, lie in bed and just listen. That's why I work, that's what I save for. In the back of my head I have that this will be the last safari for a while; there's too much of the world to see before I get too old to do it. But I said that last time too, and here I am again.
I've waited 8 months for this journey, now I just need it to unfold.
I fully acknowledge that I am my own worst enemy. I had an entire day to kill until I left at 4 p.m., and I spent most of that poring over my iPad and worrying about the snow (only 3 inches) that was creating "Substantial" airport delays in the eyes of many flight tracking websites. I'd had a mental breakdown midday and started to make plans for how I'd spend my unexpected layover in Amsterdam. But alas, all that is not to be (at least not as of right now) because the flight left on time. I'm 20 minutes into this flight, somewhere over Bangor right about now. Phew.
I say this every February that I do this, that I'll never book winter travel again, that it's not worth the stress. And it's not. Until I get there and it is the glorious Kenyan summer and all is right with my world again. This set of flights has a tighter connection in Amsterdam and only one flight onward to Kigali, so to miss would be traumatic. I'd rather not put my trip insurance to use, thank you.
That's not to say there was no stress leading up to this. Rounds of virulent illness made their way around my floor, so I worked holding my breath and washing my hands until they bled (literally). It's always a chore getting things set up to continue in my absence, and this was no different.
Now it's all behind me. My day bag and carryon are with me, I pulled it off again packing everything into my tiny Lipault carry on for 2 weeks. I have to think Graceland would be proud of me. I really need to consider adding this feat as a line item on my resume. I honestly don't remember now the last time I checked a bag. Although I may on the way home so I can shop in Amsterdam's airport during the four hour layover!
So now all that lies ahead of me is what's going to happen on this safari. I planned a good deal of it myself, which is pretty impressive given that this is only my fourth safari. I'm just so anxious to see Rwanda, Kigali, the monkeys, the gorillas. Oh the gorillas, what on earth is that going to be like? And there's the Mara. My heaven on earth. I can't wait to get back there, lie in bed and just listen. That's why I work, that's what I save for. In the back of my head I have that this will be the last safari for a while; there's too much of the world to see before I get too old to do it. But I said that last time too, and here I am again.
I've waited 8 months for this journey, now I just need it to unfold.
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
And the wait continues
For all four safaris now, I've realized that once you've booked (which in my case was in June!) it is truly all over but the waiting. There's nothing you can do to bide your time. Now that I have all the gear and the camera and know how it all works, all I can do to make the time go by is read trip reports on Safaritalk and wonder how my safari will go.
We had our pre-departure call with our Rwanda safari planner this week. It was pretty cut and dry. She's very organized and knows what we need to know. Plus I've found a good bunch of folks on Safaritalk who have done this, so not a lot of questions left.
After different answers from different people, I tried again and was able to successfully submit my Rwandan visa application. I'd been instructed by the Rwandan government that US citizens just get it on arrival, but other US travelers had gotten it online. I'd just like to have it in hand when I land, to cut down on the nonsense that needs to be done after 20 hours in transit.
I found a lightweight backpack for the gorilla trekking. It's small enough that it shouldn't take up much space in my luggage. I've figured out snacks to bring and have started wearing my hiking boots on my commute to work to break them in. My trainer also has me doing lots of strength work for my legs and I'm running hills and the step mill regularly to get used to that. Truly, I am scraping bottom for things to do "to get ready"!
I'll organize the cash I'm bringing to account for the tips I'll have to give and money to hire porters and whatnot this weekend. And I'll likely practice pack just to prove to myself that I can go carry-on again!
This past weekend I watched both Hotel Rwanda and Gorillas in the Mist to get myself up to speed on those stories again. I did have a "oh shit" moment though when I saw the guides using machetes to hack through vegetation to get through to the gorillas. Yes, that'll be me. Yes, I'm doing that. Gulp.
I'm not wholly focused on Rwanda, although that's been the most mental overhead for me this time. I am of course quite anxious to get back to my beloved Mara and see the cats and elephants at Sheldricks again. But that's the last part of the trip and I can't wish it away so soon! Oh how I want to relax like I did last year again!
Nearly there. Just some more waiting to get through.
We had our pre-departure call with our Rwanda safari planner this week. It was pretty cut and dry. She's very organized and knows what we need to know. Plus I've found a good bunch of folks on Safaritalk who have done this, so not a lot of questions left.
After different answers from different people, I tried again and was able to successfully submit my Rwandan visa application. I'd been instructed by the Rwandan government that US citizens just get it on arrival, but other US travelers had gotten it online. I'd just like to have it in hand when I land, to cut down on the nonsense that needs to be done after 20 hours in transit.
I found a lightweight backpack for the gorilla trekking. It's small enough that it shouldn't take up much space in my luggage. I've figured out snacks to bring and have started wearing my hiking boots on my commute to work to break them in. My trainer also has me doing lots of strength work for my legs and I'm running hills and the step mill regularly to get used to that. Truly, I am scraping bottom for things to do "to get ready"!
I'll organize the cash I'm bringing to account for the tips I'll have to give and money to hire porters and whatnot this weekend. And I'll likely practice pack just to prove to myself that I can go carry-on again!
This past weekend I watched both Hotel Rwanda and Gorillas in the Mist to get myself up to speed on those stories again. I did have a "oh shit" moment though when I saw the guides using machetes to hack through vegetation to get through to the gorillas. Yes, that'll be me. Yes, I'm doing that. Gulp.
I'm not wholly focused on Rwanda, although that's been the most mental overhead for me this time. I am of course quite anxious to get back to my beloved Mara and see the cats and elephants at Sheldricks again. But that's the last part of the trip and I can't wish it away so soon! Oh how I want to relax like I did last year again!
Nearly there. Just some more waiting to get through.
Monday, January 2, 2017
I can say "this year" and "next month" now!
With the new year, I can finally say "this year I'm going on safari" and now I can even say "next month I'm going on safari". When I go back to work tomorrow I'll officially be in the 30s in my countdown. Phew. The last few months have flown. But I know that January and the little bit of February I have to wait through can be cruel.
Since I last wrote I did indeed splurge on a new camera. This one is crazy expensive but I didn't trust my Nikon anymore and wanted a significant enough upgrade without going full-on DSLR. I wanted a DSLR but I just don't want to deal with changing lenses in the dustiest of all dust conditions. So I have spent some significant time learning how to use this camera, including another class at Hunt's Photo where I bought it. I feel good about it. I know I can't buy myself better photos, but I think putting some time and attention into this camera will pay off.
To that end, I then had to get a battery charger, spare batteries and a bunch of memory cards. I got the battery charger, a battery and a couple memory cards for Christmas, and topped that off with a well-placed Amazon order. As of right now, I'm going with four batteries and seven memory cards. I'm considering shooting RAW and JPEG this time, which may mean needing more memory cards. The jury is still out on that decision though.
I also ordered my roll-on insect repellant and have my eye on a new Tilley hat. I can't count the number of hats I've bought and not worn, but maybe this time will be different. We'll see.
I applied for and got my Kenyan visa already. I applied late on December 22nd and it was in my email on Christmas morning. I wish the Rwandan visa were that easy. So far I've submitted a rudimentary form and got a confirmation number and that's it. Strange. I'd really like to get them both ahead of time just not to worry about them when we get there.
My trainer has been great about preparing me for hiking in Rwanda. The only real way to prepare is to actually hike but given the weather here, I'm instead spending hours on the step mill and doing a lot of lower body and core strength work. And I'm starting to wear my hiking boots everywhere to break them in. The altitude is something I can't prepare for.
All that is really left is getting my prescriptions refilled for anti-malarial, Cipro and Ambien. Then it's truly over but the waiting and the packing.
With it being the dead of winter here, there is the worrying about getting sick and freakish winter storms stranding me here. I hold my breath until I get to the airport and actually depart. But this time it's more critical that I stay healthy as I cannot be sick and expose the gorillas to my illness. So I'll be starting up a heavy dose of probiotic and Emergen-C in late January. And hold my breath just about everywhere I go between now and then.
Since I last wrote I did indeed splurge on a new camera. This one is crazy expensive but I didn't trust my Nikon anymore and wanted a significant enough upgrade without going full-on DSLR. I wanted a DSLR but I just don't want to deal with changing lenses in the dustiest of all dust conditions. So I have spent some significant time learning how to use this camera, including another class at Hunt's Photo where I bought it. I feel good about it. I know I can't buy myself better photos, but I think putting some time and attention into this camera will pay off.
To that end, I then had to get a battery charger, spare batteries and a bunch of memory cards. I got the battery charger, a battery and a couple memory cards for Christmas, and topped that off with a well-placed Amazon order. As of right now, I'm going with four batteries and seven memory cards. I'm considering shooting RAW and JPEG this time, which may mean needing more memory cards. The jury is still out on that decision though.
I also ordered my roll-on insect repellant and have my eye on a new Tilley hat. I can't count the number of hats I've bought and not worn, but maybe this time will be different. We'll see.
I applied for and got my Kenyan visa already. I applied late on December 22nd and it was in my email on Christmas morning. I wish the Rwandan visa were that easy. So far I've submitted a rudimentary form and got a confirmation number and that's it. Strange. I'd really like to get them both ahead of time just not to worry about them when we get there.
My trainer has been great about preparing me for hiking in Rwanda. The only real way to prepare is to actually hike but given the weather here, I'm instead spending hours on the step mill and doing a lot of lower body and core strength work. And I'm starting to wear my hiking boots everywhere to break them in. The altitude is something I can't prepare for.
All that is really left is getting my prescriptions refilled for anti-malarial, Cipro and Ambien. Then it's truly over but the waiting and the packing.
With it being the dead of winter here, there is the worrying about getting sick and freakish winter storms stranding me here. I hold my breath until I get to the airport and actually depart. But this time it's more critical that I stay healthy as I cannot be sick and expose the gorillas to my illness. So I'll be starting up a heavy dose of probiotic and Emergen-C in late January. And hold my breath just about everywhere I go between now and then.
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