Lucia78

Well we just returned last night and I can't concentrate at work (yes that's right, I had to go to work today!)...I'd much rather relive my trip so on with the report! Hope it's not too long or boring.

BACKGROUND
My boyfriend is a science teacher and quite the traveller. Being a school teacher, he has the summers off so he departs each summer for a new location (leaving me to my desk job in D.C.). Well this year he decided to apply for a grant from the school he teaches at. They offer travel grants to teachers...what a deal! He wanted to visit the mountain gorillas. At first he was planning to go to Uganda, but the more he learned about Rwanda, the more he wanted to go there. He also decided that it would be wonderful to set up a sister school in Rwanda for his school in Maryland. After hours of research an a 20 page report (complete with photos and background about the genocide, country, gorillas, conservation, etc.) he learned he got the grant! I had always wanted to go to Rwanda and we had been planning an African adventure for whenever I left this job to head back to school and we had a summer off to travel together. But now his grant changed that...and I wanted to go! I told him that if I could get a frequent flyer ticket I could go. But alas, no seats at this late date--this was May and we were going to go in August (the only time I can take vacation as I work in politics). So then I convinced myself to go if I could find a decent priced ticket. But nope, again no decent priced tickets at that late stage. I endlessly searched...Emirates, Ethiopian Air, Kenya Air, British Air, SN Brussels, you name it! Finding no tickets below $2000, I decided...well if I'm going to go than we might as well do something else as well! How about Zanzibar! Then we learned that getting from Kigali to Zanzibar isn't the easiest of tasks...so if we go, how about we throw in a short safari...a couple of days in Tanzania near Dar Es Salaam or Kili? Hey if we're paying $2000 for a ticket, we might as well see more than Rwanda. How much can a safari be?! I learned pretty quickly! For weeks the talk was budget...a budget that quickly kept inflating. I guess I just desperately wanted to go.

THE DECISION
After our decision to extend our trip past Rwanda, we contacted a lot of tour operators in Tanzania. Quickly we learned that since we would be available for safari in mid-August, the Masai Mara would be a better bet than the Serengeti. We also realized that it would be MUCH cheaper as we wouldn't need additional flights through Nairobi (as we could just have a longer layover from our return from Kigali). But it was hard to say goodbye to Zanzibar and the Ngorongoro Crater. After numerous discussions and an exercise where we wrote down each option and then separately numbered them in order of preference...we decided on KENYA. This is when we realized that this wouldn't be the trip of a lifetime, it would be ONE of the trips of a lifetime. We had to return to East Africa...Tanzania deserved its own trip. So now..let the planning begin!

PLANNING
First up...air tickets. We settled on Kenya Air (longer lay over so less likely to make the connections...and my boyfriend wanted to go home to England first, and Kenya Air let him layover in London for a month at no additional charge). Our tickets weren't cheap, $2200 for a flight from Washington DC-London-Nairobi-Kigali and return. The first portion was on Virgin (which made me happy) and the next on Kenya Air and the last on Rwandair. This whole trip was an adventure from start to finish...starting with buying the tickets. I found the tickets through some number in NYC. I couldn't buy them online. My new buddy became Patsy Singh at Kenya Air. I learned that my options for payment were credit card (with a 3% fee) or bank check. Neither option left me very comforted. But we opted for the credit card fee, felt more secure than sending $4400 by check to a random office in NYC. Sure enough Patsy came through, and our paper tickets (haven't had one of those in years) arrived within the week. She also hooked us up with bulkhead seats on the London-Nairobi flight.

As my boyfriend would be in Rwanda for 3 weeks before me, he was taking care of the Rwanda details.

On to the safari planning...After talking to lots of folks, getting quotes and researching on this board, we settled on Gamewatchers Safaris as our Kenyan Tour Operator. Gamewatchers was recommended on this board, although I'm not sure if anyone used them for a driving safari. They also were one of the few operators who could offer us a landcruiser without a HUGE supplement. Actually they have no minibuses in their fleet. My boyfriend and I weren't too bothered about where we stayed---but we just couldn't get our heads around a minibus. The planning on where to stay was really last minute and was pretty much determined by our limited budget and the fact that we were planning SO late. Maurice and Jake at Gamewatchers were patient, diligent and clearly had good connections. They were able to get us into places at the end of May for August! They tried their best to ease my worries...but I'm naturally a second-guesser, something I very much learned during this trip and hope I left behind in Africa.

THE JOURNEY
Michael left a full month before me, so I was making the trip to Kigali by myself. My first leg was on Virgin from D.C. to London. I was lucky and got two seats to myself...enjoyed the movies and slept a little. Michael was nice enough to book me a day room at the Holiday Inn at Heathrow, I owe him big for that. My 13 hour layover in London turned out to be the best thing. It gave me time to sleep, fix my eyeglasses (which had the wrong prescription in them thanks to Walmart...my own fault for going there) and shower a couple of times. By the time I got on my flight to Nairobi I was much more excited. The Kenya Air flight was uneventful, except for the fact that the individual TV's weren't working so they used the overhead ones, but there was no sound. I had a bulkhead seat, which I wouldn't recommend due to the nonremoval armrests that make you feel like you're stuck. After 9 hours we landed in Nairobi. Here the journey really begins. I was too early for my connection, so the gate wasn't open. My bags were checked through from D.C. to Kigali so I had little to do but sit on the floor outside Gate 4. My first introduction to Africa was the friendliness of people and their willingness to share their food...whatever little they may have. The passengers waiting with me were heading to Mogadishu and I had some nice conversations with some young women from Dubai on their way to Somalia for holiday! Soon it was time to board my flight to Kigali...as Imelda wrote in her report...something easy to mess up. There are no loudspeakers and you basically have to hope you're getting on the right plane. Lucky for me my flight there was on Rwandair, so I was pretty sure I was going to Kigali.

After 34 hours of travelling, I arrived at 10am on July 30th (the day of the election in Congo). I made my way through customs to seem my beaming boyfriend in the crowd (I hadn't seen him in a month).

Patty

Welcome back, Lucy! Thanks for starting your report. Looking forward to more. Don't let work get in your way

Leely

Welcome back! I can't wait to read more and wholeheartedly agree with Patty about the importance of trip reporting vs. working.

Kavey

Welcome back and same here - I can't wait to read more!

waynehazle

Welcome back Lucy. How wonderful that we are going to have 2 fresh reports on Rwanda at the same time.

By the way, aren't you glad you didn't get accidentally rerouted to Mogadishu?

I would rather be in Burundi than be there! By the way, tell your boyfriend he is amazing for applying for and GETTING his grant!

Marija

More! More! More! and thanks!

bat

Lucy:
Good for you for realizing that you should travel on this trip--Looking forward to more.

Lucia78

RWANDA: July 30-August 8
Michael had been staying in very cheap accommodation for the weeks before I arrived. In fact he hadn't had a hot shower in 3 days. So partly as a gift to himself and mostly to welcome me, he booked my first night at the Milles Collines. I had heard it was overpriced, and yes if you base it on the look of the rooms it is, but if you take the whole picture...it's wonderful. We arrived, I had a great sleep in the comfortable room that he had selected. Apparently my laid back, easy-going boyfriend had changed rooms 5 times! He really wanted to make the part of the trip he was planning special for me. We had a beautiful view over the pool...had a fabulous 3 course dinner at the Panorama Restaurant at the top of the hotel, played tennis in the evening (renting rackets and the court for $1) and enjoyed my first day in Kigali. But honestly, I wasn't in Africa yet. The Milles Collines became our little sanctuary during our trip. The place has such a history...some travellers mentioned that they didn't want to stay there because they heard it was haunted! I really couldn't get over that. It was one of the only places that was a sanctuary to so many and where lives weren't lost. The people who work there are lovely, the food is delicious, the breakfast (which is included) is divine and I would highly recommend a stay there. Plus the location just can't be beat. I also heard that they are redoing the rooms.

WELCOME TO AFRICA: July 31st
All packed up and ready for our trip to Ruhengeri for our first gorilla trek on August 1st. Walking out of the gates of the Milles Collines was a shock! All of sudden, I'm in a city with people and vehicles everywhere. I actually am now in Africa (opposed to a caribbean island which is how the milles collines felt and actually a lot of rwanda felt). We carried our bags to the bus depot...a little enclave about a 5 minute walk from the Milles Collines. Michael had scoped out a matatu company that actually only sold enough tickets as there are seats (most of the matatus are filled to the brim). So for $1 I got a seat by the window for the 2 hour drive to Ruhengeri. I have to admit I was a little nervous, it was hard not to be. But the Virunga bus looked new and I had told myself to leave the planning of Rwanda to Michael (and I'm so glad I did). Pretty quickly I knew I wasn't in Kansas in anymore. I had to pee. There were no bathrooms nearby, so Michael in his sketchy kiniywandra asked a lady where a bathroom was. For 50 francs (10 cents) there was a bathroom across the road. With my roll of toilet paper and a guy who spoke no English, I crossed the road to the toilet owned my some other guy. He opened the door, filled a bucket with water and poured it in the toilet and closed the door after me. I was terrifed I was going to be locked in so really had to calm myself down or I wouldn't be able to pee and would be stuck forever! Clearly I made it out alive Onto the bus. The road to Ruhengeri was beautiful and I got to see the many hills of Rwanda while sticking my head out the window to avoid the strong smell of body odor that filled the bus (I later learned that this bus smelled better than most other vehicles I travelled in in Rwanda). We got to Ruhengeri and took a taxi to the market while Michael tried to find me waterproof pants for the gorilla trek. No luck. Onto to the Hotel Murhabura in Ruhengeri. It's a decent place, comfortable beds (if you get twins (the first time they only had twin beds and we slept well, the second time we had our prefered double and it sank badly in the middle, so unfortunately a bad sleep) and hot water. The rooms are $30 and the restaurant is quite good. The hotel manager also arranged for transport to the PNV for us ($50 which is the set rate). Before bed that night, we visited the ORPTN and ended up meeting the ranger that would be assigning the groups the next day. We learned that the Susa group was quite close (we had planned on trekking them at the end of our visit when I was more acclimised, but since they were close we decided to go for it tomorrow). So off to bed, with full tummies for a 5am wakeup call. Next up: SUSA GROUP

waynehazle

Yes, the Mille Collines, is overpriced and not the amazing... until you have been to several other more sparse, rustic guesthouses. Then the Mille Collines becomes a palace

moremiles

Great report! Rwanda sounds fascinating.

travellingbug

Lucy, keep writing. I'll be in Rwanda in less than 6 weeks and look forward to hearing more about it. I also wanted to confirm the bus company you used was Virunga bus to get to Ruhengeri...can you tell me where you got tickets and caught the bus? I have been concerned with an overfull bus, but nice to know that some are not filled to the brim. Reading about your trip is making me so excited about mine!

Lucia78

travelling bug: It is the Virunga bus and it went from Kigali to Ruhengeri. The best idea is to ask someone when you get there where you buy tickets. But to give you a general idea it is near one of the roundabouts (the one where the ORPTN office is) and opposite the Tam Tam Bar. That's where all the private minibuses leave from. I'm not sure where the Virunga office is (someone on the street would know) and then they can direct to you the little enclave that the bus leaves from. The buses leave every hour until 6pm, I believe and it's $1 for one way. I'm going to start working on the rest of my report soon.

Lucia78

RWANDA-August 1st SUSA GROUP
Well we woke up at 5am anxious to get to the PNV and with fingers crossed to be assigned the Susa group. We had an omelette, 6 pieces of toast and coffee (that's the Rwandan breakfast, usually without the omelette though). We had brought snickers bars and biscuits with us for the hike, glad we did and that we didn't bring a full packed lunch. Our driver, which the Murhabura had arranged, was out front in his toyota pickup truck. Now this driver was special. He gets the award for being the smelliest person we came in contact with. We gave a lift to another traveller trying to get to the PNV and he remarked that even with his head out of the window, going at 50 mph, he still could barely breath. Needless to say that joltingly bumpy ride was made even more enjoyable by our driver's serious lack of bathing. I was expecting the drive to the PNV be as bad as it was. I swear my organs were bumping around in my body! This drive is NOT for the faint of heart and I have to say, despite his smell, I was unbelievably impressed with our driver's ability to navigate what cannot be described as a road, but instead a conglomeration of bolders! I later found out that we took the worst road! We arrived at the PNV at 7am and were the first ones there. We saw our new friend, the Ranger, and asked for the Susa group. He hooked us up. We were surprised to see the other people who were assigned to the group though---I'm still not sure that they prepped them for the trek. The other thing to know when trekking the Susa group is that they are quite far from the PNV headquarters, another 1.5 hour drive joltingly bumpy roads at times. I originally thought the $50 payment for the transport to/fro the PNV was steep...but certainly not after this trip and the fact that he had to wait all day, or return just in time, to take us back to Ruhengeri after the trek. SO....the trek. The previous night we were told the gorillas were only 20 minutes from the wall...well they kept moving and uncharacteristically were about 2 hours from the wall when we reached it (that's quite close for them, but also unusual that they would move that far in only a couple of hours). It took us about 2-3 hours to reach the wall through windy, steep but not difficult, farmland. The hardest part for me was the altitude, having reached Kigali only the day before. Our guide gave me some eucalyptus leaves to smell which definitely cleared my lungs...I didn't even have to use my inhaler. We finally reached the wall around 11:30. We got a briefing on how to behave around the gorillas, although half the people weren't listening and our guide didn't seem to care. We also had 3 armed soldiers with us, on my next trek we only had 1. They tell you it's because of the Cape Buffalo, and it might be, but 3 soldiers in an area known to be frequented by interhamwe? I was suspicious. But felt safe, actually Rwanda felt safer than NYC. Anyway, I did not have waterproof pants and instead was wearing my convertible pants as they seemed more water resistent. I had hiking boots, thank god...don't try trekking gorillas in sneakers even if they are close! I'm also very pleased that I had gardening gloves. After the wall we trekked for 2 hours through stinging nettles and other forestry. Not as much bamboo in this part of the forest. FINALLY--several stings later, we reached the Susa group. I was so excited as I spotted my first gorilla in a distance hanging for a tree (clearly one of the black back guards). For those of you who don't know, the Susa family is the largest habituated group of gorillas, with 38 members--including baby twins who were recently named by President Kagame and the First lady. So anyway, our guide really started to usher us down to see the gorillas. Most people were standing around viewing the gorillas that were near us, but he kept wanting us to come down and move move move! As I walked down I saw a juvenile moving away in front of me. Our guide told me to follow him as the black back was about to charge! I immediately thought, why should I follow you then! You're walking into the line of fire! The black back is going to charge after the baby!!! And sure enough! After a slight scary beginning, we all are herded in (really that's how the whole experience felt, like herded cattle) to an area in front of a tree. We are not far from the gorillas, definitely not 7 meters. Under this tree are lots of mamas, juveniles, babies and a couple of black backs (including my friend the charger). I got to see poppy, the dominant female who knew Dian Fossey, with her new baby...but she quickly hussled off. Then, the frightening happened. Being that we had just waltzed into their territory, with what I feel was little respect on the part of our guide, the black back comes running out from the tree and swipes our guide! Needless to say I am freaking out, as I'm next to the guide, and I back up...into a bush of stinging nettles. OW!!! For 15 minutes my whole back side and legs are on fire. I'm also now terrified of these peaceable creatures and I have NO faith in my guide. I proceed to hide for most of the hour. At the end we finally got to just sit with them, something I had wanted to do all along, instead of being herded around like cattle to see different gorillas. I got to see one of the twins, and the silverback just relaxing. We also saw gorillas doing it...although I have to say that the male was pretty lazy!!! At the end, I again walked through a patch of stinging nettles and this time I could barely stand up. My boyfriend and our guide started pulling white goo out of these leaves that give relief and wiping them on my legs...thank god for that. Then boyfriend gave me his waterproof pants...and I felt much better as they protected me from the nettles. The way down was hard and we finally got back to Ruhengeri at 6:30pm. It was an exhausting day and my first experience with the gorillas was not what I was hoping/expecting it to be. I was proud that I'd seen the Susa family, but I didn't feel that it was $400 well spent. I was starting to question whether I wanted to go the 2nd time...whether it was worth the money. We got back to Ruhengeri and had missed our bus to Gisenyi. Now what! We could stay at the Murahabura for another night, but they only had $40 rooms and I just didn't want to be in Ruhengeri any longer. So we decided to just take a cab to Gisenyi. This was probably the dumbest move of the trip. WARNING: DO NOT DRIVE IN RWANDA AT NIGHT. While we made it to Gisenyi in one piece, I realized after we departed what a dumb move we made. So many things could have gone wrong...the most likely being a puncture to the tire of our taxi...which didn't have a spare. Also so many vehicles don't have lights. Glad we got to Gisenyi ok, but wouldn't do that again. Next up...Gisenyi and Goma.

Lucia78

Oh one thing I forgot. We're trekking in the middle of the Virunga mountain, we're past the wall at this point, and the French man in front of me's cell phone starts to ring! He gets reception in the Virunga mountains and I can't get reception in my office in DC! Well anyway, he answers his phone and proceeds to have a conversation as we hike along. I felt like I was in a very bad commercial.

waynehazle

Well Lucy, I am a little sad. Yours is the first report I have ever read that didn't seem totally enthralled with the gorillas and feel that the trek was worth every bit of the money. But it does sound a bit more like your guide's fault than anything else.

<Body Odor quotes>

Yeah, sometiems you just can't be politically correct about it. I definetly found issues with that throughout my trip.

<what cannot be described as a road, but instead a conglomeration of bolders! >
Good description.

You had a REALLY long day if it took you 2 or 3 hours to reach the wall and THEN the gorillas were another 2 hours away from there.

<on the eucalyptus>
I could have really used that on my first trek!

<actually Rwanda felt safer than NYC. > MUCH agreed. Certainly safer than Los Angeles.

The guide probably learned a good lesson after this. You always watch the blackback. OUCH with those stinging nettles. I guess I really got lucky with two easy treks.

I don't think I would EVER catch a cab in a developing nation at night. We drove into the Nyungwe Forest at night, in a good vehicle & seeing no other cars and it was still scary.

Looking forward to your impression of Gisenyi.

Lucia78

Don't worry Wayne, my 2nd trek was an entirely different experience! Although I too was very bummed as I hadn't heard of anyone having a bad time seeing the gorillas.

On the body odor piece, while there are definitely different standards...this man was a cut above! Our gorilla tracker, who joined us in our car actually remarked on it too! Another funny story with regard to body odor was my boyfriend's guide at Nyungwe. Apparently he was quite smelly too and at the end of the trek, my boyfriend gave him a tip to which the guide asked him, do you happen to have any soap too?

kimburu

What a strange experience. Anyway, it's interesting stuff and some good tips for how NOT to travel in Rwanda. How did you get a taxi by the way? Seems incongruous somehow.

Lucia78

The hotel manager at the Murahabura called one for us...he was a very nice man who gave us a beautiful room the 2nd time we stayed there (that actually cost more than he charged us). I would definitely recommend the hotel as an alternative to Gorillas Nest, since it seems to be quite cold there and a little pricey for my liking. Although I did hear from another couple travelling with Volcanoes Safari that the Virunga Lodge was absolutely fabulous! If I return, I may splurge and stay there, if only for the view. I wouldn't worry about the hour drive to the PNV, it basically takes an hour to get there from anywhere else anyway...unless you stay at Kinigi Guest House or Gorillas Nest.

Patty

Sorry to hear you were disappointed with your first trek. It sounds like this was mostly due to your guide, is that correct?

Lucia78

Patty, at the time I thought it was just that maybe I wasn't too taken with the gorillas...that it wasn't such a big deal to me as it was to my boyfriend. It wasn't until my second trek that a realized what a difference the guide makes...can't wait to tell you all about that.