Rwanda trip report
 

For those of you who enjoy reading travelogues please feel free to read mine on a trip to Rwanda. We visited Kigali, Nyanza, Nyungwe, Gisenyi and the volcanoes National Park and did three amazing treks to see Gorillas, Golden Monkeys and Chimpanzees.

http://www.colin-julie.com/rwanzibarindex.htm

After Rwanda we flew to the beaches of Zanzibar but I've not finished writing up that part yet!

As enjoyable as ever. Nice job!

Very detailed and interesting! Especially enjoyed the parts about your gorilla and golden monkey visits :-)

Fabulous trip report. You captured the spirit of Rwanda. I loved this country. Just came back from Tanzania, Rwanda and Zanzibar. We did 2 gorilla trks and asked for easiest. It was pouring rain and we trekked for 4 hours up slippery, dangerous trail and back 3 1/2 hrs. Unfortunately, we were too tired to go to the golden monkeys the next day. We went to lake kiva and an orphanage instead. Also, interesting. The 2nd trek although Much easier was not as gratifying as the first when we felt like Indiana Jones!!! Both amazing however!!!!
Thanks for an incredible report.

Loved your trip report - really, really great. I hope you finish the Zanzibar part - those pix make it look like it was a fabulous way to end your trip. I'm glad Julie got over her anxiety about the trip and had such a wonderful time. My husband is having similar misgivings about our upcoming trip to Uganda. I hope we have as successful a trip as you guys did so I can say 'see I told you it would be amazing!'

Thank you everyone for your kind replies :)

Leslie_S, I have no doubt that once you've visited Uganda and seen first hand the landscape, the people and the consuming beauty of Africa then your husband will want to return!!

I think you're right from all that I've read. It sounds like such a beautiful country. He generally is a foot-dragger with any trip and then loves it once we're there. Right after I booked there were some incidents that made the news - problems across the border in DRC and South Sudan and also the ebola outbreak near Kibale. But there is risk everywhere - people here are getting gunned down in movie theaters, etc. so you just have to try to maintain perspective!

Oh - I forgot to mention that I also enjoyed knowing of a fellow vegetarian traveling.... it's hit or miss to be sure, with some puzzlement and consternation thrown in :-) But in my trips to Tanzania and Botswana I generally had pretty good food!

Liked the Special K airline. You really got some great chimp shots. Not easy in Nyungwe. The story you recount of the would-be "hitchhiker" seems to happen often in Rwanda.

The chimps photos are my personal favourites! They weren't at all easy to capture!!

Rwanda amazed me on so many levels. It's a very special place.

"Rwanda amazed me on so many levels. It's a very special place."

There's the tagline for the Rwanda tourism website.

Your candid Kwitonda shots make me want to go back to "Meet the Kwitondas" again.

How nice you were entertained a couple of times by the Intore dancers and you really caught their expressions with your pictures.

The mist held out just long enough for you and even provided some "Gorillas in the Mist" photos.

You were very lucky with the good shots of those fast moving golden monkeys. Probably good karma from removing the spider in your room safely.

Wonderful report, Colin. I am also a card-carrying member of the Rwanda fan club. An irresistible country.

What a fantastic trip report! Loved the pictures, details and humor---so perfectly entertaining!

I'll be leaving tonight for Tanzania, then will end the journey with a few days and two gorilla treks in Rwanda. Needless to say, I'm getting pretty darn excited!

Must say, though, I'm a bit apprehensive about the physical demands of the trekking.........I'm pretty fit, but also a bit clumsy. Sounds like hiring a porter is the way to go for many reasons!

I'll be traveling alone for the Rwanda leg of the trip, so a bit apprehensive about that as well. Did you see many other females traveling solo?

Hi live_aloha!

My apologies, I've just read your message. You'll be in Tanzania now. How exciting!!

There were plenty of solo female travellers on the chimp trek and at the Volcanoes National Park HQ. I think Rwanda has quite a good reputation for safety so I wouldn't worry. The people were certainly charming. The males in general were inquisitive and slightly stand-offish but always courteous.

Our treks weren't too strenuous but we've all heard the stories of 8 hours of hard slog through dense vegetation. The steadying hand of a porter proved invaluable for Julie.

Have a fantastic trip. I look forward to hearing all about it on your return! :)

ttt ;)

The Zanzibar part is now completed. It's mostly just lounging on the beach but our trip out to Stone Town was fascinating and worth a look :)

Thanks for the review. I hear Rwanda is a beautiful country with nice people

What a great travelogue! I am really enjoying it. Thanks!

Thank you both!

Colin and Julie, what a great report on your Rwandan trip awhile back. Especially the photos. And I studied intently about your visit and pictures in the Genocide Memorial. You went with some hesitations but did have a wonderful trip. We've only been to Egypt and South Africa and nowhere else in between in this vast continent.

Yesterday I posted on Fodors Forum "Remembering Rwanda" as we observe the twentieth anniversary of the genocide. The night before on a PBS station was a viewing of a recent documentary about the efforts to bring reconciliation. In this our son Dr. Tim Longman is quoted as author of "Christianity and Genocide in Rwanda" published by Cambridge University Press. Available in paperback. The producer of the film (www.coexistdocumentary.org) does raise the question is reconciliaton possible or merely coexistence.

It happens that Tim Longman did his PhD research (African studies Univ. of Wisconsin) just before the genocide including teaching at Univ. of Butare. And then he returned later with Human Rights Watch Africa to document the killings. He is now director of African Studies Center at Boston University which is why we are in the Boston area presently instead of Missouri. He has also headed up State Dept. USAID teams in Republic of Congo and Burundi.

I thought I might post something on Fodors African Forum as well. By the way, Tim was with a group of BU students last summer teaching in Zanzibar. I will show him your posting and seek comments about the museum in Kigali.

P.S. Loved Kaye Nicholson's wildlife photos too.