I guess when one thinks about Rwanda, the first thing that comes to mind is that in 1994, it was the site of one of the major genocides perpetrated in modern history. It turns out that the Rwandans have not forgotten about this either – there are a serious number of memorials. That said, Rwanda is an incredibly beautiful little country that is very easy to be in, even if it is not the most vibrant place we have visited.
On arrival, we went to Gisenyi on Lake Kivu, which is across the border from the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both Thomas and I are itching to go to the DRC, but given the time and money limitations at this stage in our trip and the fact that they probably would not have given us visas at the moment anyway, we had to content ourselves with being relatively close in Kisoro and Gisenyi (I will note that subsequently we hitched a ride with a Congolese guy coming for a meeting in Kigali who informed us that he is a leader, that he is very rich and important and that he could probably assist us in getting visas – only in Africa). Gisenyi was not much to write home about, but we caught a bus south towards Kibuye (also on Lake Kivu) and while the bus was reminiscent of buses in Ethiopia (read: slow, overcrowded and smelly), the drive was one of the most spectacular that we have had on this trip. Basically a bad road stretches from Gisenyi south to Kibuye and follows the hills that border Lake Kivu through stunning farmland. Kibuye was also quite beautiful with lovely inlets from the lake and huge hills dropping directly to the water.
We visited Kigali, which was very different from the other African cities we have been to. First, Kigali is a very little city. It is also a very clean city. It has the most expats we have encountered anywhere and (I assume as a result) the most foreign cuisine and good restaurants we have encountered as well. It is also incredibly safe. On the other hand, there are a lot of guys with guns about the place, people sweeping the streets constantly and roving military patrols. It definitely gives one the impression that the government is a touch jumpy and anyone saying something contrary to the party line may well quietly disappear. We stayed at a friend’s place, so had a pretty damned pleasant time. The main thing to do in Kigali (other than eat a bunch of international food) is (sadly) to visit the various genocide memorials around the town. We went to the Kigali Genocide Memorial, which included a very well presented museum, and to a couple of memorials outside the city centre. The memorials outside of the city were pretty harrowing as they were basically the churches which Tutsis had fled to during the massacres and where they were eventually trapped by the Interahamwe and killed in large numbers (in one we went to about 10,000 people were killed). The clothing of the victims has been left on the pews, the bullet holes and machete scars remain in the walls and the bones are displayed in various crypts with a “lest we forget” attitude. Overall, because pretty much the whole population of the country was involved in the genocide as either a perpetrator or a victim, the perpetrators have gone largely unpunished. While there is obviously a reason for this (i.e., not to continue the cycle of resentment and, on a practical level, it is just not possible to imprison or put to trial about 4 million people out of a population of 7 million), it just seems plainly unfair.
We also checked out Butare in the south, which is the so-called intellectual capital of Rwanda, and has a pretty good National Ethnographical Museum. Probably not that exciting for most people, but having gone to a number of East African museums now, I can say assuredly that this is easily the best we have encountered. It is pretty much the only museum which gives any impression that there was a culture around pre-European arrival that involved anything more than sitting around in grass huts (although one knows this to be the case, it is much more interesting to get some information about that culture than simply seeing some baskets and being told that there were “traditional beliefs”).
From Butare we also went out to Nyungwe National Park, which is stunning, but horribly overpriced. As a result, we spent some time hitching around the park and avoiding the park wardens. All of this was pretty successful as we got to hike without paying the fees – although, this did involve me spending a morning hiking and carrying all my luggage at the same time. Not the first time I guess, and certainly not the last.
Rwanda was also the highpoint of what I will now be calling the “Thomas looks like Jesus” phenomenon in East Africa. This has included one woman in the post office insisting that she must have her picture taken with him (and arguing when he did not pose exactly how she wanted him to) and another instructing him on how Jesus blessed people, and then proceeding to insist that he blessed her. I must admit, I quite enjoy standing back and watching the broken English conversations between Thomas and his would-be admirers getting increasingly awkward.
A couple of final notes on Rwanda. Rwandans LOVE a good buffet. They are everywhere and generally include an impressive variety of starches, salads, a variety of beans, some sort of cabbage or spinach thing and a tiny piece of meat. While Rwandans are not particularly massive people, when at a buffet they manage to pile their plates with an amount of food that takes a fair amount of skill and possibly a degree in physics to achieve. Picture below of our attempts at this, but suffice to say, that while these plates look large, the Rwandans put us to shame. Oh, and finally, people in Rwanda smell too. Not as much as in Uganda or Ethiopia, but since it seems that I have been reporting on the general smells of the various countries we have visited, I thought this post would be incomplete without mentioning this sensory experience.
We really ended up going to Burundi because we have a friend that is currently working for the British Council in Bujumbura (or Buj) training the Burundian chief of staff of the military to speak English. It is a bit of a small place and getting visas is expensive, so we opted for a transit visa for three days (with the intention of sorting an extension once in the country) and headed straight to the capital – Buj. Burundi is a pretty interesting contrast to Rwanda. Where Rwanda had its genocide about 20 years ago, and has been rebuilding since then, Burundi has a similar history (the ethnic make-up is effectively Hutu, Tutsi and Twa pygmies), but was subject to civil war until 2004. Ten years seems to have made a massive difference. Burundi is one of the poorest countries we have been in, however, due to the large amounts of aid workers, it has a sizeable expat community and some very, very nice places to hang out. The Belgian influence in the place also went some way to establish good fries and pastries. Bujumbura’s location on Lake Tanganyika is spectacular and while on one hand Burundi evokes thoughts of darkest Africa, the expat scene at Club Bora Bora on the lakefront on a Sunday afternoon, certainly does not.
We wanted to see a bit of Burundi at least before heading out of the country and got our visas extended for another five days with the help of a friend of a friend (felt very clever having contacts and not having to sit in an office all day). Our extra days were spent on a trip to Gitega and Muyinga on the way out of the country by way of Kobero. Gitega was the once capital of Burundi and (apparently) at one stage it was considered the “Paris of Africa”. Not so any more. However, there is a lot of strange Bauhaus architecture and an incredibly small national museum. Generally the town was pretty nice and it was good to see another side of Burundi.
We hitched up to Muyinga and the drive was spectacular passing through valleys of rice paddies and along crests of mountainous areas.
Muyinga was pretty much just a small town, but we went for a wander in the villages in the area. The area was pretty and the people were nice. One guy decided to wander with us for our four hour walk, for no apparent reason. We were concerned he was a self-appointed guide and would want money at the end, however, shortly before arriving back in the town, he shook our hands, said goodbye and wandered off into a farm. Clearly it was enough to spend his afternoon wandering along with the muzungo and he did not have anything more productive to be doing (probably the women were doing that).
Side note: Eucalyptus. I am pretty sure that I have not mentioned this previously, but one weird thing that I have noted from Ethiopia southwards on our travels is the fact that Africa has been conquered by Eucalyptus. It is pretty strange to be wandering along in weird African areas and smell the scent that, for me, is uniquely Australian. I think they were first imported to Ethiopia when Addis Ababa was settled and there turned out not to be enough firewood to support the city. The king at the time brought in Eucalyptus as a fast growing tree that could then be cut down, and Addis Ababa prospered. Since then it seems to have conquered most of East Africa.
November 2013