Le Pays des Mille Collines

Rwanda is beautiful.  It's hilly (hence the title in French of land of a thousand hills). It's green. And the people are very kind.  Rwanda has a nice set of roads, clean streets, and the most beautiful hole-free sidewalks you've ever seen.  We went to the East to Gisenyi and the Capital of Kigali, a little I know, but it left such a good impression as a country to relax after many long African roads.  With the history of the genocide behind it, Kigali feels more like a western city than it's African counterparts and Eva was even able to find all the food her heart desired.

The last Ugandan rolex (a fried egg with onions wrapped in a fresh made chapati) at the border.

The shores of Lake Kivu in Gisenyi.

A happy Austrian.

The Genocide Memorial with a view of the Kigali skyline.

Le Parc National des Virungas: Nyiragongo Volcano and Goma

The rest of our time in the Congo we spent doing prep work in Goma or Climbing the active volcano Nyiragongo.  In 2002 Nyiragongo sent a lava flow through down town Goma.  Now you can climb up to the crater edge and stare down into the bubbling pool of red and black.  It is a 1500 meter climb and a sweaty one at that.  Both Eva and I got beaten a bit by the mountain, but who actually needs knees?

On of these crazy cart things all the people use to care items in Goma.  They push them up the hills and ride them down.  They even have a statue to it in the central roundabout.

So far, the best beer in Africa comes from Beni, DRC.

900 meters down, 600 to go.

Sweaty, but on top.

Home Sweet Home.

Mythic as hell.

Le Parc National des Virungas: Gorillas

From Uganda we made a short trip from Kisoro to Rwanda and further to the border town of Gisenyi on the shores of Lake Kivu. We crossed from Gisenyi to Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. The eastern DRC has been largely effected for the last 20 years by rebel groups. Africa's oldest park, Le Parc National des Virungas, has been terribly damaged, trespassed into, and beaten by the insurrections. Yet, the park has fought and survived. As well as the park rangers, the fragile Mountain Gorilla population has fought back from the brink of extinction. Virunga has several gorilla families that are habituated to be visited by tourists, and it is this tourism industry that keeps the gorillas protected by creating a valuable source of revenue for the park and the communities surrounding the park. We met the Lulenga family starting our trek from the Bikenge Patrol Station after a crazy ride down bumpy roads.

The Silver Back of the family.

Eva having a coffee after a tough trekking day.

The Batwa Community

After the Rwenzoris and before we crossed over to Rwanda we stopped in the tri-border town of Kisoro.  A cold wind blows through Kisoro from the neighboring volcanoes.  Many tourists come to visit the gorillas, but we came to see one of the unfortunate ugly side-effects of the conservation.  The Batwa (derogatorily called pygmies) are a small community of indigenous people who traditionally lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the forests of Central Africa.  When in 1991 Uganda made several of their traditional homelands national parks, the Batwa became landless.  Completely removed from their means of living, life as a Matwa is a hard one.  The community suffers from the whole range of social injustices that make survival a daily struggle.  Even small things like finding water or using the toilet are almost impossible.

The tourism problem of visiting a marginalized community are well documented and I suggest before anyone embarks on visiting or paying to visit a community of underprivileged people that they do some research.  We went with the NGO United Organization for Batwa Development in Uganda a group you can read more about here: http://www.idealist.org/view/nonprofit/324DKDZZxH9h4/

When we arrived in the community the size of a fourth of a city block with 200+ people living inside we learned about their struggles: water, permanent housing, landlessness, hunger, HIV/AIDS, lack of education, lack of access to health services, lack of employment, no political representation, and prejudice from the local community.  After talking to the people we joined them in some singing and dancing.  Eva and I were both taken aback from the power of the community's voice and we felt privileged that they shared it with us.