On Monday, February 27th I opened my eyes to a new day feeling fresh, thanks to a deep restful sleep after a wet day. Breakfast here is a variation of eggs (either omelet or boiled or scrambled eggs, provided that you successfully get the message through), two slices of toast and butter. If you are lucky that day you get a little container of jam that has the consistency of jelly. Doesn't matter what kind of jam it is (orange, apricot, etc.) They all taste the same; only the color changes. I guess it is just something sweet for your taste buds. You also get to pick coffee or tea with your breakfast. But don't forget to ask for "black" tea otherwise they will put milk in it. Of course this is the kind of breakfast you get in what I call the "upper class" hotels based on my standards; that is, hotels where breakfast is included… In my "middle" and "lower class" hotels there is no suck luxury as breakfast. You are left to your own devices. The open buffet style breakfasts with amazing variety of food that Buket, Alican and I have enjoyed in our holiday is a thing of the past now. There is a budget to maintain…

That morning I wanted to add variety to my breakfast, as I do from time to time, and added export quality olives and gruyere cheese which I had in my fridge since Turkey. My scrumptious breakfast was followed by a minor repair and a general "visual check-up" of the car. For the last few days I have been hearing a rattling sound coming from the roof rack. On the way back from the gorilla watching the rattling sound became unbearable. It wasn't hard to guess what the problem was, especially since it happened before. The front left one of the 10 mountain brackets connecting the rack to the edges of the roof was broken; I think it happened in Kenya on the Maasai Mara roads. Alican and I took it apart in Kisumu and replaced the broken one with one of the brackets at the back that did not have much of a use. The broken bracket was sitting at the back waiting to be fixed, but I have forgotten about it until now. I found out that the bracket we screwed on at the front was broken the same way. I was annoyed that it happened again so I checked all the brackets. I am glad I did; the first two brackets at the front on the right side had cracks on them. I took them all off and tried to distribute the remaining 4 brackets evenly on the roof with the intention of getting the broken brackets fixed then putting them all back on the roof. And the operation commenced. And as soon as it did, so did the rain. To be able to do this repair I need to take out the tool box and that means I have to take out a lot of the stuff out to get to it. When the rain started I had to load them all back in the car and waited for the rain to subside. Not a chance, instead it got stronger. After about a 1.5 hour wait the weather took pity on me so I got the bracket substituting done. And this time I am not going to put the tool box back because I will need them again when the broken brackets are fixed… I checked the oil; separated the water out of the diesel fuel, checked under the car… In the meantime I noticed an increase in the oil sweating on the front differential and this didn't make me happy. But there is nothing I can do at the moment. I know there isn't a serious oil leakage but I will have to check the oil level and add more if necessary.

I said goodbye to the people at the guesthouse; picked up the clean but still wet clothes and shoes from the laundry and headed down to Ruhengeri. I am not pushing the car much so it wouldn't be shaken too much. After all it is missing four of its ten brackets. The load is not that heavy (two spare tires, total of 84 kg) but the dynamic load shock created by the bouncing up and down might break the brackets. I found an internet café in Ruhengeri and checked my messages for the first time in days. Then I went to a welder and we worked as a team to weld all the brackets. By the time they were mounted back on the roof it was already 2pm. My next destination is Lake Kivu.

Lake Kivu
Besides being Rwanda's largest lake, Lake Kivu forms part of the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. My GPS shows its height of 1,470 meters above the sea level. Lake Kivu is stuck among the altitudes of the Great Rift Valley I have been driving through since entering it in Naivasha, Kenya. I drive up the winding roads of the extensions of the Virunga Mountains and then down towards Kivu to reach my first stop on the banks of the lake: Gisenyi. The scenery around me is absolutely amazing. Everywhere is green. Since I have entered Rwanda I have barely seen the color of the soil due to the dense vegetation. The mist and haze formed by the humidity makes the scenery even more enchanting.



On the Ruhengeri-Gisenyi road

It takes about 1.5 hours to drive from Ruhengeri to Gisenyi, on smooth asphalt paved but winding road. Gisenyi is located on the shores of the northern most tip of the Lake Kivu. The colonial style houses and roads along the shore among the palm trees form a sharp contrast to the dirt roads and the jerry built, flimsy structures on the upper parts of the city. With its wide beach and its refreshing climate at the altitude of 1,500m, it is the perfect place to have a bit of peace and quiet. I move slowly along the lakeside strip stopping at each possible accommodation choices to find the best one for me. Whilst finding the price of one too high, toilet facilities at another not acceptable and the scenery of a third one not nice enough, I come across a barrier. To my surprise I realize I found one end of Rwanda; 50 meters further down the road is (the Democratic Republic of) Congo. The soldier standing guard at the barrier looks at me as if to say "Ok, will you cross or not?". I turned the car around. In the meantime a convoy of white cars with UN written on them in huge letters enters Rwanda from the Congo side.

The hotel I am staying at is called Palm Beach. Sounds glamorous? It is anything but... Dinner choice is fish at the Paradise Restaurant, a highly recommended lakeside restaurant, 6 km south of the city. Dinner menu includes char grilled tilapia. I don't know if there is a Turkish name for tilapia fish. If there is one, excuse my culinary ignorance. I think it is a type of fresh water fish unique to this region and it is different from all other fresh water fish (at least the ones I know). It is delicious and has a few big bones, so easier to eat. Meanwhile, let me tell you a little about Rwanda's largest brewery, the Bralirwa Brewery located near the Paradise Restaurant. Besides the very popular local beers Primus and Mützig, Guinness is also brewed here. Since we are talking about beer let me go into a little detail. I've got the keyboard after all.

Well, beer is quite popular around here. Beer is the locals' favorite drink. When I say locals I mean people from Kenya all the way down south. In fact this was a bit the case in Ethiopia as well, but I think it's somewhat different there. Colonialist countries are not to blame for this. Beer has been brewed here since long before the colonialist countries arrived here, but it was made from bananas not barley. There are bananas everywhere so obviously that had to be the choice of ingredient. I read about the banana beer brewing process but to tell you the truth I didn't quite get it. It goes through very complicated processes before it becomes drinkable. I would try to explain but I am sure I will get it wrong. One thing is for sure; it is different from the malt beer we know, both in terms of taste and the effect. I tasted once but I left it at that and didn't go further than a taste. It is obviously quite strong; people who drink it get drunk in short time. Beer is sold in yellow plastic jerry cans. They fill these popular yellow jerry cans with banana beer and then load them on to the bicycles. Each container takes 20 liters and they load the bicycles with three, sometimes four of those. No, you didn't hear me wrong, I said bicycles. Of course there is the matter of bicycles.

I was introduced to the bicycle transportation culture in Kisumu (Kenya) but after I saw the ways they use their bicycles here, the bicycle system in Kenya and Uganda has lost its significance. In Rwanda they transport goods on their bicycles as well as people. Like a pickup truck. And the transportation of people is not limited to travel within the city. Intercity transport services are available. From village to village, from village to city and back, people travel on the bicycle-taxis. And sometimes they take it two passengers at the back. Let me tell you about the transportation of the goods: You need to take to the market and sell your home brew, or bunches of bananas or potatoes harvested from your garden. No need to worry. Call the "transporter", load the stuff on his saddle seat and he will take it to wherever you want. I calculate the average load to be roughly about 100kg. In some cases it seems to be even heavier, probably about 120-140 kilos. Generally I came across 3 - 4 yellow plastic containers on one bike, or three sacks of potatoes (120kgs in total, if each sack weighs about 40kg); I also witnessed them carry three huge bunches of bananas on one bicycle. Other than that I saw them transport tables, drawers, nightstand, doors, timber, etc. It wasn't possible to capture them all when I have come across them on the roads as I drove along. It's just that I can't drive and take photos at the same time; one of the setbacks of traveling alone. It is not possible to stop and take their photos either because they don't want you to. The only "transporter bicycle" photo I could take is the one below.


Bicycle - pickup truck

As you can see in the photo, they are going up the hill so sweat is pouring out of them. Each bicycle has three sacks of potatoes loaded on them. Soon they will reach the top of the hill and from there they will cool down with the wind as they glide down the hill. Did I say glide? They probably do about 60 - 70 km down the winding road with the load on their back. They were taking over my car, definitely gambling with their lives. You would be amazed to see how they lean their bicycles with that load while taking a bend. Generally unlikely but if another car coming from the opposite direction takes over a vehicle illegaly it would be the end of these guys. I don't know how their breaks manage to slow down the bicycle with that much weight on it.

The bicycles are Phoenix brand made in China, with mechanical pull-road brakes and no gear mechanisms. These men ride up the hills on these one-speed bicycles, like they are riding on flat trail (with no load of course). Supermen of Rwanda!

I bid farewell to Gisenyi after breakfast the next day. Next stop is at Kibuye. Kibuye is a small town just like Gisenyi, built along the shores of Lake Kivu. On the map you can see a dirt road that goes from Gisenyi to Kibuye, sometimes along Lake Kivu and sometimes inland. I get on the dirt road. It is a little rough and stony, sometimes meeting the shore and sometimes looking over the lake from a hill. It ran mostly away from the lake and as it got further away from the lake it became rougher. At one point I began to doubt that I was on the right route. I asked a few people on the road in Tanzanian if I was going in the right direction, the reply was affirmative. We couldn't agree on the quality of the road. After a while the road nearly disappeared.


If I could find a way I was going to go to Kibuye on a road surrounded by beauties as this one

I have completed about 15km and still have another 71km. I go back to Ruhengeri to get on the asphalt road. Instead of a 86km route I drive 210km through an amazingly green landscape and arrived in Kibuye in the afternoon. Kibuye is situated in an area where the waters of Lake Kivu flow into the land like lacework, creating many coves, little and big.


Approaching Kibuye.

This time I am staying at a hotel right behind the fishermen's shelter in Kibuye and it has beautiful scenery. Actually the Béthanie Guesthouse (church guesthouse) across from this cove has a better location but I decided not to stay there since it had a bit too much religious content. Hotel terrace is the place of choice for dinner. Tonight's plan is to go to bed after working some on my updates.


Kibuye cove from the balcony in front of my room

There was a special reason for why I wanted to see these two charming towns on Lake Kivu. I will explain this reason when I write about the genocide.

To date a couple of attempts have been made to see this creature called chimpanzee, if you remember. Both of these attempts were made in Uganda; first at the Murchisson Falls National Park and the second at Queen Elizabeth National Park. After the second attempt which resulted in utter failure, I went to the Wildlife Education Center in Entebbe and observed these chimpanzees for an extended period of time and took many different shots. However, all these photos disappeared like the rest. I want to see a real rain forest and lots of chimpanzees (or so the book says, the forest was swarming with chimpanzees) so I will go to the Nyungwe Forests located in the south-west of Rwanda where Lake Kivu ends and the land borderline with the (Democratic Republic of) Congo begins. I am using the main road again. This asphalt paved road is the main road connection Rwanda to Brundi. According to the map if I turn left at a town called Kayanza just before the border I will reach Nyungwe Forests. I am passing through the university town of Rwanda: Butare. Based on my calculations I should soon see Kayanza but before I could a barrier appears in front of me. My guess is that it is a police barrier but I haven't come across a police barrier like this one before in Rwanda. I get out of the car and walk up to the police sitting across the road. I ask them what this barrier is for and the answer I get is "They usually put barriers up on the roads leading into another country". "Ok, but what about Kayanza?" "That's in Burundi." How? When did it leave? Why didn't it wait for me? I take another look at the map. The border line on Michelin is a little jumbled; you can't really make out if Kayanza is within the borders of Rwanda or Burundi. Anyways, I am sure what the police said would be right, they should know better than I do. How small is this country though? I accidentally "hit" the border twice.

I go back to Butare and get back on the road to Nyungwe from there. So as to avoid another mistake, this time I decide to ask for directions in Butare. Butare is a modern place, maybe because it is a university town. I find a supermarket; both replenish my supplies and find out how to get to Nyungwe. I need to turn left when exiting the city. There I will ask again to make sure. But another torrential rain begins to fall before I get "there". Windshield wipers are too slow to cope with the heavy rain and I turn into a road which I assumed was the Nyungwe road. I stop at the petrol station at the intersection to ask and I got drenched during the short time I was out of the car. At least now I know I am going in the right direction. If it rains like this tomorrow, it will get a little rough in the forest.


Nyungwe Forests National Park
Nyungwe Forests is a real rain forest. These forests expand towards Congo and cover Middle Africa to the west forming the green landscape of Africa. It is getting dark; the sun is slowly setting in the horizon and the clouds are thick and low... I want to reach the guesthouse next to the Nyungwe Forests National Park boundary before it gets too dark. According to my GPS shortly I should pass the ORTPN meeting point and then drive another 20km to reach ORTPN guesthouse.


Day slowly turns into night at the Nyungwe Forests.

The meeting point is right where I expected it to be. Per chance, there are two park officials there. I tell them that I want to see the chimpanzees tomorrow morning, if it would be convenient for them. They tell me that I should be at the meeting point at 06:30 in the morning and remember to bring my USD70.00. 21km later I enter the guesthouse grounds. If you want to see chimpanzees at the Nyungwe Forests you will have to stay either in this guesthouse or in a hotel in Cyangugu, situated in south east of Rwanda on the shores of Lake Kivu… Cyangugu (pronounced as Changougou) is about 70 km away from the meeting point which means if you stay there you have to get up at least 1.5 hours earlier than you normally would. You can drive up to about 35 kmph on these roads. That is, someone staying in the guesthouse should leave at 5:30 latest to make it to the meeting point by 06:30 provided that they eat their breakfast and get ready quickly. Another staying in Cyangugu will need to get up at 4:00 for that. My guidebook lists the room rate as USD20.00 per night per person in the guesthouse, in a chalet with a bathroom and toilet and including breakfast. The same book has given the room rate for the only hotel it listed in Cyangugu (Hotel du Lac Kivu) as USD10.00 per person including breakfast. I chose the guesthouse, although it was a bit more costly than the hotel in Cyangugu… Of course it didn't all go according to plans; I found out that the guesthouse did not belong to ORTPN anymore and that it wasn't the "guesthouse anymore" it was the "lodge". The place was privatized and improved a year ago. Result: Single person 25,000 Rwandan Francs; that is USD50.00. It doesn't even include breakfast. It's not in a chalet because they are full at the moment. The rooms that are available are a series of rooms adjacent to each other, and shower - toilet outside. "You have done the privatization alright. How about improvements to the place?" I said. Of course they didn't understand. So I explain that tourism business shouldn't be run like this; I come here trusting the information in a guide book that is only one year old and now I am sorely disappointed; that if they keep it up no one will want to come to stay here; that they are hurting not only their own business but Rwandan tourism and subsequently, Rwandan economy. I let them know that I would be writing a letter of complaint to the Ministry of Tourism, and that their practice is disgraceful. At the end of the long speech I gave them (yep, I like to give speeches; it's the nature of the beast), the manager lady arrived and they briefed her about the situation. In return for my moving speech she offered me a discount I couldn't resist: 20,000 Francs (about USD40.00) including breakfast. Exhausted, driving another 1.5 hours in the rain forests at eight in the evening, and then waking up 1.5 hours earlier wasn't that appealing to me, to tell you the truth. For a split second I thought of bluffing, "I will pay no more than what is quoted in the book, otherwise I will leave". What if they don't buy it? People here aren't used to bargaining so after I bluff I would either eat my words and "fine, I accept your offer" or keep my word and get back on the road in the dark. I thanked the manager lady for her "generosity" and let her know I still wasn't happy about the situation. Dinner is multiple-choice fixed menu but the food was indeed scrumptious. I ordered breakfast for 05:40, which is something they are used to at the hotel since everyone orders it around that time. Then I took a hot shower in the freezing cold common bathroom and went to bed early.

It wasn't much of a pain to get up in the morning; after enjoying an uninterrupted sleep during a cool night I woke up fresh and full of energy. Quickly I packed and got ready; within 10 minutes I was at the breakfast table (I wish Buket was here to witness this). My breakfast was ready in front of me at 05:40 sharp. A quick devouring of the breakfast saw me get on the road at 05:50. When I saw the forest buried in the fog I couldn't help myself; pulled over and took a few shots.



... And the day was slowly breaking over Nyungwe covered by the fog

I was at the meeting point at exactly 06:30. Besides the young couple who were also staying at the lodge, there was another group of 3 people - one female. They have camped at the meeting point the previous night. We are a total of 6. We parted with our cash, went through the briefing process and got in cars to drive to the starting point. Trackers are ahead of us, communicating to the guides the whereabouts of the chimpanzees. Somewhere along the winding roads the guide told us to stop and said "We will start from here". Uhm, there is no entry point to this forest here, are you sure this is the place? Should we ask one more time to confirm? We get out of the cars. I took my camera bag and raincoat. I took of my sweatshirt and only had my t-shirt on despite the cool air (let's call it previous experience). Yes, I am shivering at the start but in a little while I will be fine. Off we go into the forest holding sticks in our hands given by our guide. I am holding the stick in front of me diagonally with both hands to spread the vines and branches and make way. Otherwise it is impossible to walk. There are vines on the ground and every few steps you trip over them. The vegetation is so dense you almost can't see your step. Well, when you look down to see your step you hit your head on a branch, and when you look ahead you trip over something... We walked on uphill for a little while first on a slight slope and then a steeper one (about 50 - 55°) but this time downhill. You know what that means: climbing up on the way back. When you somehow manage to avoid tripping over the vines you step on them and this time slip as they are wet. We have walked down the slope for about 30 - 45 minutes when I thought to myself "well done Ali, this time you will survive this without falling over". Just as I was thinking that my left foot got stuck under a vine and I stumbled. I tried to find my footing with my right foot on solid ground but it also got stuck under another vine (maybe the extension of the same cruel vine) and without a chance to open my wings I began to fly. My camera bag on my back, my walking stick in my hand I did a summersault in the air and landed shoulders-first into the ground, followed by a second flip and I found myself on the bush in knock-out position… Guides and soldiers ran to help. When I lifted my head up and looked I saw that I was lying on the ground about 10 meters away from the rest of the group. It seemed to me that I have lost some serious altitude. The only thing I remember from the fall is me trying to hold on to my glasses. Losing my glasses would be the end of me. I have a spare pair in the car but would have to get there first… Anyway, I survived through the incident with a few bumps and bruises. My extremities are intact, my back or chest is not in pain or anything. Carry on!

About half an hour later they said "Ok, we are here." All good, but where are the chimpanzees? They pointed to a tree in the distance and said "There!" I focused my eyes trying to see it but it is too far and the branches are in the way. To help us spot the chimpanzee, they pointed to the chimpanzee nest on the tree; yes, there is something there in the shape of a nest I guess. I need to tell you at this point that every night the chimpanzees make a new nest - like the bird nest, only much bigger so that it would accommodate a chimpanzee or two - on a different tree. Each nest sleeps one or two chimps in it. Apparently the reason why they relocate every night is to confuse the enemy. I asked who their enemy was and I was told it was the pygmies. They hunt and eat the chimps. Why don't they eat animals a little closer to both their height and to the ground? So we all walked closer to that tree and vaguely saw a chimpanzee through camera lenses and binoculars - something I didn't have. It was sitting on a branch picking and munching on little fruits. Later I caught a movement in the nest; there was another one there. We spent an hour watching these one and a half chimpanzees, one only showing an arm or leg every now and then, the other feeding itself.





These are the best photos I could take (enlarged as well) with my 200mm+2x teleconvertor (that is 400mm, conventional equivalent is 600m) from a distance.

Then they ran out of food and simply climbed down and disappeared into the forest. And we stood there looking at each other in disbelief. "Come on" said the guide, "Let's head back". What, was that it? Well, yes it was. Apparently this is how the chimpanzees show themselves here. What about all the stuff written in the book? I will have to blame Janice Booth, co-writer of the book, for this mistake. The other writer Phillip Briggs doesn't make such mistakes as far as I could determine. I miss all those chimpanzees at the Murchisson Falls in Uganda, and I all the photos that got lost.

On the way back we started to climb back up in disappointment. Especially the American guy from the group of three who spent the night camping at the meeting point is continuously complaining; saying that this wasn't what was promised, and that they were told they would see lots more chimpanzees. By the way, a little earlier the American guy and I were chatting as we stood under the tree looking up at the chimpanzee. I told him that it was possible to see more chimpanzees, from a closer distance at locations that were closer and easier to get to at the Murcisson Falls in Uganda. And it was much cheaper than this (about USD8.00) Then the conversation led to the question of "where from and where to?" I told my story briefly; I was going from Istanbul to Cape Town in my car. The girl from the group of three broke into the conversation, " Are you Ali?" I turned around; frankly, I didn't think I was this famous. J "Yes" I replied "Would you like my autographed photo?" "I am Beck" she said, "Chris's friend". Well, holy cow. Is Africa that small? I knew she was around somewhere in Africa but I never thought I'd meet her here at the Nyungwe Forests. "Chris talked about you a lot; you and your car". "Ehem, why thank you. I like him too, he is a good guy." Our conversation started something like this and continued on the way back also.

We said our goodbyes at the meeting point. My destination is Kigali, the capital city. I will stay there for three days before crossing over to Tanzania; work on the updates and rest some.
Since any further delay means complaints I will stop here and send this update. I will talk about Kigali and the genocide in the next one.

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