In Kigali, we shared an apartment at the New Impala Hotel for three nights with Thomas from Belgium, until he had to leave again - his Africa adventure of 6 months was already coming to an end :( But we made the best out of the few days we had left together and went shopping for souvenirs, sightseeing in the city and enjoyed lots of amazing food, drinks, and of course the company. For the last night, we gathered some of the people we met along our travels who were also staying in Kigali, and we had an entertaining party night out with a big group - it was a lot of fun (minus the hangover the next day).
After Thomas had left, we moved into another hotel in a different part of the city to enjoy some more days of Kigali. Aimable, a Defender Lover we met in Kibuye at the lake because he saw us camping in the Defender, was also in Kigali and invited us to meet his friends. He introduced us to Patrick, a professional basketball player, Matthias, the owner of our favorite coffee place in Kigali, and some other friends. We had many fun nights out together. They showed us their favorite spots in the city, which was a great way to explore Kigali and get to know the Rwandese culture. When we told them about our continuous plans to drive to Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania, Aimable and Patrick decided to join us for a week. However, they had some work to finish first, so Tom and I decided to make another small tour through Rwanda in the meantime.
We drove north to the Twin Lakes and spent two nights on a nice campsite directly at the lake with a fantastic view. Then we headed again towards Lake Kivu, where Aimable runs a nice hotel, the Kivu Lodge. He had some groups of tourists there for the weekend, so he invited us to come and join him. We were allowed to camp in the parking and invited to a birthday party on Aimable’s houseboat on the lake. That’s how we met Syssie and Maurice, a couple from Kigali, some of their friends and Pitchou from DR Congo, and Manu, a Swiss guy from Zurich (small world once more!) who is in Rwanda often for business. We had such a great time on the boat; it was a big party! We were invited to join another group of guests at Kivu Lodge for dinner. They were also celebrating a birthday, five couples from Rwanda, and they welcomed us as if we were one of their longtime friends. Tom had to catch up on some sleep and went to bed early. At the same time, I stayed and learned about these lovely people's lives, many of whom lived abroad during the terrible time of the genocide, but now they all have come back to Rwanda and built up a life here - I was once more impressed by the people and how they have overcome and dealt with their past. When I told Tom the next day about the night, we promised to take an example of these people’s open minds and hearts; it’s sometimes overwhelming how welcoming they are!
After this fun weekend at Kivu Lodge, we drove back to Kibuye, where Aimable is renovating some bungalows directly at the lake. He invited us to stay there for free, and he took us out for dinners and even on a trip to an island with his houseboat, where he plans to build up a glamping campsite in the future. On the way back, we passed Napoleon Island, home to thousands of bats. One of the crew members went on the island to wake them up, and we had a spectacular view of all these bats circling the island and our boat! We enjoyed the days back at our lovely Lake Kivu, where we already fell in love the first time we were there. Aimable also showed us some beautiful places and a plot for sale, in case we would want to buy something here. But first, we’ll have to finish our trip and drive to South Africa, but building something in Rwanda could be an option for when our journey is over. In no other country we have met so many lovely people and places, and it truly felt like a home away from home. Tom and I have had many talks about the future, what to do when this trip is over, or even things we could do during the journey, like working somewhere and staying for a bit longer. But for now, we will continue with the trip so we can meet my parents in Namibia in September and spend Christmas and New Year’s in South Africa with some friends.
Together with Aimable, we drove back to Kigali after a few days at the lake to prepare for the upcoming trip to Tanzania. Unfortunately, Aimable had identified a problem with his Defender, so he had to call the mechanic to fix it before we could leave. Luckily, Aimable knows the best guy in town to work on Defenders; he also asked him to check our car and tighten all the screws that had become loose while driving all the bumpy offroad tracks. Luckily, our Defender is still in great shape; we only had to refill some engine oil and were good to go again.
Our days back in Kigali were a lot of fun. We met again for drinks with the “Lake Kivu Birthday gang” and spent another night at Rimera with Patrick and his friends; there is a car-free pub street, a nice place to spend an evening. Matthias, the coffee shop owner, invited us to stay at his house for free while he was on a business trip in Europe. Once more, we experienced generous hospitality in Rwanda. Patrick invited us to his place for brunch and mimosas and to meet his wife and kids, and another night, we all went out to the party mile in Kigali and hopped from bar to bar (and Tom hopped to a hairdresser in between to get a shave :D). Our last night in Kigali we spent at our favorite Indian restaurant with Patrick and his wife Rosie as well as Aimable and his wife and some other friends of theirs; we really could have stayed in Rwanda for much, much longer; it almost felt like we live there after making so many friends and having plans and invitations all the time. But for Tom and myself, it was time to move on, and unfortunately, Patrick and Aimable had work coming up, which they couldn’t postpone, so they could not join us on a trip to Tanzania. But we enjoyed the time we had together so much, and I’m sure our paths will cross again - we have left a small piece of our heart in Rwanda, and knowing that we have so many lovely people there we can visit, I am sure we will be back again.
Before leaving Rwanda, we stocked up our fridge with the amazing fresh bread, homemade cheese, and incredible meat Kigali has to offer. Ahead of us were a couple of days of driving - we needed to gain some land after spending more time in Rwanda than we planned, but it was soo worth it - thank you for having us Rwanda, and thank you for all the beautiful people we have met.
