The border crossing to Rwanda went very smooth and easy, we even got a visa for free, because Switzerland is a francophone country, just like Rwanda. We heard so much about this country, about how organized and structured it is, and very different to all the other African countries - they also call is “Switzerland of Africa”, so we were very curious to what to expect. The very first impression was not that big of a difference from driving in Uganda, until we came across the first speeding camera, and then the second and third. We have not seen as many speeding cameras even in Switzerland and for sure not anywhere else in Africa. Having a size of only 26.338 km² (which is just a liitle more than half the size of Switzerland), Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa. After the genocide, which ended in 1994, Rwanda has developed from one of the poorest countries in Africa to one of the most developed. We already experienced this on our first stop in Musanze. It was the first city after the border we crossed, where we stopped for one night to get settled. The usual procedure after entering a new country like getting cash and a sim card was on our schedule. There was a huge queue in front of the mobile phone store, but it went surprisingly quick and unlike other experiences we’ve had in Africa, the people working in the shop were very efficient and not sleeping behind the desk :-D We were hungry and looked for a restaurant and were treated to some freshly made pasta, freshly baked bread and an amazing coffee in the end. We also find a very nice but not expensive hotel, where we spent our first night. The next day after getting a car wash, we continued our trip to Kibuye at Lake Kivu.
We found Hotel Musaya at the lake, where we were allowed to camp directly at the shore of the lake on their lawn, the spot was just beautiful. Unfortunately, it was raining when we arrived. The rainy season in Rwanda was supposed to be coming to an end but Rwanda didn’t welcome us with sunshine - we were already worried if the weather would now stay bad for the next weeks after we were super lucky in Kenya and Uganda, where we barely had any rain eventhough it was supposed to be the rainy season there for the past two months. Due to the rain, we decided to have dinner at the restaurant of the hotel, where we met Simba, the owner of the place. We had nice talks with him about Rwanda in general and what he’s doing here. After growing up in South Africa, he came back to his origin country Rwanda a few years ago and started doing business in tourism. Simba is just about our age and besides running the hotel, he is also building a house boat for tourists to explore lake Kivu - amazing!
The next morning, the rain had stopped and we set up our camp and were served a delicious breakfast to our car, which was ordered by Simba as a welcome gesture. Eventhough the weather was still not too good, we made plans to hike part of the Congo-Nile-Trail, a hiking trail along Lake Kivu. If you hike the full trail, it takes 10 days, however, we decided to do only parts of it. We took a boat from Kibuye to Musasa and walked from there to Gisenyi in three days. We first intended to go on the hike without a guide, since it is very safe and well marked it is possible to do it on your own. But then we met Jean.Paul, a young local tour guide, and after negotiating a price that was in our budget, we decided to take him with us, which was a great idea. This way, we were able to interact with the locals along the way and we learned a lot about the culture and life in Rwanda.
We slept in basic guesthouses along the route. At the first stop at Kinunu Guest House, we met a French couple and another Thomas from Belgium. We had a fun evening together and since they were walking in the other direction than we were, we made plans to meet again in Kibuye, where we had left our Defender, in a couple of days after the hike. We really enjoyed walking along the beautiful Lake Kivu and experiencing this country by foot and for once not in the car, it was a great change.
Back at Hotel Musaya, we met Thomas from Belgium, and since it was his birthday, we had a spontaneous little birthday party at the lake together with Simba and his friends and some other local guests of the hotel. We stayed for another couple of nights and could have easily stayed for another month. Lake Kivu is for sure one of the most beautiful spots we have seen on our trip, the sunsets were magic with the fishermen singing and going out on the lake. We loved doing some yoga in the morning with that amazing view and jumping into the lake afterwards before eating breakfast and reading a book in the afternoon or speaking to the locals who stopped by. Rwanda turned out to be a country of Defender lovers, we had two Defender owners who came to vist us at our campsite in Kibuye because they heard that someone in a Defender was camping there, and many more came by and asked if we would sell the car - of course, we had to decline, since our trip is not even half way through, but now we know where we can go to in case we need money before we go back home lol.
We really could have stayed at Lake Kivu forever but we decided to continue our trip together with Thomas from Belgium, he had the same route in mind but unfortunately, he was running out of time, because his flight back home was already in a few days. To continue the trip with two Thomas’, I sat in the back of the Defender, which was a new feeling and way of travel for myself :D
We spent one more night at the very south of Lake Kivu, before we continued east through the Nyungwe Forest National Park, which is one of the oldest and the best preserved rainforest in Africa. During our drive through the park, we enjoyed looking at the many different plants and trees and also saw some very curious monkeys who almost jumped inside the car. After we left the national park, we continued to the Murambi Genocide Memorial, one of many memorials that have been set up in Rwanda to remember the ones who died during the genocide and to inform about what happened and to ensure that something as terrible as this will never happen again. It is quite intense to visit this place and it needs some time to process. At this specific memorial, over 50.000 people are buried and some of the bodies are preserved and shown to the visitors together with the stories of the cause of their injuries and deaths. A truly tragic part of Rwanda’s and the world’s history but also remarkable to see to what this country has risen within not even thirty years.
Thomas, Thomas, Roch and Olivia
We continued to Butare, where Thomas’ (the Belgium one;) ) uncle Roch lives. He invited us to stay at his lovely home and we were spoiled with a delicious dinner. We enjoyed the talks about live in Africa and how traveling changes your view on the world. One phrase that stuck with me was: “When you travel or live abroad and you come back home, the place you find usually hasn’t changed a lot - but you have “. All the experiences we’re having , people we’re meeting and memories we’re making along the road have for sure have a big impact on our world views and that’s what I love most about traveling.
The next day, Roch took us with him to see and check on his bee hives. Roch is originally from France but has moved to Rwanda many years ago and started a honey business. We were able to taste some honey and it for sure was delicious - in fact, we learned that Rwanda is quite famous for its honey. Before we could visit the bees, we were all dressed up in bee suits to be protected from bee stings. Together with Roch’s students, who are being thaught on how to produce honey, we went to check on the hives. It was very interesting and we learned a lot about bees and the process of gaining honey. Did you know, that bees only live around 45 days? Except the queen, she can live up to 5 years! After our bee visit it was time to say goodbye to Roch and the three of us continued our journey to Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city.
