Kivu Sun Hotel Gisenyi

... loan which they backed. When the war was over and all the dust settled, there was over 1 million people killed in about 100 days. The war had left thousands without parents and a country in pieces. Millions had also fled into the neighboring countries of Uganda, Congo, and Tanzania. After the war, dead bodies were found strewn all over the place including latrine holes and mass graves. Thousands of people also had mangled bodies and missing limbs. The ...

... laughing like it was funny. For them death is just a part of life. For Baracka he saw friends as also being your worst enemy because when times were difficult it was your best friends that would have to kill you or be killed themselves. Seems like such a strange and lonely way to live not being able to be close to anyone and living in fear. Took a shower from a bucket of water in a shed which was a challenge. They had put the generator on so I could have light but the ...

I know it's been a while since my last entry and the reason is that I hit the first obstacle of my trip. My reasons for not posting were twofold...first I was going into an area where there was some guerrilla activity last month and secondly Internet access was scarce. So here is what happened. Last I wrote I was on my way to Rwanda to go Gorilla trecking. So the closest town to do this is Musanze. So I made my way there and now I know why they ...

... girls (Sarah and Sophie) who I had met in Kampala turned up. It was a crazy coincidence that we should meet on a tiny island in the south of Rwanda a week or so after briefly crossing paths hundreds of miles north. I spent the evening playing pool with Biziman and some of his friends. It was good to meet some locals who could chat some English and enjoy some fun time here.

I was meant to leave today at 5am but had been erring ...

... matatu: having discussed options for the remainder of our stay with the volunteers, we had decided to head straight down to Huye, in the south of Rwanda. We said some brief goodbyes and settled into our new taxi in an experience that felt much more like Uganda: the taxi didn't leave until it was full. In that time I had a chance to test a cultural taboo. In Rwanda people do not eat in public. By this I mean that, say you buy a sandwich ...

... they took us to the park headquarter and divided us into groups. They only allow 8 people per group with a guide and several armed military escorts. The military escorts are not there because the region is unstable. They are there to protect us from other animals like buffalo and elephants that live in the park and can be dangerous. They are intructed to shoot into the air to scare off the animals if they come too close...not kill them. I was very lucky ...

I took off for a town called Gisenyi today. It's supposed to be a resort town frequented by rich Rwandans. They do exist. Along the way, I met two people from Winnipeg doing missionary work in the town I was about to visit. When I asked them how long they would be staying in Gisenyi, they explained that they committed to living there for their WHOLE life. I couldn't believe that. They didn't even pick the town. It was chosen for them. Of course, they could ...

This morning in Kigali, I went to Rwanda Eco-Tours to confirm and pay for my gorilla trek (for Thursday). Matt had already done the gorilla trek twice when he was in Uganda, and so we decided that it wasn't worth the cost ($500 US pp! and going up to $1000 later this year!) for him to go again. Martha, the extremely friendly and helpful owner of Rwanda Eco-Tours, went out of her way to help us book camping accommodation ...

I arrived in Gisenyi after a 3 hour plesent bus ride from Kigali the capital of Rwanda. The scenery on the drive was quite spetacular with lots of lush hills and an abudance of trees everywhere. Gisenyi is very close to the border of the DRC and is based on lake Kivu. The town itself is quite a pretty place and has a nice lake beach while you can overlook the mountains on the congo in the distance. There are a lot of western ...

After exploring and admiring the wonderful nature of the Nyungwe Forest, we continou our way to Cyangugu at Lake Kivu, where we check in at Hotel du Lac before sunset. Hotel du Lac is a nice hotel near the Rusizi river. The Rusizi river forms the frontier with Congo ...