CHIMPS AGAIN?

(Gorilla Tales Part 8)

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A few people have asked us how Rwanda and Uganda compare. Both countries are full of warm, welcoming, friendly people. Uganda is reputed to be the richer country, but the gap between the rich and the poor seems much greater in Rwanda. In Uganda, we did not see much begging and people have their basic needs provided for. Rwanda has a great many street children that are dressed in rags and have to fight for survival on a daily basis. There is a HUGE non-governmental-organization (NGO) presence in Rwanda, trying to help people at the bottom of the ladder.

The gap in Rwanda may be due to the 1994 Genocide where about 12% of the country's population was killed in 6 month's time. Many of the street children were orphaned by the genocide and whole families were left homeless. Additionally, rape was used during the genocide resulting in a much higher incidence of AIDS and many unwanted pregnancies.

In Uganda, we did not hear or see any indication of class stratification. Rwanda has special buses and special services for people willing to pay a little extra. Uganda has no such thing.

From what we saw of Rwanda, it is mostly a mountainous country (but we didn't see the easternmost part of it). Uganda seemed to have much more topographical diversity. We saw grass savannah, jungle, rain forest, mountains. Often, the topography would change multiple times over the course of a 150 mile ride.

After a few days of R&R in Kibuye, we went to Butare, a pleasant university town with just about the only museum in Rwanda. While we met no tourists in Butare, there must have been at least 20 foreigners we saw/talked to who were teaching at the university or involved in aid programs. From Butare, we headed to Nyungwe Forest National Park. The accommodations there were in "houses" with 3 bedrooms and one shared bath per house. In our house there was an older (late 60s?) English couple who arrived earlier in the day. You think Lois and I can talk? Let me tell you, this couple put us to shame. They were a whole lot of fun with a great sense of humor and have traveled all over the world. Totally blew holes in the stereotype of the quiet, reserved, aloof Brit (as do most of the British we encounter)! Outside of Gorilla tracking, they are the first tourists we encountered in Rwanda.

Lois & I walked over to a nearby tea estate where they had a canteen. We figured we would get a drink and see who we met. We turned out to be a big attraction as we walked around. Worker's children ran after us and watched us (but were too shy to talk to us). When we got to the canteen and sat down with a soda, Lois saw 3 little kids that she especially liked, so she took polaroids of them and gave one to each kid. Some of the workers saw this and wanted their pictures taken! With a good polaroid camera, you would be a big hit in Africa where very few people have pictures of themselves.

At The Gisakura Canteen

A Monkey Friend

You might be wondering, why did Paul & Lois come to Nyungwe? Well, to go "chimp tracking". So, up at 5:30 am, leave at 6:00am to drive to the tracking spot with the British Couple. The road wound along a mountain ridge. We viewed the forest stretching out below us, first on one side of the car and then the other. The forest reached all the way to the Burundi border, some 30 miles away, and beyond. It was just about sunrise and the early morning mist was rising from the trees in the valleys below. There are many types of trees which grow to different heights so a multi-layered canopy is formed, sort of like in the Amazon. I can't say it was the most beautiful forest we've ever seen, but because we got such a great view of it from above, we could really appreciate it.

Nyungwe Forest at Sunrise

Nyungwe Forest

At the Chimp tracking center, they told us it was a 3 hour hike to the chimps. The British couple took the hint and decided not to go. Lois and I said "okay, let's go" and the receptionist asked "are you sure, it's a long hike?". Based on previous parks, we figured they were overstating the distance and difficulty of the hike - so, off we went. Looking back, we realize we should have paid more attention to the receptionist's reluctance to have us go...

The guides set a pretty fast pace and it was all downhill since the road is basically the highpoint in the forest. It felt as if we were walking as fast as we could, downhill, for about 2 hours, non-stop. We stopped and the guides tried to contact the people tracking the chimps. It seems they were having some communication problems. We asked how much further and our guides said they didn't know. Another hour walking, this time up a mountain and then 1/2 hour down again. It seemed to me like we were going in circles. It was pretty rough going with no trail. We covered about 8-10 miles in the first 3 1/2 hours. Finally, we started worrying about the hike back. So, with no good answer as to how much further we had to hike and bad radio contact with the trackers, we threw in the towel and told the guides we just wanted to head back. After 6 1/2 hours of hiking, we came out on the road, about 3 miles from our starting point. There was a large contingent of soldiers camped out here - machine guns and everything else. We never got a straight answer as to why they are there, but given the proximity of Burundi - a very unstable country undergoing a civil war, it seemed pretty clear. We figured this was about as safe a spot as any to hitch a ride back to our guesthouse - and pop as many ibuprofen as possible! So much for chimp tracking in Rwanda!

Back in Kigali, we met the owner of the guesthouse we were staying at. He spoke enough English for a pretty good conversation. We discussed relative costs between Rwanda and the USA for apartments, rental cars, etc and salaries for jobs. He's about 28 years old, built the hotel two years ago and seems to be doing pretty well. Unlike many hotels we stayed at, his seems to have continual business. He's an intelligent guy, with access to capital, but his understanding of what's happening in the world seems limited. To us, the local paper seems poorly written, poorly edited and often difficult to follow. There is more emphasis on sports than anything else. Only 2% of the population has a TV set. The dissemination of world news is limited and we figure this means it gets distorted. About midnight, Emmanuel invited us to go out dancing with his friends (it's Saturday night). We declined since we figured it might be interesting, but not necessarily enjoyable (too old for loud music and crowded places)!

Another day, we ran across someone we met our first day in Kigali. Jean Bosco is clearly well off as is his family. He has traveled to Europe a few times and been to a number of African countries. His English was good enough to be clearly understood and he understood 90% of what we said, right off the bat. Speaking with him was on a much more level basis. He understands America and Europe better than most of the people we have met and doesn't have any agenda in talking with us. He told us there is a huge gap in the work ethic between Americans/Europeans/Indians and Africans. He complained about the people in Africa not being willing to work hard and said he admires the Indians who work hard and have many businesses in Rwanda. For a nice change, he didn't believe all Americans/Europeans are rich!

One weird thing we saw everywhere - guys walking down the street, holding hands or arm in arm. Couples never do this, only friends of the same sex. Meanwhile, homosexuality is against the law and very heavily frowned on.

In Kigali, we tried to decide where next? Our flight back to the USA was from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. We wanted to spend our last week on Zanzibar, just off the coast from Dar. As best as we could determine, it was a rough, 3-4 day trip from Kigali to Dar Es Salaam and then a ferry to Zanzibar. In the end, we decided that we would fly from Kigali to Zanzibar, via Nairobi for $310 each. A pretty expensive flight, but it would mean a lot less wear and tear on the body and more time for Zanzibar.

Final Notes on Rwanda

Spent 16 days in Rwanda