Rwanda

So last weekend went to Rwanda with a few peeps. What a beautiful country - rolling hillls and lush greenery. We flew into Kigali, the capital, on Friday morning and went for a really nice lunch at shokola. Kigali is cool - very clean and tidy so that was different having got used to the hustle and bustle and general madness of Nairobi.

After lunch we headed to the Genocide Memorial where we did the audio tour round the museum and gardens. Definitely a must if visiting just to get some understanding of the craziness that went on 17 years ago. I remember the aftermath on the news but actually being there was something else. I wasn't really aware of the whole UN failure to help in time so that was interesting - apparently on of the UN guys on the ground in Rwanda at the time who tried to get the UN to do something has written a book so need to get a copy of that. On a side note, currently reading 'The State of Africa' which is pretty heavy going but totally fascinating.

Next up we did the drive up to Mesanze - absolutely stunning drive, the scenery was amazing and so many people on route waving and shouting 'mzungu' :) They do speak keswahili in Rwanda but main languages are Kinyarwandan and Frence - so learnt a couple of new words and got tp speak French which was cool.

On the way to Mesanze:

Up in Mesanza we pottered into town to find dinner. I tried to take us to some dodgy club with an armed guard but the guys were having none of it so round the block we found a little restaurant. A few of us shared something call 'Grandma's Pot' which frankly just had to be ordered. It took ages but was worth it - basically a big pot of scrummy chicken stew. We whiled away the wait anyway playing shithead and drinking an excellent Rwandan beer called Mutzing - my new best friend and also comes in massive bottles bigger than my head. Also it turned out the the restaurant we were in was actually attached to the dodgy club i tried to take us to.

Dinner:

Our ride home:

Next day was a really early start (particularly as i'd messed up with the whole time change so my alarm went off at 3am instead of 5 - oops). I was mega excited and far too chirpy for everyone! we were off diane fossey style to go chill with some gorillas. We trekked for maybe 2 hours which was cool anyway as it was good scenery and felt quite like an intrepid explorer type actvity. We then had to dump our bags in the jungle and head through the bush before we came accross our first gorilla. The rest were not far and we spent the next hour chilling with the Ugende family - 14 in all - 2 silverbacks, 4 adult femails i think plus a load of younguns (was hard not to steal one). It was an amazing experience being so close to them and they were just so chilled out munching away on leaves androlling around having a scratch. Apparently the daddy is around 200kg - not sure how that's possible on a diet of leaves!!

Had a bit of a surreal moment in the jungle as well. Our guide, felix, had told us just to be quiet and given us a quick lesson in gorillas then in the middle of our peaceful observing he walks up to me and is like 'is that a Flip?' whilst i'm doing videoing. We then had this weird conversation about how he can get photos form a flip to his laptop which culminated in me having to write instructions down for him which i'm fairly sure won't really help. One of the girls with us, Lindsay, couldn't contain her amusement. Think it was when i heard myself say 'do you know the My Computer folder?' when i really knew i was in trouble.

After gorillas we visited a cutlural village which was way better than the maasai village but still a bit awkward and cringy. We made the best of it. Trang and Mickey got crowned king and queen, we met a 'medicine man' who apparently has a solution to all sight issues which surely needs to be shared with the rest of the world, i did some 'grinding' of something into a sort of flour. Apprently this is women's work which did not impress me whilst the guys got to do target practice. Luckily i kicked up enough of a fuss that i also got to do target practice - my little contribution to gender equality. There was then much dacing and merriment led by a crazy little pigmy man who will haunt my memories as long as i live and yet in some strange waywas kind of endearing.

I'm getting a bit bored of typing now and it is friday night and i have wine in the fridge so think it may be time for a bit of pre-game before heading out so will leave the rest of Rwanda plus the antics this week until Sunday. Tutuonana!!