Rwanda and Uganda — Rogue Wanderers

We feel like we did Rwanda and Uganda a disservice by not staying longer but at this point we were speeding up to meet family flying into Kenya to meet us for Christmas. (We have been rightfully accused of “always working to a deadline,” we like to pretend it is not our fault, but somehow we always have one so we must be doing it to ourselves.) We also broke a leaf spring on a rugged road to a Ugandan national park so ended up turning around early to head to Kenya to get it fixed. Rwanda and Uganda are two very different countries, but we are combining them here because our time in each was short.

Rwanda

We had heard from fellow travelers that Rwanda could be a difficult place - people were more inclined to stare at foreigners and were not as warm and welcoming as surrounding countries. We did not find it to be challenging. As introverts, the more reserved culture felt comfortable for us. We were also very aware of the fairly recent history of the 1994 genocide when over 1,000,000 people were brutally killed. Maybe we were projecting, but we felt like we could feel the lingering shadows of sadness from this horrifying history and felt huge empathy for the people and country.

Immediately when we crossed the border from Tanzania we felt the shift into lush green landscapes with intricately terraced agriculture. We found gorgeous lakeside camping and explored the capital city of Kigali, one of the cleanest and most organized cities we had visited in Africa.

*Instagram photo opportunity in downtown Kigali.*

*Walked the side streets, looking over the hills of the city.*

The visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum was sobering and educational. We had memories of hearing the news in the US when it was happening. We remembered it being portrayed as tribe against tribe violence in Africa, playing out ancient rivalries. Studying more about the background leading up to the violence we learned that the Belgian colonizers set up a class system, identifying people with more than 10 head of cattle and “more European facial features” as Tutsis (about 15% of the population) and the rest of the people at Hutus. Everyone was issued identification cards stating their tribal affiliation and the division began. Tutsis were granted privileges and status by the ruling colonizers. After Rwandan independence, everything came to a head in 1994 when the Hutu organized into militia and turned on their neighbors in a widespread slaughter which also focused on women and children. It is no wonder that the people seem like they are holding pain. Memorials dot the country, many at churches where people fled hoping to find sanctuary and where some of the worst massacres happened.

*Memorial gardens, over 250,000 people are buried in mass graves at this site.*

*We met Alex, a driver at our hotel in town. He lost both parents in the genocide and has worked hard against the odds, progressing from being homeless to obtaining his drivers license and employment.*

Kigali was a surprise for us. No litter on the streets, people stopped for pedestrians at crosswalks, and all motorcycle drivers (and their passengers) wore helmets. There were extensive sidewalks and street lamps. It was a completely different experience than most of the other African cities we had visited. The contemporary city center was filled with modern cafes and restaurants.

After exploring the city, we left for the countryside and headed to Lake Kivu, a popular vacation spot for Rwandans.

*Typical countryside view in Rwanda - a very lush and fertile country*

*Camping on the shores of Lake Kivu (camped in the garden of the Livalana Hotel for a nominal fee)*

*Looking back on the truck on a lakeside walk*

*Keeping up with the sticker wall, Dawn posting the Rwanda sticker (28th African country)*

Working our way along the lake, our second camping spot outside of Gisenyi gave us access to the famous Congo-Trail - following the ridge of the two famous river watersheds.

*One of the few trail signs we had seen in Africa*

*Bumping our way out of our campsite - many sketchy bridges but none collapsed on us*

And that was it for Rwanda! Just under a week, sad to say.

Uganda

As we were winding up our time in Africa (entering our 29th out of 30 countries on the continent) we were looking back on our time and thinking about all we had experienced and learned. Along the way we had listened to a variety of African literature. In the book Kintu by Ugandan author Jennifer Nansubuga one of the characters writes a piece describing the colonization of Uganda which struck us:

Africanstein

Buganda (medieval kingdom of present day Uganda), unlike the rest of Africa was sweet talked onto the operating table with praises and promises. Protectorate was the plastic surgery to set the sluggish African body on a faster route to maturity. But once under chloroform, the surgeon was at liberty and did as he pleased. First, he severed the hands then cut off the legs and he put the black limbs in a bin bag and disposed of them. Then he got European limbs and set upon grafting them on the black torso. When the African woke up, the European had moved into his house.

Though the African was too weak to get up, he still said to the European, “I don’t like what you are doing, my friend. Please get out of my house.” But the European replied, “I am only trying to help, brother. You are still too weak and drowsy to look after your house. I will take charge in the meantime. When you’re fully recovered, I promise you will work and run twice as fast as I do.”

But the African body rejected the European body parts. Africa says that they are incompatible. The surgeons say that Africa discharged itself too soon from the hospital - that is why it is hemorrhaging. It needs a lot more continued blood and water pumped intravenously. Africa says the blood and water are too expensive. The surgeons say, “ Nonsense, we did the same to India, see how fast it’s running.”

When Africa looked in the mirror, it saw that it was hideous. Africa looked in others’ eyes to see how they saw it: there was revulsion. That gave Africa permission to self-harm and self-hate. Sometimes, when the world is not looking, the surgeons poke Africa in the wounds. When it falls down the surgeons say, “You see, we told you they were not ready.”

We cannot go back to the operating table and ask for the African limbs. Africa must learn to walk on European legs and work with European arms. As time goes by, children will be born with evolved bodies and in time, Africa will evolve according to ekisode’s nature and come to its best form. But it will be neither African nor European. Then the pain will settle down.

Well said, Ms. Nansubuga.

We shorted our route through Uganda a little bit due to safety concerns. There had been a recent terrorist attack in Queen Elizabeth national park in which two tourists and a guide were killed. There had been a huge Ugandan police response and we realized it was probably one of the safest places to travel now, but caution prevailed and we cut it out of the trip. For us, the highlight of our time in Uganda was going to be visiting the mountain gorillas and we were laser focused on making that happen. (You can also visit them in Rwanda but the cost is double, about $1500pp in Rwanda and $700pp in Uganda).

*Curious baboon - a common hiking and roadside site*

There are two main options in Uganda for visiting the gorillas - Bwindi National Park and Mgahinga National Park. Although there are more gorillas in Bwindi (also known as the impenetrable forest which sounded forbidding), finding them normally required more rigorous and longer hiking than in Mgahinga. After our experience being foiled in finding chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania (no chimp sightings after a 6 hour challenging mountain climb) we opted for the safer, more direct experience. We booked online for our permits a week in advance with Amahoro Tours, who were great to work with. Based out of Ruhengeri, Rwanda, they handle gorilla permitting and tours in both countries.

*Mountains peeking out on the way to Mgahinga National Park*

*Making our way to the community camp by the park gate*

Despite being the “easier” park to visit, it was still a journey to get to Mgahinga. We were spending the night at one of the gates in at Amajyambere Community Camp and it was two hours of dirt roads and combined OSM and Google misdirection to get there. But we made it, received a warm welcome and had a pleasant time meeting the young people from the local village who ran the camp over an evening campfire.

Then the next morning, we learned the gorillas had moved so we had to drive an hour (more bumpy roads) to the other gate. There were definitely leaps of faith along the way, we did not meet up with the man who was supposed to have our permits at the community camp as expected, but we were told, “no problem” permits would be at the other gate for us. We had no cell connection in the area so just went with it - in the end they had us covered.

*Beautiful community dancers greet us at the park*

We met up with our guide, Solomon, our armed guard Junior and our two fellow tourists (from New York!) and set off to find the gorillas.

The visits to the gorillas are highly regulated, one group of up to six people per day, total time with the gorillas limited to one hour. It was a hefty cost for us at $1400 for the two of us for one hour. We skipped other national parks along the way to make up the cost and in the end are so glad we did. It had been a lifetime goal to spend time with these magnificent animals and it was probably the fastest hour of our lives. It is almost impossible to describe the thrill of being in the presence of these gentle giants. At times it was difficult to tell who was more curious about watching who.

*This adolescent just joined in our trail walking in between us and the guide*

*We kept our distance, but at times the gorillas opted to come closer. We wore masks to protect the gorillas from our germs.*

*Andy with our excellent guide, Solomon*

We left the park satiated and happy - it was an African highlight for us. Next stop, Lake Victoria, the world’s largest tropical lake then cross country to Kampala.

As usual, we were having fun buying local fruits and vegetables in road side markets along our route.

*Dawn is super happy with her favorite breakfast, avocado toast*

*Spending the night at Leopard Rest camp - lovely sites with a breezy bar with wifi and nice solar hot showers*

*Crossing the equator again! Last time was heading south in Gabon*

The next thing we knew we were in Kampala. Needing some gifts for the upcoming holiday, we headed to a mall.

We also took the opportunity to walk the city with a local guide and learn more about the history and culture.

*Freedom Statue celebrating Ugandan independence*

*Looking out on the central taxi area - mini vans heading in every direction filled with patrons*

From Kampala we headed east to check out the iconic mouth of the Nile River.

*Setting up camp at the mouth of the Nile*

*Morning view of the mouth of the Nile from the camper*

We had one last planned stop in Uganda, Kidepo Valley National Park up at the northern tip. We liked that it seemed more remote and univisited and set off on a long cross country journey to get there.

*Spending the night at the beautiful and serene Karamoja Arts Guesthouse and Camping center*

And then, a mini disaster. We hit a large pothole, heard a huge clunk and subsequently a weird clanking as we drove. Andy stopped to inspect the damage and realized we had broken a leaf spring.

*These two circled points should be connected*

We attempted a bush fix by adding a piece of wood as support to ensure the leafspring did not bounce off the metal bolt that it was caught on, but the wood fell out on the first speed bump (despite creeping over it).

We had installed Deaver leaf springs that were custom designed to hold our weight, but one side broke where the leaf spring begins to curl (using what’s called a military curl) around the end bracket.

And so began an arduous (and very slow) journey, limping to Nairobi, Kenya where we were hoping for a repair. With the leaf spring holding on simply by being caught on a bolt head, we were hyper aware of every speed bump (there were 100’s). But we made it! More on the repair at Jungle Junction in the next blog.

As always thank you for reading and hears to more adventures in 2024!