Kigali - Rwanda

I arrived at Kigali airport to see a nice but rather basic terminal, made my way though immigration only to find that the visa approval piece of paper, which I had paid for on line, and that I carefully printed meant absolutely nothing and ended up having to pay another USD30 for a real visa. Oh the joys of travelling!

Out through baggage collection and no one is worried what you might be carrying unless it is single use plastic bags. They are banned here and so a number of people were stopped for a search and subsequent confiscation. I knew about it so was prepared. 

Once through the exit I am suddenly outside and there ahead of me was a man who was as dark as the night (it was 2 am and the lights were dim) and the biggest smile holding a sheet with my name on it. Mr Gaston was taking me the 5k to Hotel Lemigo, my home fir the next few nights. He walks me to his vehicle. A superb Land Cruiser; raised, winch, snorkel the works. Dobbo would be so pee’d off to know  I’m riding round in this. 

The short ride from the airport was so pretty. Kigali is surrounded by hills (most all of Rwanda is hilly) and there were lights twinkling all round us. I was eager to see it all by daylight and looked forward to tomorrow. 

Gaston saw me safely to the hotel and with formalities complete I checked out my rather lovely room and hit the sack. 

A different Mr Gaston came and found me while I was having breakfast. He was the representative from the tour company and just wanted to make sure I am settled. At the same time he told me of a few things I could check out close by and so off I set. 

The rainy season has just finished so everything was green, not just ordinary green but that emerald  colour that comes from lots of water and clear sky. All around Palm trees swayed in the breeze and Everywhere I looked were rolling green hills. Just gorgeous. I’m a wee way from the central city in a semi built up area and just love it. 

I had visions of dusty streets, barefoot kids, ramshackle  buildings as I have seen in other African cities so this was such a wonderful surprise. Since the horrific genocide in the late 90’s Rwanda has unified and taken off. The current  President Kagame seems to be pushing in the right direction and by 2024 Rwanda plans to confirm it is no longer ‘under development’. They have been voted the safest country in Africa, the most improved country in terms of ease of doing business, and Africas least corrupt country. Considering they were in total turmoil as recently as 25 years ago it is remarkable how far they have come. 

On my casual wee walk I came past a rather glorious and huge bee-hive shaped building which is the new convention centre. It is massive and there were a number of events on at the time so I only walked quickly round the inside. Just stunning and silly as it is I was taken by the shine of the floors that gave a mirror effect so ceilings looked twice as high as they were. 

Wandering round I came across a group of about 8 ladies all dressed in green and sitting next to one another across a paved path. Going closer I could see what they were doing but they would not let me take a photo. With their hands and small tools they were picking the moss out from between the paving stones. I passed them again about 5 hours later and they had only moved about 2 metres ahead. 

Hanging out in the Ramada Inn next to the  convention centre I spied a restaurant called ‘The Larder’ and thinking of our very own place of the same name I decided to give it a try and off I went. It was there I broke all my eating rules:

Never eat at Hotels as they dont have local food - I am and they do. Fried Plantain, spiced fried rice and a curry similar to a korma. 

Never do buffets where they mix the old food with the new and everyone breathes and spits on it. This is so fresh and well rotated so I’m collecting a pile. 

Never ever eat salads - I am as could not resist the kuchambari that I fell in love with in Tanzania years ago. 

And the deserts - never eat them, unless they are chocolate!  Plenty to choose from here.

I must say it all looked much nicer than it really was and when the bill came in for NZD$60 I really regretted my choice. Too late now. 

Wandering back to the hotel I decided to check out the Parliament buildings since it was so close. Parliament was in session so I wasnt able to go in. They have two levels of governance. The lower house with about 80 members and the upper house, the senate with about 20. 

A couple of guys suggested I go to the Campaign Against Genocide Museum which is housed in the Parliament grounds and thats exactly  what I did. Cost NZD12 and came with a personal guide who spent about an hour telling me the horrific history of the Genocide and the battles between the Hutu and Tootsi peoples. Unimaginable atrocities with the loss of around 1 million lives. The museum was excellent and the stories made me nearly cry. I wasnt allowed to take photos but once we got up on the roof of the building I could do so. The views were stupendous and the depiction of the two soldiers firing up the hill to defend the parliament really bought it all home. The bullet holes in the building wall even more so. 

Wandering back to the hotel at a time when the traffic had picked up I saw the once solo motorbike taxi drivers now zooming round with pillion passengers. It seems to be the way to move round and I had been approached by more than enough of the drivers to have figured they were taxis. Impressively they all wore helmets and had a colour coordinated spare hanging off the handlebars. 

Dinner was done in the hotel partly because I couldn’t be bothered going any further in the dark. Sitting alongside the pool was magical and the lights twinkling on the surface bought a sense of calm over me. This bodes well. 

I hadnt realised there was an a la carte menu so held my breath and headed for the buffet. Pretty much what was there for breakfast and it didnt look the most appetising then but oh well. Picking the best of the rather uninspiring choices I sat to enjoy the selection on my rather pathetic looking plate. The fried checken looked good and it possibly might have been when it was freshly cooked but now resembled tasteless cardboard wrapped around bones. So much like cardboard it was that even with my new chompers I did not succeed in biting through the dry parched flesh. Potatoes were good and the tasty goat curry would have been good if it had more meat and less knuckle but oh well. I had a coke and requested the bill, which on sight made me regret my decision even more. 

Glad I dont have to make any more major decisions today but at least there is kataifi hidden away if I am hungry later on. Tomorrow my adventure starts with a visit to the Genocide Museum (another one) and a drive to Gorilla Mountain Lodge in the Volcano National Park in preparation for the bit I cane from. 

So for now Bon Soir mon ami.