There is absolutely no need for any theme parks in East Africa when you have plenty of bumpy and potholed, twisting and turning roads. Just over a week ago I set off with 3 friends on the very bumpy road to Kigali to see fellow abolo obruni, Alex. We packed the car with goodies for the trip, but he dairy milk was not such a great idea in the heat, so we ended up with a mushy mess of molten chocolate. We set off on the Friday and after an hour or so we passd through the equator. The equator experience consists of a sign by the road and a faded painted white line and a few people selling a bit of tourist tat, but it was a great photo opportunity all the same. On the Friday night we stayed in a place called Masaka, where we all had muzungu moments of anger when the club sandwiches we ordered took well over an hour and mine turned out to be a fired egg butty. After that we swore to eat only local food whilst on the raod, and this proved to be very successful the next day when we stopped off at a roadside cafe and were served delicious plates of avacado salad, vegetable curry and a few other local dishes.
We arrived in Kigali just as it was starting to go dark, then went out for dinner, then to a party where we were able to drink as much banana beer as we could drink (which was actually about half a cup - it's a bit of an acquired taste). Then on the Sunday we went off to the genocide memorial museum which was impressive but horrible and moving at the same time. In one room they just have family photos of all the people who were lost and it makes you realise the extent of it all.
The city of Kigali is so amazingly clean. You can walk down real pavements and smooth roads without having to worry about falling down potholes and dodging speeding matatus and boda bodas (minibuses and motorbike taxis for those of you not familiar with the local lingo. They also make you wear helmets on the bodas, even if they are all pretty big, and they don't let you double up either. Apparently, once a month there is a community service day where you have to go out cleaning all the rubbish off the streets. Also, even the roads oput of the city are really smooth tarmac. Incredible!
On the Monday we took a very nice bus up to Lake Kivu. We passed through stunning scenery and the sites of the mountains and the smell of the trees really reminded me of Colombia. I guess it makes sense as it's at asimilar altitude and there's also lits of volcanic activity round there. We stayed in some little cabins right next to the lake and spent the afternoon sampling the local beer, then the amarula, then very foolishly, the Ugandan Warargi (like a cheap gin, but pretty strong stuff). Afternoon turned into evening, and eveing turned into night and needless to say, the following day was a little bit painful. This was sorted out with a quick dip in the lake, followed by an afternoon of pampering ourselves with pedicures and massages and yummy food at the nice hotel in the town. It's a hard life I lead you understand!
The next day we ventured further afield, into the Democratic Republic of Congo no less. And before anybody asks, I can officially confirm that there is no Um Bongo there at all. But there is a whole town that has been recently smothered in lava from a recent erruption, leaving the roads very black and uneven. There is also lots of evidence of the war that is going on outside of the city, with UN troops (lots of hotties from Uraguay) all over the place and loads of emergency NGOs and so forth. It was quite strange walking round there, but I don't know whether it was the knowledge of what is happenng in the rest of the country or whether it was the atmosphere created from the sultry and humid weather that day and the lava covered streets that gave that illusion. After walking though the streets all day we went to a beautiful estaurant right by the lake, which was a real haven and a total contrast from the rest of the city. Oh I almost forgot to mention the special treatment we recieved from customs. We were immediately invited into the office and the cheesy customs officer greeted us with such platitude as 'how lucky they were that 3 such beautiful women were visiing the Congo that day' blar, blar blar. Anyway, the best of it was that we acually got a proper A4 sized certificate to say that we have been to the Congo. Brilliant! Getting out of the country was also a bit of an adventure as we had been relaxing at the restuarant so much that we didn't realise it was half an hour before the border shut. So we sped through the streets of Goma, yelling 'vite vite, nous avons 10 minutes' at the motorbike drivers, while they were yelling to slow down becasue they had muzungus! We made it by the skin of our teeth and Kelly even had time to do a bit of bargaining to buy a mask before we passed through the border. And I have to add that I never thought I would utter the words 'thank god I'm back in Rwanda' in my entire life!
That's pretty much it (or at least my time is about to run out anyway).