Rwanda

 

Summer 2022. Your mother and I had been wanting to return to Africa for quite a few years now. The last time we went was 9 years ago, we spent two weeks in Mozambique serving at an orphanage in Maputo, and then one week on safari in South Africa. This time our destination was the beautiful country of Rwanda, it exceeded all of our expectations.

I continually said during the trip, “I feel like we are in the garden of Eden”. Everything was green, well cultivated, peaceful, and somehow a bit otherworldly. We began our trip in Akagera, a national park that hosts most of the wildlife Africa is so famous for. We spent 3 nights in a tented lodge on the banks of a lake, each night after dinner on the deck overlooking the water we could hear the hippos coming up to graze on the grasses, in the morning we would have our coffee on the same deck and then go and explore the park. There were rivers, rolling hills and expanses of grassland. We saw many zebra, buffalo, elephant and numerous other birds and mammals. The lions and leapords eluded us this trip, but I do hope to return someday to try our luck again. One highlight was having lunch in the middle of a vast savannah with some rhino in the distance, and enjoying some gin with our guide Jean-Marie. 

From Akagera we headed to Volcanoes national park, the destination for many international visitors due to the prize it holds, mountain gorillas. Before our gorilla trek though I signed us up for what I thought would be an easy, touristy type hike up an extinct volcano called Mount Bisoke with a summit that is 3,711 meters above sea level. The hike began well enough, through some flat farmlands in the morning fog and light rain and then up some gently sloping almost rainforest like slopes. The trees and scenery were magnificent, the mud we had to walk through was not. When I thought we were halfway our guide began to laugh saying we had only done the easy part, for some reason I thought he was messing with us, unfortunately for me he was not! It became a 4 hour ascent up increasingly steep and muddy slopes, thankfully we had hired porters to help with our bags, and with literally holding our hands on the steepest and muddiest portions. Without their aid it might have been a 5 hour ascent, and perhaps I would have done some of it on all fours. There is nothing quite like thinking you wont be able to accomplish something, wrestling with it in your mind, trying not to let yourself give way to turning back to safety and comfort, persevering, and receiving the prize. Well, we persevered and were rewarded with a spectacular view of the country below, and the lake that sits at the center of the volcanic crater. The feeling of joy and accomplishment, mixed with a healthy dose of relief as we rested on the summit will not be one I forget soon.

The day after our hike was the long anticipated one, the day we would get to spend an hour with a mountain gorilla family. In the morning all the tourists that will be trekking for the day gather at the visitor center and are broken into groups and assigned a guide and a family to visit. Our family was called Kwitonda, it had 20 members including two silverbacks that were brothers. We hiked for about an hour through a pathless forest, our two guides in front hacking with machetes through the bamboo and vines, while communicating with the trackers who locate the family every morning. Slowly we emerged into a clearing and we began to see black shapes in the distance, then suddenly we seemed to be amongst the family.

It is hard to describe the feeling of awe we all were held captive with for that hour. These gentile animals that seemed almost mystical due to their rarity in this world, and to surviving coming to the brink of extinction. I stood near the Silverback as he slowly observed his visitors, casting his eyes occasionally on us in between small interruptions of feeding. Around us his wives and children groomed one another, played, swung on branches above our heads which felt like they were showing off, and the youngsters cuddled with their mothers. They were so quiet, and content, they felt like Rwanda in a lot of ways. Seemingly at peace, surrounded by a beautiful eden, contemplative, a family that had survived past tragedy. At the end of our hour we sat while the troop marched up the mountain to bed down, at times they were only an arms length away from us. The dominant Silverback was the last up the hill, we thought we had moved out of his way but I guess he had another path in mind. He ended up passing directly where we were standing as we quietly and respectfully moved out of his path. Watching him go by was awe inspiring, such strength and beauty, it was all just splendidly magnificent.

Our last stop for Rwanda was Nyungwe Forest National Park. On the way there we had lunch on the banks of Lake Kivu, it was like a tropical paradise. Mom and I swam in the water which to us was a perfect temperature. Nyungwe is home to a lot of primates, some people do Chimpanze trecks but we opted for two adventures, hiking to a waterfall and a sky canopy walk on suspension bridges above the trees. The hike was wonderful, we had the trail to ourselves- and 5 different species of monkeys and numerous bird species. The forest was absolutely beautiful, and following the river up to a massive waterfall was an amazing experience. The canopy walk was just an interesting perspective on how large the park is, I am not a fan of heights but felt totally secure.

That mostly sums up Rwanda. As I was writing this I just started thinking about our last day, mom and I kind of took it easy until our evening flight. It was fun just seeing more of Kigali with her and reflecting back on our week. I guess I also omitted that we began our journey with a visit to the genocide museum. It was very well put together, telling personal stories of an event that claimed the lives of between 800,000 to 1M people. One of the most striking things was that often time it was neighbors killing people they had been friends with. People in close knit communities were turned against one another over the course of a few years. The Hutus told their people that the Tutsi owed them something, that they looked down on them, and were responsible for all the negative things that had happened to the Hutus. The Hutu leaders created hearts of envy, resentment, bitterness and eventually enough hatred that they could kill children they used to care for in many cases. It was a sad reminder of what evil the human heart can be capable of if we drink those poisons that blind us to the humanity of others. The end of the museum is focused on the beautiful healing that has taken place since that time. People coming together to forgive, not even identifying any longer as Hutu or Tutsi, rebuilding what is now one of the most prosperous and peaceful countries in all of Africa. I hope someday to go back with the three of you. Next I will write about our family adventure to Alaska!