Piotr Godzisz

MUZUNGU KURUHU IN THE LAND OF A THOUSAND 1 HILLS

Rwanda Trip Report

London, February 2016

1 Muzungu (or mzungu) is a Bantu language term used in Rwanda and other countries in the Great Lakes region to denote white people. Muzungu kuruhu (Kinyarwanda) means literally “a white person in skin only,” and can denote a white person who does not have a lot of money or does not accede to various demands for change, water, candy, bottles etc. For the purpose of this report, muzungu kuruhu denotes a white person travelling on a shoestring. CONTENTS Basic information ...... 3 An outline of methods of travel, route and types of accommodation...... 5 Planned ...... 5 Final ...... 5 Commentary to the itinerary ...... 6 Impressions ...... 7 Tourist attractions – general comments ...... 7 Accommodation ...... 8 Activities ...... 8 Trekking along the Congo-Nile trail ...... 8 Hiking and climbing ...... 10 The Bisoke volcano climb ...... 12 Eucalyptus honey trip around lakes Burera and Ruhondo ...... 13 Climbing mount Kabuye ...... 14 Chimpanzee trekking in Gisakura (Nyungwe Forest) ...... 15 Genocide Remembrance ...... 17 People and community ...... 18 Budget ...... 19 Submitted to ETC (in £) ...... 19 Planned (after decision from the ETC) ...... 19 Executed ...... 19 Commentary to the budget ...... 19

BASIC INFORMATION Destination: Rwanda, East Africa

Date of departure: 27 November 2015 Date of return: 13 December 2015

Duration: 16 days

Summary of travel objectives:

The goal of the travel was twofold, as I aimed to improve my knowledge of wildlife conservation in East Africa and the history of genocide in Rwanda.

Specifically, the objectives (3) To gain a better were: understanding of the issues (1) To gain an understanding of related to wildlife the causes of the Rwandan conservation by spending one genocide and appreciate its day trekking apes in their socio-political consequences natural habitat; over 20 years later through (4) To improve my hiking skills visiting memorials and speaking by hiking one or more days on with local people; the Congo-Nile trail and in (2) To appreciate the local other locations; culture and traditions through (4) To appreciate the water speaking with local people, at wildlife and improve my the same time improving my kayaking skills by spending one French language skills; or more days kayaking the Nyabarongo River.

COFFEE AND TEA PLANTATIONS IN WESTERN RWANDA. AN OUTLINE OF METHODS OF TRAVEL, ROUTE AND TYPES OF ACCOMMODATION. PLANNED # Date Location Means of transport Activity Accommodation 1 2015- London, Kigali Plane Travel from London to Kigali Couch , hostel or 12-12 guest house2 2 2015- Kigali on foot, local Visiting Kigali (the Genocide Memorial Centre Couch Surfing, hostel or 12-13 public transport and the Remera Heroes’ Cemetery) guest house 3 2015- Kinigi public transport Travel from Kigali to Kinigi, visiting Kinigi Couch Surfing, hostel or 12-14 (bus) guest house 4 2015- Volcanoes on foot Gorilla trekking, travel to Kibuye Couch Surfing, hostel or 12-15 National Park guest house 5 2015- Kibuye public transport Visiting Kibuye (genocide memorial; Lake Kivu) Couch Surfing, hostel or 12-16 (bus), on foot guest house 6 2015- Gisenyi, Kigali on foot Hiking 1 day on a part of the Congo-Nile Couch Surfing, hostel or 12-17 Trail; travel to Kigali guest house 7 2015- Nyamata public transport Day trip to Nyamata (genocide memorial) Couch Surfing, hostel or 12-18 (bus), on foot guest house 8 2015- Mageregere Kayak kayaking the Nyabarongo River, wildlife Couch Surfing, hostel or 12-19 watching guest house 9 2015- Kigali, London Plane Travel from Kigali to London - 12-20

FINAL # Date D. of From Via To Means of Activities Accommodati week transport on 1 11/27/2015 Friday London Istanbul Kigali airplane hostel 2 11/28/2015 Saturday Kigali Kigali Moto-taxi Kigali Genocide Memorial; Rwandan Private birthday party paid acc. 3 11/29/2015 Sunday Kigali Nyamata- Kigali Coach Nyamata and Ntarama Genocide Private Ntarama memorials,couchsurfing meetup paid acc. 4 11/30/2015 Monday Kigali Kibuye/Ka Coach hiking around Kibuye/Karongi campsite rongi hotel 5 12/1/2015 Tuesday Kibuye/Karong Gisenyi Coach Congo-Nile trail - crazy bus trek; couchsurfin i couchsurfing meetup g 6 12/2/2015 Wednesda Gisenyi Ruhenger Kinigi Coach climbing the Rubavu mountain; campsite

2 https://www.couchsurfing.com/. y i/Musanz visiting Ubumwe community centre; guest house e Gisenyi beach 7 12/3/2015 Thursday Kinigi Parc Kigali coach, climbing the Bisoke volcano couchsurfin National hiking g des Volcans 8 12/4/2015 Friday Kigali Kigali Hiking climbing Mount Kigali, Nyabugogo campsite hills hostel 9 12/5/2015 Saturday Kigali Kibuye- Mugonero coach, Congo-Nile trail base camp Gishyita hiking 10 12/6/2015 Sunday Mugonero Nyungwe Mudasomwa Private Congo-Nile trail; hiking the guest house car, Karamba trail in Nyungwe Forest hiking 11 12/7/2015 Monday Mudasomwa Gikongor Huye/Buta Private Murambi Genocide Memorial, guest house o- re car, sightseeing in Huye/Butare Murambi coach 12 12/8/2015 Tuesday Huye/Butare Cyangugu/ coach afternoon by the lake, couchsurfin Kamembe couchsurfing meetup g 13 12/9/2015 Wednesda Cyangugu/Kame Gisakura Kigali coach chimpanzee trekking in Gisakura couchsurfin y mbe -Nyungwe (Nyungwe Forest); meetup with g expats 14 12/10/2015 Thursday Kigali Kinigi Ruhengeri coach, hiking in lake Burera and Ruhondo; couchsurfin /Musanze private eucalyptus honey trip; visit in g car Kinigi 15 12/11/2015 Friday Ruhengeri/Mus Gakenke Kigali coach climbing mount Kabuye couchsurfin anze g 16 12/12/2015 Saturday Kigali Istanbul London airplane sightseeing in Kigali home

COMMENTARY TO THE ITINERARY • The original plan was to spend 9 days in decided to stay in Rwanda for the entirety Rwanda. When booking the international of the trip. flight, I saw that the price for a longer stay (about two weeks) was lower. As a result, I decided for a 16-day trip. • I was considering to spend a few days in Burundi. Due to an increasingly tense political situation there, however, and negative travel advice from the FCO, I IMPRESSIONS

GENERAL COMMENTS Finding things to do in Rwanda tourist attractions are costly. without spending lots of money For example, a visit to a on overpriced tourist coffee plantation will set you attractions – this is one of back £34. Even normally cheap the biggest challenges for a ways of spending time outdoors budget traveller in Rwanda are overpriced: £34 for a bicycle/kayak hire a day. Rwanda’s tourism industry revolves around the national As a result, the structure of parks, with gorilla trekking the tourism industry caters being the main attraction. This mostly to package-holiday should not be a surprise. tourists able to pay sky-high Rwanda is one of three prices. countries (the other two are Finding outdoor activities like the DRC and Uganda), where hiking and climbing which are mountain gorillas, an extremely cheap or free of charge is endangered species, can be seen difficult and requires a lot of in their natural habitat. research. Most of land outside Rwanda mountain gorillas have national parks, where the entry been made famous by the classic is paid, is used for movie Gorillas in the mist agriculture. While some (1988), starring Sigourney countryside places may have Weaver as naturalist Dian magnificent views and can be Fossey. Fossey’s resting place great for trekking, it is not is now one of the destinations easy to find them if you don’t for trekkers coming to visit know locals. Most guidebooks as the Vulcanoes National Park. well as blogs mention only paid hikes in the Volcanoes National Passes for trekking in the Park, Akagera National Park or Vulcanoes National Park are Nyungwe rainforest, as well as high, even for a Western overpriced tourist attractions tourist: £450 for gorilla pass, such as tours of coffee/tea £60 for other treks. On top of plantations / local dances this, one needs to rent a car shows etc. (with the services of a driver/interpreter), usually All in all, Rwanda is not a 4x4, costing anything from £40 country for muzungu kuruhu. to 100 a day. Also other

ACCOMMODATION When it comes to accommodation, guidebooks. Without speaking sleeping in the main tourist Kinyarwanda or a local friend spots can be surprisingly (an expat or Couchsurfer) it is expensive, if very basic. Even sometimes hard to find them or guidebooks such as Lonely even know that they exist. planet which normally are good Couchsurfing in Rwanda is at recommending cheap places troublesome, but not fail in Rwanda. For example, impossible. The first stay at the Nyungwe Campsite impression that I got was that (in a tent), recommended by some members of the network Lonely Planet, will set you confused CS with airbnb or back £20 a person per night other for-profit (£40 per tent). At the same tourist/hospitality activities. time, guest houses outside the As a result, I would receive park cost £5 per room per offers to host me connected night, but they are rarely with advertisement advertised or mentioned in of paid tourist activities, offers from drivers and interpreters. Nevertheless, I was able to meet several couchsurfers, locals and expats, and the overall impression was positive.

ACTIVITIES TREKKING ALONG THE CONGO-NILE TRAIL

VIEWS ON LAKE KIVU ALONG THE CONGO-NILE TRAIL

The Congo Nile Trail is a along the Rwandan coast of trail which follows the road Lake Kivu. It has the total of 227 km (141) miles. The Kibuye, we decided to take a trail can be completed on coach to Gisenyi instead. foot (10 days) or by bike (5 While the mountain road days). between the two towns is 120 km-long only, it takes seven In total, I spent three days hours for the coach to pass. on the trail. Initially, I The difficulties of the hoped to cycle between travel are, however, Kibuye and Gisenyi. reimbursed by the Nevertheless, as my travel spectacular landscapes, buddy (Morten; people are including rolling hills, described below) and I could coffee plantations and clear not find rental bikes in water of the Kivu.

THE 120 KM MOUNTAIN BETWEEN KIBUYE/KARONGI AND GISENYI TAKES SEVEN HOURS AND IS ONLY RECOMMENDED FOR PEOPLE WITH STRONG STOMACH. OTHER MEANS OF TRANSPORT THAT I USED IN RWANDA INCLUDE: MOTO AND CYCLE TAXIS, AS WELL AS RENTAL CARS.

The second attempt to take Kibuye and walked one day to on the trail came a few days Mugonero. Here, as it turned later. I started the trek in out, what was a dirt road when the trail was result, I spent the developed, is now almost following day travelling completely paved. Upon with them further south and arriving in the camp site in east along the trail, and Mugonero (a former then through the Nyungwe, orphanage, now empty), I met completing one hike a bunch of other tourists, (Karamba) in the rainforest travelling by car. As a on the way.

FISHING ON LAKE KIVU IN CYANGUGU / KAMEMBE SET OFF AT SUNSET

HIKING AND CLIMBING Rwanda is called the country of As mentioned above, the most a thousand hills not without a interesting outdoor locations reason. Plains are rare in this in Rwanda are located within land-locked country, and extend national parks and are quite mostly in the east, surrounding expensive to enter. Without the the Akagera National Park. The help of locals and/or extensive landscape of the rest of the pre-arrival research, it is not country is dominated by a mix easy to find good hiking of hills, mountains and – in locations outside of parks. the north – volcanoes. Altogether, I spent several days hiking and climbing Rwanda’s hills, mountains and Kibuye/Karongi, lakes Burera volcanoes, including locations and Ruhondo; and two hikes in such as: the Bisoke volcano in the Nyungwe Forest. All of them the Volcanoes National Park; offer spectacular views, while Kabuye, Kigali and Rubavu some add additional values. mountains; hills surrounding These are described below. the towns of Kigali,

THE BISOKE VOLCANO CLIMB

BISOKE VOLCANO. THIS IS WHERE I REMEMBERED THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCLIMATIZATION.

Bisoke volcano (3711 m; last normally a good climber. I eruption 1957) is located on realized only later that the the border of the DRC and tiredness was a result of the Rwanda, inside the Volcanoes altitude: indeed, it was the National Park. The trip starts first time in my life that I at 7 am and takes between 4-7 was climbing over 3000 metres, hours to complete. Permit costs and I was not well $90, and it is also necessary acclimatized. As a result, I to budget about $50-80 for car stopped at ¾ of the mountain, rental. while Morten, accompanied by three soldiers, reached the As it was low season, my travel crater (filled by a lake) on buddy (Morten, see below) and I the top of the mountain. The were the only tourists that climb was a lesson for me: in day. We were accompanied by six the future, I will know that I soldiers, a porter and a guide. will need proper Before reaching the top of the acclimatization before volcano, I started to feel embarking on climb or journey fatigued. First, it was at high altitudes. surprising for me, as I am

EUCALYPTUS HONEY TRIP AROUND LAKES BURERA AND RUHONDO

1. BEEHIVES IN RWANDA ARE OFTEN SUSPENDED HIGH IN THE TREES. 2. BUYING LOCALLY PRODUCED EUCALYPTUS HONEY. 3. CLIMBING THE HILLS SURROUNDING LAKE BURERA. 4. HYDRO POWER PLANT BETWEEN LAKES BURERA AND RUHONDO.

Lakes Burera and Ruhondo lie in appreciate local agriculture. the northwestern Rwanda, close In particular, I was enchanted to the town of by the buzz coming from Ruhengeri/Musanze, and are numerous beehives, made of wood connected by a hydro power and tree bark, suspended high plant. I visited them together on the trunks of eucalyptus with my Couchsurfing host. trees. I had a chance to observe the process of making The coasts of lake Burera, the charcoal using traditional bigger of the two, provide a methods, and was able to buy good spot for a relaxing day locally-produced eucalyptus off, while hills around them, honey (at a third of a covered in vegetation, help supermarket price).

CLIMBING MOUNT KABUYE

STORM IS COMING. VIEW FROM THE CAVE ON MOUNT KABUYE. At 2700 meters, Mount Kabuye, host. We were accompanied by a located nearby the road dozen children who guided us connecting Kigali and all the way to the top. There, Ruhengeri/Musanze, is the 10th we found what the blogs that I highest mountain in Rwanda. read did not mention: a cave, While not particularly high, it where we hid from the afternoon provides for a nice one-day rain, and where the children high, which I completed showed us deposits of salt. together with my Couchsurfing

ON MOUNT KABUYE.

CHIMPANZEE TREKKING IN GISAKURA (NYUNGWE FOREST)

CHIMPANZEES IN NYYNGWE FOREST. One of the highlights of my flora and fauna – including trip was the visit in the families of chimpanzees. Nyungwe Forest – the largest In general, due to most of swathe of tropical montane Rwanda’s lands being used for forest in this part of Africa, agriculture, it is not easy to home to a bewildering range of encounter wild animals – except for birds – outside national for approximately 5 hours. We parks. Chimp trekking in the reached the chimp family (which Nyungwe Forest ($90 permit + is semi-inhabituated, meaning $40-120 for car rental) they do not come too close to provides for an excellent people, but do not run away opportunity to observe big apes either) about 6am, when they in their natural habitat. The were waking up and starting to trek starts at 5am and lasts move around looking for food.

GENOCIDE REMEMBRANCE

MURAMBI GENOCIDE MEMORIAL. ABOUT 45,000 TUTSI WERE MURDERED HERE BY TEH INTERHAMWEE MILITIA. One of the goals of the trip to Kigali Genocide Memorial, Rwanda was to gain an Nyamata and Ntarama Genocide understanding of the causes of Memorials and the Murambi the Rwandan genocide and Genocide Memorial. Each of them appreciate its socio-political speaks to the tragedy and the consequences over 20 years scale of the violence that later through visiting occurred. Knowing the history memorials and speaking with of the Holocaust in Europe and local people. previous visits to former death camps sites did not prevent me Indeed, Rwanda is marked by the from being struck by the view experience of the genocide that of hundreds of mummified bodies swept across the country in the and thousands of skulls of the beginning of the 1990s and took victims. Conversations with lives of around a million of guides and available literature people. Today, signs of the help to understand the specific killings are still visible, and cultural and historical aspects there are over 300 genocide that led to the massacre. They remembrance places in the also allow for appreciating the country, including five with a transformation of the Rwandan status of national memorials. society following the genocide. Out of them, I visited the

PEOPLE AND COMMUNITY

SOME OF THE PEOPLE I MET IN RWANDA. Over the 16 days spent in Day 2, spent a few days Rwanda I met a great many traveling together, including interesting people (locals and on the Congo-Nile Trail and the foreigners), held hours of Bisoke Volcano. engaging conversations in In addition, I also met many English, French and Czech and locals as well as expats living made many new friends. in Kigali, Gisenyi, I started looking for contacts Kibuye/Karongi, in Rwanda months before setting Ruhengeri/Karongi and out on the trip. I did it using Cyangugu/Kamembe. While all my my existing networks, groups Couchsurfing experience in for expats on Facebook and, Rwanda was positive, I last but not least, particularly enjoyed staying in Couchsurfing. There, I Gisenyi, where I received a contacted Morten – a journalism very walm welcome at the Ubumwe student from Denmark – who was Community Centre – a place also planning a trip to Rwanda. where people with physical and We discussed our plans over mental disabilities can learn email and then, after meeting skills that allow them to lead in Kigali in the morning of my a sustainable life.

BUDGET SUBMITTED TO ETC (IN £) International travel 600 Local travel 40 Accommodation 80 Food 40 Equipment 100 Medical 25 Insurance 30 Other 470 Total 1405 Funding from other sources (obtained 0 / applied for) Personal contributions 270 Outstanding balance 1135 PLANNED (AFTER DECISION FROM THE ETC) International travel 600 Local travel 40 Accommodation 80 Food 40 Equipment 100 Medical 25 Insurance 30 Other (treks, donations) 180 Total 1095 Funding from ETC 685 Personal contributions 410

EXECUTED International travel 520 Local travel 75 Accommodation 63 Food 75 Equipment 300 Medical 30 Insurance 30 Other (treks; donations) 188 Total 1281 Funding from ETC 685 Personal contributions 596 COMMENTARY TO THE BUDGET • The total budget for the to do the trek and the trip closed at about budget was adjusted £1,300, therefore higher accordingly. than the projected £1095. The difference results mainly from the extended duration of the trip. • In the original budget, submitted to the ETC, I planned £450 for gorilla trekking; as the ETC grants do not cover buying into an experience, I decided not