Rwanda you blew our socks off! Although we only spent 10 days in Rwanda it currently ranks as our favorite country on this journey (after Mozambique for which we just have a soft spot). Every hour of every single day something impressed us, whether it be the proud and functioning civil society; the communities caring for each other; Happy children running with a bounce in their step, How random adults will help small little children (dressed in neat school uniforms) to cross the road; Adults moving about with vigor, Pretty gardens everywhere; Zero litter or even leaves in gutters, Smooth roads with fresh paint markings throughout. We could go on and on but really it has to be seen to be appreciated.
Our border crossing at Cyanika was perhaps even easier than the one from Tanzania to Kenya a couple of months ago and already on the Uganda side we got a taste of what to expect, money touts who politely asked if we needed money and didn’t hassle us when we said no but rather helped us navigate the various buildings you are required to visit in order to cancel the Carnet and get stamped out. Once through the Uganda side you need to remember to cross over the road as Rwanda is a Right Hand Drive country.
Rwanda is a land of curves and passes which naturally means stunning scenery but also slow driving and so the 120km’s to Kigali took quite sometime but we weren’t complaining as we marvelled at the scenery or how in the middle of nowhere there would be somebody tidying up a little section of the road. We probably drove over 5 -6 mountain passes and on each one we saw small pelotons of cyclists out training, we doubt it will be long until Rwanda has a cyclist challenging for the polka dot jersey in the Tour de France.
Another sign that the country is more advanced was upon entering Kigali and noticing how all the BodoBoda riders have helmets on, including their passengers, that and the fact that the traffic lights not only work but have count down timers on them. The traffic however is still pretty chaotic which combined with driving on the “wrong side” of the road means you need to be super vigilant. One of Stuart’s ex-colleagues (Dion Thompson) had kindly invited us to stay with him so we quickly stopped at his house and loaded up the washing machine before heading out to find a supermarket, bank and place to obtain a local SIM card.
Over the next 4 days, courtesy of Dions wonderful hospitality we got to see how vibrant, modern and metropolitan Kigali is. This is something we would have no doubt missed out on if just on our own. Of course no visit to Rwanda is complete without visiting the various genocide museums and so while Dion was at work we took ourselves off to the Genocide Memorial monument. The tour makes for a very emotional and quite draining 4hours. It is absolutely horrific to see the atrocities and hatred mankind is capable of and how the world pretty much looked the other way while it took place but then on the other hand it is amazing to witness how the country and people have rebuilt themselves over the last 25 years and in fact overtaken all of their neighbors in terms of development.
Perhaps due to a lack of planning (or because it doesn’t really matter whether you have carefully plotted a route or not when traveling like this) upon leaving Dion we ended up driving back over the some mountain passes we had crossed on our way in. Our destination was Red Rocks campsite on the way to Gisenyi, which one review in iOverlander describes it as “the most backpackeresque place we have been to in Africa. It ticks all the boxes with graffiti, guests with dreadlocks and weed smoke”, as well as that they support the local arts community and have a small recording studio on site. So we were expecting something different but it exceeded our expectations as Mr Jones got a starring role in a music video shoot. #MrJonesFanClub
When we arrived a crew was busy setting up to film a love song by a Rwandan artist called Edouce Softman, after shooting the first scene the videographer come over too admire Mr Jones and to ask if we would mind if they took a few shots with him as the background. Who are we to say No! Over the next 4 hours they shot various scenes and now we are holding thumbs to see if Mr Jones makes the final cut for his song “Ni Wowe”.
Our own #behindthescenes video of Edouce Softman: Ni Wowe
After the excitement of the film shoot a few days of relaxation on the shores of Lake Kivu was called for. Lake Kivu as with many of the other Rift Valley lakes is just huge, covering over 2700 square kilometres and being more then 450m deep. Across it’s waters is the Democratic Republic of Congo which is a stark reminder of how one country can rise up in 25 years and another can just slip further into darkness.
The drive around the lake and down to the camping areas we stayed at once again provided many slack jawed moments as we marveled at the scenery and tidiness of the rural areas. Most of the lake’s shoreline consists of steep hills covered in tropical forest, with little coves everywhere and the water dotted with multiple tiny islands. If we had to choose to live on a lake this one would currently be top contender.
Of course the campsites were once again nothing special and usually a study in contrasts, such as our first two nights were we camped in the backyard of a small guesthouse next to the staff kitchen and had a nightly audience to our own food preparation. In fairness they probably sat on that wall every night and chatted, we and Mr J just added something new to talk about. The stark contrast is evident as you step around the building onto the lakeshore and the most stunning views.
Further down the lake, we stayed in the grounds of a hotel but for a change we weren’t in the back and probably had the best view of all, parked down on the lakeshore lawns were lunch and drinks were served for the hotel guests. Of course Mr Jones did his best to grab the limelight, this time Stuart snapped a pic back of another fan club member as they passed by on a water taxi. A few minutes later Mr Jones latest fan club members (Francois & Benoit) had disembarked and had invited themselves on a tour of our living quarters.
A common activity that many lodges and campgrounds (throughout Africa) offer is a “cultural tour” of the local village where they take you on a walk through the village and you get to see and take pictures of the villagers going about their daily business, this has got us to thinking that perhaps we should create our own activities list: USD5 for a pic of us and Mr J or USD10 for a “cultural tour of him. If we had done this from the start we could have avoided drinking box wine or alternatively paid for half the trip by now. #MrJonesFanClub
Leaving Lake Kivu and the little town of Kibuye the Rwanda slack jawed moment’s continued, this time because the road deteriorated and was a potholed and gravel mess equalled with scruffy villages. The contrast to the Rwanda we had got used was so stark that it almost felt like this little section had been neglected or overlooked in Rwanda’s rejuvenation. Why would this be when the rest of the country has come so far? Also the people in the area generally appeared poorer and more apathetic, is that a sign of what poor infrastructure does?
Our intended destination for the day was a spot about 100km short of the Tanzania border so that we could get across the border early and have plenty of time to deal with what we had heard were terrible roads on the Tanzania side. To get there though we had to pass through Kigali once again and so having found a German butchery previously who supplied good quality and reasonably priced meat we made a stop to fill-up the freezer.
Since entering Rwanda we had noticed a small vibration coming through the car usually when powering up a hill or riding against the gears on a downhill and as we left Kigali this seemed to be getting worse so upon arriving at our overnight destination the rest of the daylight hours were spent trying to diagnose the issue. Not having a wealth of mechanical knowledge can make figuring out such issues a challenge but thanks to modern technology it is certainly easier these days. Having spotted some suspicious items Stuart sent off an email to the mechanic who has maintained Mr j over the years hoping to get a reply even though it was approaching 5pm on a Friday, thankfully Marc come back quickly with some advice. In the meantime a very suspect Universal Joint on the rear prop shaft was found and as it was now rather late, we turned to a Landrover facebook group and searched past discussions. This seemed to confirm that it was most likely the UJ causing the vibrations which fortunately we are carrying a spare for. The next days planned border crossing was scrapped for a maintenance day.
At first we attempted to do the repair ourselves but after struggling with the prop shaft bolts Stuart called it quits and we decided to rather take a slow drive back to Kigali and find a garage their. A call was made to Dion to see if he could find a suitable garage and in doing so we discovered it was UMUGANDA day and therefore everything would be closed until 11.
Umaganda which loosely means “coming together in common purpose to achieve an outcome” is a mandatory program on the last Saturday of each month which has been in place for the last 10 years. From 8:00 to 11:00 all businesses are closed, cars are kept off the streets and Rwandans come together in their neighbourhood to try and make it a little bit better than it was the month before. The evidence speaks for itself although it is not without some controversy as a lack of participation can result in a fine or even arrest.
We had just resigned ourselves to sitting on the side of the road waiting for 11:00 when a singular car drove past so we decided to risk it and follow, a few kilometres down the road at a traffic circle the police pulled over the Rwandan car but allowed us to pass. It turns out that while on Umaganda day Rwandans may not drive prior to 11:00 foreigners can and so for most of the journey back into Kigali we enjoyed blissfully quite roads. Upon arriving back in Kigali we had not yet heard back from Dion so first tried two garages marked on iOverlander but both were closed for the weekend, thankfully shortly thereafter Dions contacts come through with a garage that was open.
Mr Service Ltd is located down a dingy backroad and the first impression of the yard is not great but the Turkish owner and his staff were super helpful and professional and in just over an hour they had removed and refitted the prop shaft. Once again #MrJonesFanClub emerged, this time in the context of a small bidding contest between the owner and one of his customers for an offer on Mr Jones. We had a guaranteed offer of USD30k for him, not bad considering he is 25 years old, and an off the charts one of USD100k! Before temptation got the better of us we made a hasty retreat back to Dion’s house.
There didn’t seem any point overnighting once again closer to the border and so we made an early start from Dion’s knowing a long day was ahead of us, in the end it was 12 very eventful hours! The first drama of the day was a duplicate credit card transaction for fuel at a very smart Engen garage. We literally did not have a single franc in cash left on us so chose Engen as you could pay with your card but having driven away Stuart had a nagging suspicion that all was not in order, so an hour down the road we stopped and checked the banking app. Once again modern technology come into play as we chatted to the bank via the app on our phones and then filled in, signed and logged a dispute via the laptop and email. All done from the side of the road.
Once back on the road we were soon at the border only to be confronted with our next drama of the day, our stay in Rwanda was technically illegal! We had been given a 90 day stay upon entry and paid no visa fees, which it turns out is only allowed for those traveling on a diplomatic passport. After much back and forth we were told we had to go back to the Rwandan side of immigration, get a different stamp and pay for a visa. At any other African border post an issue like this would have opened us up to all sorts of potential issues but not in Rwanda were they were only intent on making sure the rules were applied correctly.
The border with Tanzania is a “one-stop” one but with offices on each side of a large river and depending on which direction you are going you use one or the other for both passport controls. In principle this works fine if you are heading in one direction only but in our case we now had to go against the flow of traffic twice in order to go back to Rwanda, get our visa and then back to Tanzania to follow normal emigration processes. Added to the above was that once all this was complete the Tanzanian official to whom we needed to pay road tax was on lunch and so we had to “wait”.
Leaving the border you are given one last reminder of the stark contrast between Rwanda and most other African countries, within 100m the road deteriorates into a potholed nightmare. As somebody prior to us had described it: “it is so bad the potholes resemble bomb craters”. More on that and the couple of remaining dramas for the day to follow in the Western Tanzania blog.
Africa is a beautiful continent and has much to offer but in our opinion for it to be truly wonderful, a giant leap forward is still required and Rwanda gave us a glimpse of how that may be even possible in the space of 2 decades. At the risk of repeating ourselves below is some of the impressions which really stood out as different to most of the other countries we have visited so far:
- A proud and functioning civil society
- Communities caring for each other
- Happy children running with a bounce in their step
- How random adults will help small little children (dressed in neat school uniforms) to cross the road
- Adults moving about with vigor
- Bicycles used as bicycles (even if transporting a load) and not just pushbikes
- Productivity – Even in small or rural villages, people always appear busy, not just standing or sitting around talking away the day
- Pretty gardens everywhere
- Zero litter or even leaves in gutters
- Somebody is always cleaning or tidying up the roadside (even on remote dirt roads)
- Smooth roads with fresh paint markings throughout
- Apart from the one exception, were road maintenance is required it is done by professional looking crews
- A clean and smart capital city
- A modern metropolitan and vibey culture in Kigali
- Functioning street lights even in small towns
- Traffic lights which work, have count down lights on them and are obeyed
- Adherence to the law (Boda boda riders with helmets, water taxis with life jackets)
- A society that partakes in physical activity for pleasure (cycling clubs, running groups, walking groups, basketball courts, etc)
For sure we did not spend long enough in Rwanda to get a holistic view of it and there must be negative sides to it as well nonetheless the positives made a big impression.
Links to other sections of the blog relating to our time in Rwanda:
Captain(s) Log – January A glimpse into the emotions of life on the road
Maintenance log: A list of what it takes to keep us and Mr Jones on the road
