quick trip out of TZ...to Rwanda and Uganda!

Hey all! So the last week and a half have been the most jam-packed, exciting, and fun part of East Africa yet...yes, some friends and I took some time off work and decided to bus over to Uganda and Rwanda for a bit. It was absolutely amazing.

The team consisted of me, Claire (Aussie), Graham (UK), Amanda, and Kendyll (both Kiwi). We headed off on Wednesday afternoon from Moshi, TZ through Kenya to Jinja in Uganda. This took about 20hrs on two buses and added 4 stamps to the old passport. We rented bikes as soon as we got there and biked around town and the hills. The town is known for being an adventure capital as it is based at the head of the Nile River and hosts class 5 river rafting (of which I did not take part, mom, as I know i do not have proper insurance for that!). Its a very cute town and much less touristy than Moshi, so you are not attacked constantly by people trying to sell you things. Everyone speaks pretty good english as well and they are amazingly nice and helpful.

After one night in Jinja, we headed to Kampala, the Capital city and stayed there for 2 nights. We went out horseback riding on Lake Victoria and then made a day trip down to the equator (Uganda is one of only 10 countries through which the equator passes through). They had a cool little set up where you can really test the question about flushing a toilet in each hemisphere. Ans: Northern it flows clockwise, Southern: counterclockwise, and on the equator: it just goes straight town, no turning at all...

After this we headed to Rwanda, and spent an entire day in transit. The bus from Kampala to Kigali (Capital of Rwanda) is about 8 hr. We took a night bus and got there in the morning. Claire had decided to check Gorilla trekking off her bucket list, we we headed straight out to do that. We were really lucky its slow season as usually the $500+ tickets sell out months in advance...but we got one for the next day. So we grabbed another bus (2 hr) out of Kigali and headed to the countryside of Ruhengeri. This town borders the Volcano national park which is famous for its string of amazing volcanoes approx 3000-4000m high as well as the Gorillas (this is where Diane Fossey did her studies). We crashed as soon as we got there and curled up in blankets...this was a first in East Africa as usually we sweat ourselves to sleep.

The next morning we were up at 6 and headed to the park. The Kiwi's had decided to stay in the city (Kigali) and Claire was preparing to head out for Gorilla trekking. Me and Graham decided to go hiking (as we couldn't afford the Gorilla trek). We got to hike an amazing volcano and as it is slow season, we got to have the guide all to ourselves! Total altitude: 3800m+, the highest I've ever hiked before...my cheaper version of Kilimanjaro! It was a lot of fun and really hard. Also, there is a reason it is slow season...its muddy muddy muddy! We spent half the hike coming down on our butts and were covered completely by the time we made it back. Really cool experience though.

After two nights there we headed to Lake Kivu, which borders the DR Congo (we could see it on the other side). This is a beautiful town and kinda like a resort town for rich Rwandans. Many super nice hotels and pools...we stayed in a church for $1.50 a night. We spent the day wandering the beaches then got the guts up to check out the DRC, which was only a 2km walk from town. After peaking over the boarder, we decided to ask about visas (just curious mom, I swear I was not going to actually go in...) It was interesting though, cause they only give you a visa for the city as each city is pretty much run independent, so to move around you would need a ton of visas, and UN protection!

A night there and it was time to head back to Kigali (the Capital). We had had a lot of fun but it was time to go to the Genocide Memorial. It was an amazingly well done museum and included real photos of people lost as well as info on other Genocides around the world. They had 1/4 million people in a mass burial on the site of the memorial. Very moving.

At this point the mood was very somber and only Graham and I continued onward (agreeing to meet up with everyone at the hostel that night). We took a bus out of town about 45 min to a church memorial where another 5,000 people had been killed. It was so extremely real. Most western memorials are always slightly removed, behind glass casing, well organized, and deliberately thought out. This just was. They had clothes piled up on either side and in the rafters and almost 1,000 skulls just sitting on a shelf in the back. You could clearly see some of their causes of death.

We were very glad we had saved this for last, as we were ready to head home after that. The next morning we left Rwanda and went to Kabale, Uganda for a day. Claire had gotten sick so we couldn't travel too far just yet. This town revived our spirits with its beauty. In the south/west portion of the country, its labeled the 'Switzerland' of Uganda. Rolling hills fully terraced from top to bottom line the edges of a lake filled with little islands. It is all green and beautiful. Three little kids came up to play with us so we did cartwheels and farting sounds (yes, a very universal past-time) with them, overlooking the lake. It was a much needed refresher and we all felt much better after.

The next 2 days were travel home to Moshi. We all had work on Monday and had to fight to get back in time. We left Kabale at 5am on Saturday morning and were on buses almost 34 hr straight (literally running between buses). It took 4 buses and another 4 stamps to get back, we had 5 hr sitting on a bus not going anywhere (broken, police ck points, ect) or driving up and down main street for 2 hours to fill the bus (we don't drive until we are full...ahhhhh!!! a very frustrating trip).

But we made it back to Moshi just in time for dinner (of which we were very thankful) and then all jumped in the shower and went straight to bed. Now its back to teaching and we are all happy to stay in one place for a while. Overall, it was an absolutely amazing trip and I was so happy I got to go with such good travel buddies.

Best to all and thanks to our guardian angels that looked over us during our travels...