We departed O'Hare amidst utter weather chaos. Our inbound flight was delayed several hours, but American found a new plane and we departed right on schedule. Miraculously, we (each) packed everything into two completely legal carry-on bags.
Saturday, December 23
When we landed in Kigali it was dark, very dark, and lightly misting. We quickly changed from fleece that we'd been wearing since Chicago into hooded windbreakers that were on the top of our duffle bags. We descended the stairs and boarded a bus that drove literally 150 yards to the airport building. There was a door for VIPs and a door for everyone else - we selected the latter. Immigration was fast, and would have been twice as fast if they didn't write us each a personalized "happy holidays from the director of immigration" bookmark (addressed to our middle names).
Because we hadn't checked any luggage, we headed straight to customs where our bags were x-rayed (I don't remember having my bags x-rayed when leaving an airport before). There were several people holding signs that said "gorilla trekking" so we were a little confused, but a minute later we saw someone holding a sign with our name on it. There's a quote I read somewhere that says "the best thing about arriving in a foreign country is seeing someone holding a sign with your name on it" and I could definitely relate.
Vicky, our driver for the next four days, was parked right across the street, so we hopped in his vehicle (I think it was a Toyota Prado) and headed out. He spoke to the gate attendant in what was clearly not Swahili, and we learned it was Kinyarwando - the official language of Rwanda. He taught us how to say "how are you" (amakaruchi) and explained that many people also speak French, English, and Swahili, depending on where they live and what they do for work.
I asked how far it was to the Intercontinental and he said it was 5km and would take about 15 minutes. After this I learned to ask in time, because 1) I hate doing math to convert from kilometers to miles and 2) it all depends how fast you are driving. There were lots of people walking on the street and the street seemed to be well paved. We passed a roundabout that was called "the wedding roundabout" because people like to have their wedding pictures taken on it. We passed the Milles Collines - the entryway looked nice and I was wondering if we'd overreacted in upgrading to the Intercontinental (we had dinner there on our way back through Kigali and although the rooftop restaurant was nice, the hotel has seen better days - also noteworthy was stopping to buy fuel and having a street vendor try to sell us cigarettes, bottled water, or panic alarms).
The Intercontinental (which was sold to the Serena chain the week after our visit) is about 5 minutes from the Milles Collines on top of a hill in a very quiet area. We were shown to room 419 which overlooked the street. The room was very nice and the bathroom had a huge tub with good bath products, and plenty of clean fluffy towels. The air conditioning worked; there was international television, and also plenty of bottled water.
The main restaurant was closed so we went downstairs to the open air bar adjacent to the pool area which looked nice even though it was still raining. Andy had his first Primus beer and we both ordered burgers (the "local special" involved goat and I wasn't feeling adventurous). The burgers weren't too good and seemed to not have much meat, or have suspicious meat. The fries, however, were quite tasty.
Sunday, December 24
We slept until 6:30 which meant we had a solid 7 hours of sleep. There were lots of chirping birds outside, the rain had stopped, and there were high clouds. We went downstairs and had a nice breakfast at "The Diplomat" restaurant. We'd forgotten about the suspiciously white eggs that we'd noticed last year (I asked around when we returned, turns out it's grain fed vs. additives - they taste just fine by the way and are one of my favorite foods when traveling in this region).
Vicky was right on time and we loaded up the truck and headed out at 10am. We asked him about changing money and he said that the rate at the hotel wasn't good, but that he could take us to a bank, or we could use USD. As pathetic as it is, I really didn't want to go to a bank, and I really hate having to do math calculating how much something is so I'd rather pay a few percent more and use US. When I got money at the bank in the US, I painstakingly went through every single bill of the $900 cash to make sure all were relatively new and none were torn or taped. The teller was from Cameroon so he did not think I had lost my mind.
On the way out, Vicky highlighted some points of interest: maternity hospital, Unicef, Milles Collines, prison (which he pointed out is quite full), American Embassy, shopping area, mosque, and a very busy bus terminal. We passed through what looked like a nice section of town - the homes were set back behind tall fences that were topped with either barbed wire or jagged broken bottle glass. I noticed that motorcycles were used as taxis and was relieved to see people consistently wearing helmets.
Downtown Kigali
Rural Traffic
Countryside
The drive to Ruhengeri was mostly rolling hillsides, with more shades of green and more banana trees that you could possibly count. There was an insane amount of pedestrian traffic on the road. I found myself wondering where they were going and where they were coming from, since often times we hadn’t passed anything for miles, yet there was a steady stream of people; women carrying unbelievably large loads on their heads - sacks of potatoes, pottery, you name it – and men pushing bikes loaded down with as many yellow containers as possible. We passed stands where dead chickens were for sale, genocide memorials, and billboards emphasizing the importance of using condoms (I think the brand name Prudence).
Gorillas Nest Lodge
Room
Bathroom and shower shoes
After about 2 hours we arrived at the Mountain Gorilla Nest Lodge in Ruhengeri. We were assigned room 16 in the Visoke building (named after one of the volcanoes in the national park). The room was pretty basic - there was a bed, desk, closet, bathroom (with hot water and shower shoes), and a gorilla lamp. Outside we had a beautiful view over a gorge with volcanoes in the distance and crowned cranes and guinea fowl wandering about.
In the afternoons, a local group of entertainers (traditional singers, dancers, and acrobats) performed in the courtyard.
They actually did two different shows, including costume changes and a reenactment of the birth of Jesus (it was Christmas after all).
Still pictures really don't do their performance justice, so we shot some video so you can hear it as well.
The dining room is open-air and was therefore a little chilly, but warmed by coal pits. Food at the lodge was nothing to write about, but we didn't go hungry.
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