#46 – Dec 12th 2007

Erupting volcanoes and rebel fire…

I ended my last entry with Austin, Owen, and I touring the Kigali Memorial Centre. After that sobering experience we decided to get out of the city in hopes of seeing more of Rwanda’s countryside. We had read that Gisenyi, a small town on the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) border, had long stretches of beach beside Lake Kivu. After enjoying a sunset beer and some local grub we stuffed ourselves backpacks and all into a local taxi bus and spent the next three hours in awe over the luscious green mountains, seriously regretting the pre-trip bevies. Austin and Owen chatted to a local in a jumbled mix of French and English about recent events in the world of European football while I soaked up the Rwandan landscape. As we climbed higher and higher across the rolling hills I noted that the village houses were all surrounded by beautiful flower gardens and neatly swept yards. The areas of Rwanda we saw were generally cleaner than any places I’ve visited in Uganda.

Darkness fell before we reached the lakeside town. Heads leaning out the window enjoying the cold breeze coming off the lake, Austin and I noticed a fiery red glow emanating from the mountain-top clouds. Curious, we asked the woman beside us who explained that the mountain was actually a volcano, active for the past week. It had previously erupted in 2002, draping the neighboring town in lava, creating a mini-Pompeii. Once we knew what we were looking at we couldn’t remove our eyes from the surging crimson plume.

Later that evening we caught an English Premier League football match at a local hotel then took a walk along the moonlit beach. Guards toting French assault rifles followed a short distance behind, making us painfully aware of the security risks in the area. As we talked to security guards, restaurant attendants and locals we realized that things were a little more insecure than we’d initially thought. Congolese rebel forces a short distance across the Rwandan border are wreaking havoc on civilian populations within the scope of a civil war that has been raging in the DRC for many years. Ugandan, Rwandan and United Nations forces are involved in the fray, although the conflict has yet to travel across the border. As we were walking along the beach that night, machine gunfire rocketed into the air just up the hill, Rwandese soldiers firing warningly at Congolese rebels passing across the lake that separates the two countries. Even for Austin and Owen, who live near a military rifle range in Brentwood Bay, the sound was shocking. My initial wonder was quickly replaced by slight panic as we were quickly escorted back into the hotel.

After a long beach walk the following morning and an afternoon spent enjoying cold brews and deep-fried Talapia at a local joint uniquely named Bikini Tam Tam, we decided that erupting volcanoes and gunfire wrapped up our trip nicely and it was time to head home. We spent one more night in Kigali then choose a slower mode of transport back into Uganda, taxiing across the border and spending the night in Kabale before heading back to Kampala on the Post Bus. It was far more relaxing than our death-defying ride into Rwanda and we had already experienced just about enough excitement for one trip.

~Nicole