Kibuye Weekend

     Scott and I decided to have an adventure his first weekend here in Rwanda. I desperately attempted to borrow a car for the weekend but unfortunately I wasn't able to so our adventure included a lot of Rwandan busses. However, seeing how the roads here in Rwanda are so developed, it didn't take us too much more time to reach our destination than if we'd driven ourselves.

     Saturday about lunch time we headed off for Kibuye. Kibuye is a small town on Lake Kivu. I had seen the lake from Goma when I climbed Mt. Niryagongo at the end of January and it was beautiful. But this time we were going just to hang on the lake. The good news is that as we went on our way Scott and I both were able to keep our tendency for car sickness under control. We had beautiful weather on our way to Muhanga, where we switched busses. I told Scott that I thought Crayola had come to Rwanda when they were developing all their shades of green. There are just so many as you look out the windows of the bus. From dark jungle green to silvery shades, to the bright yellow-greens; I just love it.

     Once in Kibuye we by accident hopped off one stop early (this was all my fault) but grabbed two motos to our hotel. It was about a 15-20 minute ride, which I loved. I have really embraced the motorcycle passenger lifestyle. It's just so much fun. And being mzungu they never go too fast for me. Not exactly the safest mode of transport in the world, but you only live once, right?

Scott's moto behind mine coming down
the hill into Kibuye

As we came down the last hill to our hotel I was stunned. The view was absolutely gorgeous. We hopped off the motos and I smiled at the surprised looks of both visitors and staff. The manager wasn't at reception so the staff took us down to the deck and offered us beer. Naturally, we accepted. We were also hungry so we went ahead and ordered either an extremely late lunch or very early dinner. Though true to Rwandan fashion the food took a little time to come out. Fortunately, I never exposed Scott to the 2 hour wait for food that is possible here.

Cheers!

     Scott and I both snapped a bunch of photos as the sun set over the DRC. We were eventually joined by a few Europeans who work in Kigali for all sorts of organizations and we enjoyed a few laughs before we finally were shown to our hut. Our hut was cute, small, and had an amazing view. It also only had half a door to the bathroom. Interesting design choice. We settled in, lowered the mosquito nets around the bed as it was the bewitching hour and snapped a few more photos of the glass looking lake. The fishermen actually fish all night with light, which according to Scott is illegal in the States (I had no clue, but it makes sense) and they were headed out to start their nights work.

We went back down to the main deck and enjoyed lively conversation with the group until finally about 9 pm we called it quits. We did walk down to the lake shore before making the climb back to our room. I was happy to go to sleep early and the bed was so comfortable that I snuggled right in and fell asleep. It had been an incredibly relaxing afternoon and evening.

     In the morning, we were able to see more clearly that the fishing boats were all connected. We determined that they place the nets between the boats on the poles that are at the bow and stern. All night we were able to see lanterns dotting the lake and occasionally, we heard singing. The voices drifted over the water beautifully. There was a lot of singing at dawn as the sun slowly rose to the east, which indicated that the catch of the night had been good.

     Scott had managed to ask the group that we'd spent the evening what their plans were for the following day. We were invited/asked to join them on their boat trip out to Napoleon's Hat Island for a hike. Napoleon's Hat got it's name because of the shape of the island. And true to form, from a distance, it really did look like an old 1800's hat with points at both ends. It is about a 30 minute ride from our hotel and we truly had the most perfect weather for the day trip.

Approaching Napoleon's Hat Island

     The draw to Napoleon's Hat Island is that it is the home to thousands upon thousands of fruit bats. Back in September one morning at home the Three Musketeers (Vanessa, Julie, and I) witnessed a large amount of fruit bats flying around one Sunday morning while we enjoyed some breakfast on the porch. Napoleon's Hat put that hoard to shame. There were thousands upon thousands of them flying around in broad daylight, screeching and making all sorts of ruckus. Our boat guide went up into the forest and started clapping his hands to make them fly and did they ever.

We continued our hike up the hill and were feet from many of them. It was absolutely crazy. I know that many bats don't have good vision or are blind, but I'm thinking that fruit bats are one of the species that actually do have good vision because as we were going through the brush they definitely were looking right at us.

Fruit bats!

     The view from the top of Napoleon's Hat was unbelievable. We could see for miles. It was the absolutely most perfect day. We all made it to the top in one piece and enjoyed a few laughs and the spectacular views. It was as though we were on top of the world it was so beautiful. The water sparkled in different shades of blue and green and the sky was reflecting the brilliant colors of the water while large marshmallow clouds floated by.

Hiking to the top and feeling as though we were at the top of the world

The gang at the summit

     We eventually hiked down the other side of the island and jumped back into our wooden boat. The next stop was Amahoro (Peace) Island. This was the island that use to have a great camp, which has since been abandoned. It still makes for good swimming though. There is a little "bridge" of rock that connects the two sections of the island and since we discovered cows on one section we decided to switch to the other side. Scott decided that he would walk across the bridge and did so without slipping on the rocks. I probably would have wiped out. Apparently, cows swim (who knew) and that's how they managed to get out to this island. I was impressed. I guess I had never thought about cows swimming, but then again, other animals with skinny legs and big bodies swim, so why not cows? We spent a lovely 30-40 minutes swimming in the lake and catching some rays before we decided to head back to Rwiza Village.

Scott crossing the "bridge"

Rwiza Village from the water

     It was decided that by now, we were all hungry we would regroup and meet at Cormoran Lodge for lunch. As luck would have it, that is where Scott and I were planning on spending our second night in Kibuye. All of the HRHers have talked about it and said that we had to stay there, but by the time Scott knew exactly when he'd be arriving I wasn't able to make a reservation for both nights. So we stayed at two places. We checked out and then hopped motos for the 15 minute ride over to Cormoran. And boy was it a ride. The road leading up to the lodge was rather rocky and a bumpy ride. Not to mention there were hills with massive ruts that were difficult to avoid. Apparently, Scott ended up getting off his moto at one point and walking up one of the hills. I got the better driver and was fine. We arrived at Cormoran at 2 pm and checked in immediately. I swear they gave us the largest room they have. It was fabulous. The lodge was very different from Rwiza Village. It is located on a protected cove unlike Rwiza, which has a vast view of the lake, and according to Scott's engineering eyes, the Cormoran actually took some thought and planning when being built. There was a sandy area with nice umbrellas, several kayaks, and a dock leading into the water.

Room #1: On the right above the kayak storage

     We met the group back at the main house where we enjoyed a great albeit late lunch. A few drinks and a long meal later our new friends departed to head back to Kigali. Scott and I wandered back to our fortress and changed into our suits. By the time I made it down to the water he was already in and we had a nice time, despite Scott's slight paranoia that there may be crocodiles in the lake (there aren't). After showers and respective phone calls to our mothers to wish them Happy Mother's Day, I read on the deck while Scott took a snooze. Eventually, we walked back to the main house for dinner, where we became pretty convinced that we were on another couple's honeymoon. I don't think I've seen so much PDA since I moved here. It honestly surprised me. We made a few inquires about Scott taking a boat to Gisenyi the following day to continue his adventure, but unfortunately, the boat only ran on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Cormoran Lodge

     The quiet evening lead to another night of peaceful sleep, though I am convinced the bed was better at our first hotel. The next morning we were both up at sunrise and after a continental breakfast we decided to take one last dip in the lake before we left. It was cool that morning and we both sat on the end of the dock with our feet silently creating ripples over the glass water, enjoying the view, listening to the fishermen sing about their good catch of the night, and just being. Eventually, we got in and finally it was time to call the motos and head back to the reality of work for me, and for Scott to continue his trip.

We got extremely good at getting the best seats on the bus

     As it turns out, it was a good thing we left the lodge when we did because of course, despite being told by multiple people I could put Scott on a bus from Kibuye to Gisenyi, in reality I couldn't. So back to Muhanga he came with me. About 30 minutes from Muhanga our bus got a flat tire. That was definitely a first for me. But fortunately, our bus was actually carrying a spare and about 15-20 minutes later we were continuing our journey.

Scott inspecting the rock jack used to elevate the bus.

     Once we were back in Muhanga the first task was getting Scott on the bus to Gisenyi. I was estimating in my head that it would take a least 4 hours and that was if it went direct to Gisenyi and didn't stop in Musanze. Turns out the estimate given to us was 4.5 hours and the reality was actually 5 hours. I felt terrible when I found out how long it had taken. The consolation was that it is a beautiful drive. Anyhoo, Scott picked a good seat on the bus, I settled his ticket and then ran to grab him a few snacks from a store. He insisted that he was fine, but I'm guessing when he didn't get off the bus until 5:45 that night he was glad he'd had at least a little something. 

Scott's bus from mine in Muhanga

     I hopped my bus back to Butare, where I promptly worked through the night in preparation for International Nurses Day the following day. I started to get a little nervous when by 5:30 pm I still hadn't heard from Scott and was kicking myself for having forgotten my airtime to re-load my modem. I finally heard from him about 6:30 pm. He was safely in the DRC... yep, with 15 minutes to go he crossed the border and I immediately had flashbacks to my crazy border crossing back in early February. It turns out that it worked in his favor though. Scott had left his yellow fever card at my house and since everyone wanted to go home, they didn't check for it. He was safe and sound in his sixth country in 2.5 weeks. The following day he was going gorilla trekking followed by hiking Mt. Niryagongo while I needed to work. All in all, it was a most excellent weekend adventure even despite all the bus time.

Lessons Learned:

1) The weekends become much more relaxing when you don't plan them. Plans get screwed up, better to just not have one from the start... or at least a very loose plan.

2) Life is more fun when you have a friend to go exploring with you.