What a change from the deserts in the south, the hills went on and on and were covered with lush vegetation while the waterfall thundered with raging red-brown water.
We left at the time they said they would leave and the bus was not even half full. At each small town we pulled into the well laid out bus stations and dropped off passengers who were connecting with minivans to go to some of the mountain villages. Rwanda felt instantly well organised and the transport sysytem was working well for the locals.
The houses in the villages near the main sealed road had corrugated iron roofs and were neatly plastered and brightly painted. There were small gardens with cropped hedges and flowers in the garden all giving the impression that the Rwandans were proud of their communities. It was unlike anything we have seen for a long time.
In Kigali we rolled into a street full of minivans and had a short walk to our hotel. A young guy from the bus offered to showed us where to go and he told us he had a Rwandan mum and an Italian dad and had been living in Kigali for 4 years. He was working with a foundation for street kids. He was going to email us to visit the project but we never heard from him which was a shame.
The hotel was not far from everything we needed. It was set down a hill and away from the busy noisy street so we had a restful stay. Kigali, with a population of about one million, spreads out over rolling ridges, hills and valleys so we could get a great view from the balcony on our room across the city.
Place de l'Unite NationaleWe enjoyed the cooler 24 degree temperatures and with only a short walk to the ATM at the Ecobank for money, and then to the national park office for our gorilla permits, and a downhill stroll to the MTN shop to get data for our mobile internet connection, we were done with all our business in under 2 hours. Opposite the MTN was a supermarket where we could buy pastries from the bakery, fruit from the vege section and restock on washing powder, coffee, toothpaste etc. That in itself is a major achievement but to do it all without having to use public transport and in such a short time is not far off a miracle in an African city!
The view from our hotel.
The hotel had satelite TV so we were able to see John Keys, the NZ Prime Minister, with sad news about the Pike River miners' deaths in a second explosion in the South Island coal mine.
We visited the Kigali Memorial Centre by local minibus. It had a very well laid out display recounting the history of the Rwandan genocide with the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. The most enlightening section was that documenting the role of the colonising Germans, then the Belgians
and the parts they played leading up to the atrocities. The second part of the exhibit was a brief display of other 20th century genocides: Jews, Armenians, Kosovo, Bosnia, Cambodia. We realised that we had been to genocide memorials for all these groups except the Armenians. As always it is a sobering experience.
Motorbike taxis are the quickest way to get about. These guys wear vests with their registration number, have the number painted on their bike and helmets. They, by law, have to have helmets for their passengers. Compared with Asia it seems they only take one passenger rather than than the 5 or so Asians carry.
Rwanda has done a remarkable job getting the country to where it is today since the atrocities of 1994 and while they have moved on and no longer refer to separate tribes and call all ethnic groups Rwandans, many outsiders still think of Rwanda as a country at war. We saw many business people from Western countries in Rwanda. There is a lot of construction of huge offices going on in Kigali and except for a few begging children with deformed limbs, most people were well dressed and spending up a storm.
Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa with 9 million people and it is tiny. The government wants the refugees who fled to Tanzania, DRC, Burundi, and Uganda to return home. This will surely put a lot of pressure on the ability of the country to provide for its inhabitants without aid. Rwanda's relationship with these neighbours is at times tense and the number of non-government organisations working in the country are apparent in every small community.
Christians form the largest religious group with many of the churches being the American evangelical ones. Each religious group likes to advertise in its shop, hotel, restaurant, on its bus, motorcycle, car or taxi. When we meet people we are asked about our religious views. When we say good bye we are are always given a blessing by whatever god it is they believe in.
We felt safe wherever we went in Kigale and generally people left us alone but were happy to help us of we needed it. People who don't speak English often speak French so we have had to get the little French phrasebook out and delve deep into the memory banks for any fragments of French we still have from our high school days.
