Pictures of you
on Rose Hardman (Rwanda), 03/Jan/2011 10:34, 34 days ago
It's going to take me a long time to write up everything that Pete and I did and saw over the Christmas and New Year period so for now here is our trip in pictures...Pete was delayed 14 hours because of the snow. He arrived at 2am on the day we were supposed to be seeing the gorillas.We were picked up and driven to Musanze through the night. Despite not having slept for 36 hours (Pete) and 24 hours (me) the gorillas were amazing and worth staying awake for.We then met a friend of Roisin's (not in picture!) to collect the keys to Roisin's house (she was very kindly letting us stay). At this point Pete was almost falling over with tiredness.We spent a couple of days in Ruhengeri, sleeping, eating pizza, visiting the market, trying to spot volcanoes through the clouds.We headed to Gisenyi on Christmas Eve. We stayed at Paradis Malahide which was gorgeous and amazing.We watched and listened to the fisherman going out to fish on Christmas Eve.It didn't feel like Christmas despite the decorations.We had Christmas breakfast at the Serena Hotel. It was all you can eat buffet and was amazing. I think I'm eating cheese here. They had an actual cheese selection!We then visited the DRC/Rwanda border. I didn't cross the border VSO, I promise!In the afternoon we joined some of the other guests on a boat trip round the local islands.We visited some beautiful islands and saw the natural hot springs where a group of children were cooking a potato (not pictured!) The sound track to this particular excursion was BOB, Airplanes as it blared out on repeat.Our lovely accommodation in Gisenyi. On boxing day we headed to Kigali. I have no pictures of Kigali so will instead add more pictures of Paradis Malahide.The view from our room in Paradis Malahide, Gisenyi. In Kigali we were going to go and eat at La Gallette for lunch but it was too hot so we collapsed in Bourbon. In the evening we walked around for hours trying to find Papyrus but it turns out the map in the guide book is wrong so instead we returned to Bourbon. I didn't really show Pete the sights of Kigali although he seemed to enjoy the walk.On the 27th December we headed to Nyungwe Forest. It took about 4 and a half hours from Kigali which was really good timing. We relaxed in the afternoon and ate a massive dinner as provided by Gisakura Guest House.The following day we trekked to see the tea plantations and colobus monkeysOur guide, Emy, was very good and was determined that we would see the monkeys.Which we did.In the afternoon Heather and Julia(2) arrived after a rather epic journey from Gitarama. They stayed at our guest house for dinner. It was lovely to see them and catch up. The next day the four of us did the waterfall walk.Despite being reassured it was an easy walk, it was anything but. However the waterfall at the end was worth it (if you managed to ignore the fact that we had to return the same way we'd come!)We went to Heather and Julia(2)'s guest house for dinner. It was really nice food and we played cards which was a lot of fun.The following morning some monkeys joined us for breakfast.We then had a VERY long bus journey back to Gitarama where we went for dinner in the White House and then fell asleep exhausted.We went to Kigali for New Year. I forgot to take photos so instead took one of my arm where I had written the two ways of saying Happy New Year in Kinyarwanda.We went for a meal with lots of other vols at Sole Lunya and then went to dance at Papyrus. The next day we met for brunch in Bourbon and then went for dinner at La Planete. It was lovely to see everyone and was a brilliant New Year's Eve. The picture is of a letter that was on the back of our door in our accommodation. It was from 2007 and was from 2 Japanese girls who were thanking 'Papa' for the 'fruit'. UMWAKA MUSHYA MUHIRE!