Hello dear readers! I write this morning from our room in the beautiful Serena Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda. Our traveling companions, Mae Blanchard and her sister Tracy Godey, left last night. We leave tonight at 11:30. So we are basking in the afterglow of a fabulous experience and resting for our next stop in Spain. This trip has been a once in a lifetime on many levels.
Firstly, a bit about Rwanda. Known as the Land of 1000 Hills, it lives up to the name. Whether walking, biking, or motoring, you are traveling either uphill or downhill! As our guide Dalida said, Rwandans aspiring to be a personal trainer are bound to fail as most folks get a six pack simply working every day. This country absolutely loves their president, who has been reelected every time since he took office after the 1994 genocide that decimated this country. He has helped heal, unify, and bring prosperity back. The government invests heavily in its rural communities, as we drive around the country, every available piece of land is cultivated. They worked across the country to identify the specific soil and terrain of the area, invested in start up seeds, brought water and healthcare. All children are REQUIRED to go to school and schools are everywhere filled with adorable and friendly children. To instill personal and country pride, they have a monthly community clean up day, where every person, including the president, get outside and clean up the streets, picking up trash, pulling weeds, sweeping sidewalks! And they are 100% committed to conserving the wildlife that live within their borders. With four national parks, each fully staffed with security, wildlife trackers, a strict no hunting policy and anti-poaching staff, they are able to help endangered species recover. They have been successful with the mountain gorillas, and are now working with the rhinoceros population. We came for the gorillas, and fell in love with the country!
After visiting the Kigali Genocide and Belgian Peacekeepers Memorials for a humbling education of just how recently this country was in chaos, we drove west to Nyungwe National Park for a chimpanzee trek. First we checked into our luxurious resort, the One&Only Nyungwe. Wow did we feel spoiled! The itinerary called for a morning trek to the chimps and an afternoon hike in the canopy. But for us, the chimps played hard to get. After we visited Big Daddy at the nest site, we went on a mad, muddy dash to find the rest of of the family. It was steep and scary and ultimately a fruitless hike. We spent so much time trying to find those chimps, we weren’t able to get our canopy hike in. A little disappointing, but probably for the best. The afternoon turned out to be quite rainy! We had porters with us to carry our bags which we all scoffed at, after all we are all practiced hikers. Turns out they were worth every penny. I was so happy to have someone hold my hand and on one occasion pick me up off the ground. That hike was exhausting and had us all more than a bit concerned about the gorilla trek!
The next morning we drove north to Volcanoes National Park. It’s a six hour drive up and down two lane roads with a mandatory and well monitored speed limit of about 48 miles an hour. The country has implemented an electronic speed check system, so you can’t drive fast because you don’t see a policemen. Fines come immediately to your cellphone if you are caught speeding. There was so much to see along the drive that it didn’t matter, it goes so fast and before we knew it we were being welcomed at our next hotel, the Wilderness Sabyinyo. After the drive, we didn’t mind the 108 steps uphill to the reception area, at 4200 feet elevation. Well, they didn’t. At any rate, the suites we were in made it all worthwhile!
We headed off to the gorillas amped up on adrenaline and anticipating an exhausting hike. But we got lucky. Our gorilla family we were assigned to was very accommodating, hanging out about a mile from the park entrance as if they were waiting for us. And then began the most magical adventure of the trip. There is no way to describe accurately how close you are to these fascinating animals. They watch you with as much curiosity as we watch them. They pose and tolerate us until our hour is up, then make it clear our welcome is over. Dale was tagged three times by the juveniles, guess they sensed his Silverback status among us! Mae and I both got brushed as one of them wanted to get past us on the trail. It’s clear that the country knows the value of these animals and are committed to their continued health. We are honored to have had our chance to spend some time with them!
We also visited the learning campus Ellen Degeneres built to continue what was started by Dian Fossey. It was so well done. Documenting Dian, the gorilla families, the people working so hard to keep the numbers growing. Well done Ellen! Thank you for caring so much!
the next day we trekked to spend time with the Golden Monkeys. It was raining at first, keeping the monkeys high in the trees. When it dried out and they came down to the ground, again, how magical to be so close! We completed our stay with a tour through the village that our resort supports. Definitely more of our stereotypical imaginings of an African Village, but still, everyone was happy, respectful, clean and we felt safe the whole time. And we weren’t done yet!
Our next day of travel took us east to Akagera National Park for our days of a more traditional safari trek. After checking into our glamping tent on the shores of Lake Rwanyakazinga , we started off to find the Big Five with a cruise. We were “lucky” enough to witness the sad side of nature when a male hippo managed to get a hold of a baby male and kill it. It was not a happy sight. Took some of the hippo cuteness factor away, but hippos are clearly not endangered, and we were able to see many other little babies with their mom elsewhere. All I can do to express the joy we had finding all these glorious creatures is share just a handful of the pics we took!
Dear readers, do yourself a favor. Make the trip to Rwanda. Take your time, see the country, don’t rush through or just stop for the gorillas. This place is magnificent and there is so much we can learn from the people and the government here. All of us felt a desire to return, but if we can convince some of you to visit then we are happy. We traveled with Boundless Journeys. This was our second trip with this group and both were first class trips! For now, it’s time to get ready for Spain. As always, I am grateful for all of you. Lady Wanderingwise says so long.
Weise's Wanderings 
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