From the volcano slopes we went forth to a very popular tourist destination - Lake Kivu, on the border between Rwanda and Congo. The tea plantations, bright green nature and a view of a beautiful lake were our escorts on the long and winding way towards the blushes fields. The word Kivu, in the native language, simply means lake, how unoriginal for such a gorgeous lake.
The people of Rwanda seemed very calm and friendly. They always had a few extra minutes to talk to the travelers. One of the travelers we talked to after visiting the gorillas, was also an Australian named Loki. He had been travelling the world for four years already, and on a bicycle to boot! He said he met a nurse from Catalonia on the way to Rwanda. This made Pere, the Catalonian in our group, very happy. Since we were passing that village, we decided to stop for a visit.
In a small mountain village, on the way to Kibuye, we found the hospital in question and asked about „our“ nurse. When the lady came and Pere started talking to her in fluent Catalan, she became quite uncomfortable, for she was from the Spanish Valladolid and had nothing to do with Catalonia. Still, she was very happy to see us and invited us forward.
We were offered coffee, pineapples, bananas and freshly baked bread. When I asked, if I could, as it would fit for a Spaniard, get a chorizo, she said “naturally”. And we chatted away, forgetting about time.
With all the beauty and experience we soaked up on the way to Kigali, we stopped at the memorial place of the Rwandan genocide. In 1994, according to some estimates, 20% of this small African country had lost their lives. Rwanda is just a bit larger than Slovenia and despite what I’ve seen, I can’t imagine what it had to be like here in that time. It was pretty hard to hold back the tears.
Since then I take news and propaganda with a lot of skepticism, for in majority it was the misuse of media to spread the hatred that caused the crises in Rwanda. For many people the local newspaper and radio are the only way to get to know the world.
After Rwanda we pressed forth to Tanzania. We came a bit too late to the border, so the official hours were over. Instead of looking for a hotel we decided to camp “out” in front of the border crossing in our cozy roof-top tent. This allowed us to clear all the formalities at the border early in the morning and headed toward one of the most famous parks in Africa – the Serengeti.
The first thing that has surprised us, was the crowd. In Kenya and Rwanda we’ve passed an off- road vehicle or two every few hours, but in Tanzania people were taking tourists around parks in buses and converted trucks. Viewing animals looses its charm, when there are ten groups of buses around a few lions.
The national park is huge and the landscape is very varied. The place that made the biggest impression on me was the Ngorongoro park, the center of which is an actual volcano crater you may enter only with a prior announcement. It’s a home to many zebras, lions and even rhinos. The way towards Arusha led us past a few lakes, and offered us many beautiful views of the ring of the crater.
Arusha is surrounded by national parks, so it was a place we knew we could buy some things and refill our car refrigerator. We stopped at the first shopping center and were surprised to see a Land Rover with the “Foley” label on the spare tire cover. And that one also had British license plates. Like westerners, we’ve met at the mall.
After Arusha we went forth toward the foot of Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. We didn’t plan to climb it, but we wished to make a small trekking expedition and see the volcano top from a safe distance. First day was unfortunately cloudy and since we didn’t even see Kilimanjaro, we decided to stay a bit longer. We found a small camp and talked about local history and current affairs with the camp owner. About how Jomo Kenyata wanted to unite the entire Eastern Africa, about Swedish agencies and their help to Tanzania, but also about the pointlessness of separatist opinions today - especially geographical separatism. A man of the world, no doubt, who surprised us with something, we’d not expect in an African camp – a sauna. Soon we were pouring water on hot rocks and sweated as though we were doing some hard labour.
After that we even had a nice barbecue under the Mt. Kilimanjaro, that really hit the spot after the sauna. We asked ourselves, how come we can have it so nice, and slowly rocked in the swings enjoying the fresh air.
It was getting dark, but still no sign of Kilimanjaro. Maybe tomorrow?
Translated by Borut Jurisic
