Guerrillas

So after a few hours of uploading the pictures, here they are.
When we first arrived in Rhuengeri back in February, we checked into our wonderful little guest house (with hot showers!) headed out to dinnner, and in the morning, headed up into the mountains to visit a pygmie village.



Pygmies are tribes and villages that used to live up in the forest. They preferred to live in the forest without clothes, technology, or outside human contact. They were primeval hunter gatherers.


(the inside of a hut, looking up)

However, with the ever growing protection of the gorillas, the pygmies were forced to abandon their homes in the forest and relocate to an area outside of the forest. Many pygmies still today are bitter and wish to return to their homes in the forest. But the government has slowly been trying to mesh them into society, encouraging them to send their children to schools and live like other Rwandans. They are reluctant, and do not get proper medical/hygenical care.






Visiting the village was a great experience, something we would have never seen back in the city. The people of the village danced and sang for us and were overall very joyful to have us visiting their village and photographing their beautiful faces.






The next day we were up at 4am to get breakfast and head off up the mountain to see the gorillas. We ended up visiting the Amahoro group, with our guide, Patience, and four other hikers.


The hike surprisingly didn't take too long. The group was close to the edge of the forest. We first hiked through some farmland, climbed over the stone wall that borders the entire forest throughout Rwanda, hiked up for 20 minutes or so through the forest, met our trackers, and there the were.

We got to see the baby of the tribe (below) along with the silverback/leader/king of the tribe (above) along with many other gorillas of the Amahoro group. We were able to get amazingly close, look into their eyes and watch them eat (and the baby dance on it's mother's back). It was a very rewarding, once in a life time experience!


After the gorilla hike we showered, napped, and then drove up to the Virunga Lodge which we had read was supposed to be beautiful and so we decided we'd make a visit. And beautiful it was, with amazing views of the Twin Lakes, Virunga Volcanoes, and all of Rhuengeri city. We drank Fantas and enjoyed the peaceful setting.



After our visit in Ruhengeri, we took another bus over to Gisenyi on Lake Kivu, to Paradis Malahide Hotel.



The hotel was so beautiful and relaxing. We saw amazing birds, lizards (above), and the way of life on the lake, something neither Sophia or I had ever seen in Rwanda.




Each morning while we drank coffee and munched on toast we would watch and hear the fishing boats coming in from their night on the lake. Each night we would hear them rowing out to the middle of lake, singing and chanting. There were also the small local fisherman in their small boats. It was a very cool sight and sound each day. About 6-8 boats went out each night, and stayed through the night, rain or shine! We were very reluctant to leave the beautiful oasis we found in Gisenyi, but the Nyungwe Forest awaited.





We had a short re-grouping in Kigali before we left for the forest. We were able to visit a friend of Glenn and Erika's (family we are staying with), who has a "Baby school". The students are aged 3-6. What a fun time we had with those kids. We ended up donating money to buy all of the students in the baby class, who didn't have uniforms, uniforms, so they didn't feel left out. The woman who runs the school, Teddy, is a wonderful woman with a lot of heart, she runs the school single-handedly on a very small budget. (sorry no pictures)


To get to Nyungwe we took a 5 hour car ride down south, to the Nyungwe Forest. While there we were able to see a group of Colobus Monkeys (below), many different birds, and take a walk through the rain forest. Another place neither Sophia or I had ever been to. Rwanda has so many different landscapes and eco-systems for such a small country!


Nyungwe was also a special place, and we wish it was closer to Kigali, so perhaps we could visit again. We met other Americans there, working as well as visiting the forest.

(A sleeping Colobus)



Overall, the trip with the Houston's was a fantastic one. It was so nice to be out of the hustle and heat of the city. It helped us remember where we grew up, in the rolling hills and mountains of Vermont, not in crowded metropolis.
It was a wonderful, relaxing mini-vacation. We met some fun people, saw amazing sights, and enjoyed the company of eachother.
Rwanda really is an amazing and gorgeous country. As Patience (gorilla guide) reminded us after the hike, "tell people about Rwanda, tell them how beautiful is, how much it has to offer."

And it's true. We really had a great trip. Thanks to Ned and Alex for coming!
Enjoy the photos!