Sat 4th. Went upstairs for an early breakfast. They were still cleaning up from the night before so it took 20 minutes to get the same selection of fruit and an omelette this time. My rucksack was already packed and I went straight to the bus station. I paid my 2,000Rwf for the 08:30 on the Kigali bus, but it was full and I got a refund. I went to the Virunga booking office and paid my 2,000rwf for the 09:30. As we were waiting to board another bus reversed in and I got slightly trapped between 2 buses and shouted at the driver to stop reversing. I suspected that my seat no. 2 wouldn’t be worth the paper it was written on and it would be first come first served. I was right and ended up towards the back of the bus.
An excellent 2 and a quarter hour ride all the way to Musanze. A thing to note is that Musanze is a modern name but on the internet map it is known as Ruhengeri. Some nice views but a lot of very low cloud around. The hills are amazingly high with deep valleys…must check if they are hills or whether some can be classified as mountains.
After I came off the bus I was befriended by Collins. As Musanze was bigger than I expected, I figured I needed his help. He first took me to a cheap guest house where I’m paying 15,000..or £10 per night…no breakfast but am being brought some hot water to wash with in the morning. Then Collins and I walked to Migano for a great pot of African tea ( I had mine with honey) and to use some decent WiFi. We also discussed going to the twin lakes for half a day at a cost of 60,000 ($50)…or £40. I could manage that, unlike going to the volcanoes in gorilla country at a cost of over $200 I think. That’s just to climb the volcanoes…not going to see gorillas which us more like $750 plus… Also, I was told that to climb the Bisoke volcano (the one I was interested in) was a 4 hour hike up and 4 hours down. Not sure my knee could handle that.
We then had a nice walk to see where the volcanic eruption of 1952 had gouged out a channel for a river, and we walked over the lava that had been deposited during the eruption. Had a laugh with a couple of ladies who were harvesting potatoes.
Before that, we stopped at a little shop where Collins wanted me to try a banana beer. It was called a Musanze Banana based alcoholic beverage (14°) and tasted a bit more like a wine. And in fact it reminded me of the Ethiopian Tej , although that was Honey based. For the Musanze beer, green bananas are picked, then slightly buried and covered for a week, then collected (when yellow) and peeled, then put in a ‘ boat ‘, then with clean feet they are trodden on (mashed) to extract the banana juice. After adding water, sugar, sorghum and yeast, it is put into jerry cans and left to ferment for 2 weeks. Then finally carried by boda boda to the bottling plant. Very tasty.
Then back to the town centre and to the upstairs bar at Gravity Lounge where the English football had already started. We spent a very relaxing few hours there, with the volcanic mountains in the distance making occasional appearances when the clouds decided to lift. The bar got jam packed with customers…most of whom had come to see the Arsenal match at 19:30. A live band came on at about 18:30; they were pretty good.
We left before the football started, and Collins took me to a local restaurant where we had beans, chapati and isombe. Isombe is like a thick soup…based on some sort of vegetable…you add the beans to the isombe and eat it with a spoon. I had to add chillis to mine ..of course! The meal was absolutely delicious..just my kind of food. I’ve since read that the vegetable is the leaf of the cassava plant.
Collins showed me back to my lodging. I sneaked out across the road to a bar showing the Arsenal match. When that finished I went back to my lodging and to sleep.
Sun 5th. My bed was very comfortable. In the morning I was brought some hot water in a jerry can so was able to have a warm wash. I packed my little backpack for my hike to the Twin Lakes; as well as my hat I took my umbrella and rain jacket. Collins and I were meeting at Migano; I just about finished my African tea by the time he arrived. He had a tea as well, and after 9 we went to the bus park to catch a coaster to the lake. Well, not all the way, but after a 10 minute ride we had to catch a boda the rest of the way.
And so we reached L Ruhondo. After a little wait we took a boat with an outboard engine to an island inhabited by about 300 families. We stopped at a hotel. We had a walk half way around the island, by which time it had started raining…so, umbrella to the rescue. We returned to the hotel and waited for the rain to clear a bit then got the boat across to the hills that separate L Ruhondo and L Burera. We had a very steep climb…about 25 minutes…up a wet and slippery narrow path. I only had one minor slippage, and my lungs and knee had no problems whatsoever. The path levelled off a bit until we reached a road, and then L Burera came into view. Not quite as picturesque as Ruhondo.
There are 3 major differences between the Twin lakes. Ruhondo has lots of tilapia fish, while Burera has no fish at all. Burera has the Ugandan border running through it, and Ruhondo doesn’t have a border through it. And what’s more unusual is that Burera is high and Ruhondo is low despite only being separated by a single range of small hills. Burera is 150mtrs above Ruhondo.
We rested on the shore of Burera for a bit, before returning to the road and walking down it to meet a couple of boda bodas. We had to take 2 as its illegal in Rwanda to carry more than one passenger. Another difference with the rest of E Africa is that it’s mandatory for the passenger to wear a helmet. We were dropped off at a junction from where we had to get a coaster back into town.
We parted company at that point. I had a wander around. I bought a couple of samosas then spent time at Miganos over tea and WiFi. After 4:30 I went to Gravity to watch football and await a call from Phil. I watched the later match as well as I was enjoying the Sunday live band at the bar. On the way back to my guesthouse I stopped at a local, one room alcohol/drinks shop and bought a Musanze beer…couldn’t resist. Also bought a small bottle of coffee rum..sounded interesting..!!
Musanze is a pretty town looking towards the Virunga Mts. Shame about the clouds. But it was a calmer place to start to understand the Rwandan culture, and how things worked.