A Visit to Nyungwe Rainforest

A double collared Sunbird perches in the garden outside our hotel window at Nyungwe forest lodge in Rwanda.

In my last posting I mentioned that the kids were on vacation the following week and that we were going to take them to Rwanda with us for a business and pleasure trip.   We have, at this point returned, in fact we came back this past Thursday and I will be assuming my travel agent persona to talk about our trip to the Nyungwe rainforest.

Although Rwanda is not a large country it features several temperate zones, from the savannah, typical of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, in the east, volcanoes and ‘gorillas in the mist’ in the north, and picturesque lake Kivu and an extensive area of rainforest parkland in the east.

The Nyungwe rainforest is a protected area and because it was one of the very few places on the African continent that did not freeze over in the ice age, it features a huge amount of biodiversity and more than half of all the animals in the continent are represented there.

Sadly man has played a role in the eradication of several species, including the mountain elephant (the last one was shot in 1999).  But at this time Rwanda is working hard to protect it as a natural park which offers some opportunities for tourism including chimp tracking, bird watching, a canopy walk, and some other hikes to various natural wonders within. 

Rebecca and I did not want to leave the region without ever seeing the forest, but it is not exactly on the direct route to Kigali so we had not seen it.

This time, however, we went up the western route passed the border with Bukavu, DRC and continued into the forest.  It was about a 4 hour trip from our house in Bujumbura.

We had called ahead and booked rooms at two places, one for each of two nights.  The first one, a hotel called Top View was quite new, and featured a large round central reception and restaurant building that resembles a giant traditional hut, and about a dozen bungalows with a queen bed, and separate living room and fireplace.  The rooms would have made perfect honeymoon suites and if your idea of a honeymoon is a very high remote place looking down on a Central African rainforest, this is the place for you. 

The hotel was pricey and we had initially rejected even going, but when we declined on the phone, the manager asked us how much we would be willing to pay, and we agreed on a reasonable price for the 4 of us for one night.

The fact that he was so willing to negotiate made me suspect that they are having a bit of trouble filling it, which was the case.  When we arrived, I could see some of the reasons why. 

Although the hotel aspires to be a five star venue and has many of the necessary features, the spectacular view being chief among them, but there are some key features missing.  The first and most obvious is the road leading up to the hotel.  It is about a half kilometer of dirt path that passes within inches of houses in a local village and climbs at nearly a 45 degree angle.  Even with our 4X4 we had trouble climbing to the top.  If it would have been raining or if we would have met someone on the way down, we would have been greatly delayed.  (It is not  wide enough to pass a vehicle.)

The manager told us the place was built in anticipation of a new road which had thus far had construction blocked by the local villagers who live along the route.

Getting to the top certainly seemed worth it, considering the view, but not if you had to go up several times per day for various excursions into the forest.

The service is very good, and quite labor intensive as staff have to travel several hundred meters from the main building to bungalows to bring tea, light fires in the fireplace, deliver messages, etc. 

The food, however, at $15 per meal per person was not stellar. 

We did, nonetheless, enjoy the very new, well appointed Bungalow which was adorned with calla lilies in each room upon our arrival.  There was hot and cold running water in a very nice bath tub, and as I said, seemed set up for a couple on their honeymoon. 

The kids did enjoy running around inside and out anyway and we took turns looking through binoculars at the birds we could see from the balcony, including some rare species of sunbirds that are only found in this forest.  (regal sunbird)

We had dinner which was so-so and played Carcisone with the kids in the evening while roasting marshmallows on the fire in our bungalow before bed.  We got up early the next day to walk in the forest.   We had breakfast (disappointing),  checked-out, then headed about 45 minutes up the road to one of the park entrances.  On the way there you are driving in the rainforest and we saw some interesting wildlife, particularly 2 species of monkey (mountain and blueface).  The mountain monkeys look like black and white colobus monkeys. 

The park fees are somewhat high and a bit complicated with regard to what trail you take.  For a hike that lasted about 3 hours and covered 4 kilometers we paid about $90 for our family as East Africa residents.   The  hike included a guide and would have been better without two young children in tow.  As much as we wanted them to enjoy it, it is a lot to expect a 7 or 4 year old to be super excited about eco-tourism no matter how many Dora the Explorer and Diego videos they watch.

We did see some interesting flora, a few monkeys and many more sunbirds, but the spectacular Rwenzori turaco eluded us as did chimpanzees.  Despite the frequent complaints from Oren of how hard the walk was, there was something sublime about walking in the rainforest.  This was afterall the dark heart of Africa explored by Livingston and Stanley.  Little of it looks uncultivated anymore, but is this what it was like for them?

Probably the only hint of the treacherousness they faced by pests large and small were the ants.  In several places on the trail there were literally carpets of them covering up to several hundred meters on the trail.  The only thing to do was to stamp through them quickly, then, if necessary, strip off you pants and pick off the 20 or 30 that managed to get into your pants and pinch you.  (I was able to successfully slap them through my pants, but Rebecca had to take hers off to get them all.)

We did manage to push Oren to walk the entire hike, but David was carried on shoulders by me or the guide most of the way. 

It was a good challenge for Oren and we were exhausted by the time we left and went to stay at our second night venue, the Gisakura guesthouse. 

This was near, but far more modest then the Top View Hill.  It was also much cheaper and more the feel of a youth hostel.  Rooms ran about $50 per night for us to stay together in one.  Bathrooms were shared as well. 

The food at dinner was good, as was breakfast—Rwandese fare.  The garden was probably the most exciting feature and boasted large beds of calla lilies and poinsettia trees thronged by regal and double collared sunbirds. 

We left mid-morning the next day to continue our trip to Kigali.  We had to drive through the entire rainforest again to arrive there which was actually quite nice.  We saw more monkeys on the way out as well as a mountainous divide where water which falls eventually ends up in either the Nile river on the north side, or the Congo river on the South side.

It was an enlightening 2 day excursion, but my impression of tourism of Rwanda in general was reinforced by this experience.  That is, that there are great things to see, but Rwanda tourism has not learned to really market to a wide range of tourists from College students and back packers to families and then of course rich retirees.  Almost all tourism here tends to be aimed at the latter.  Most booked tours are incredibly expensive here when you factor in park fees, transport and lodging.  There are virtually no mid-level offerings.  We are lucky to live close and have our own transportation and a resident visa.  But from visitors coming from elsewhere, be prepared to spend a lot for an interesting experience.

We arrived in Kigali without incident after a 5 hour trip from the forest.  On the way we passed through many of the towns where our partners have projects including the Kigeme refugee camp, about half full the last time I saw it and now filled to capacity.  It is a sobering sight to see these Congolese refugees, in limbo, waiting for the chance to return home. 

Upon arriving, we checked into the Amani guesthouse where we like to stay.  We were also pleased to know that the Johnson’s our American missionary friends (Joy and Jessie) with their 3 sons Zack, Micah, and Elliot, roughly the ages of our kids, were staying at the same place all week.  They had come to get some dental work done.  (If anyone is into medical tourism Rwanda is an awesome place.)  There is a 7^th Day Adventist Filipino dentist here, who does excellent work for about $25 per filling and even does root canals and other procedures for under $100.

We paid a visit to her as well during the week to have her look at a small gum injury David had.

The kids really enjoyed playing together during the week.  Our visit to Kigali was not vacation and Rebecca and I tag teamed to attend a half dozen long meetings with partners, but we did feel very productive and we were able to let the other parent stay at the guest house while the Johnson kids and our kids played together.

We did spend some time with our SALTers Alyssa and Janelle, as well as Matt, our service worker.  He has added a puppy to his menagerie at the house which Oren and David really enjoyed playing with.

Johnson and Mosley kids at Mexican restaurant.

We did some activities together with Joy and Jessie.  They are missionaries with the Emanuel Church in Burundi (connected to Plymouth Brethren) and Jessie’s family has been living here for generations.  They run a school (Discovery School) at the church which is not unsimilar to Hope School although it is in Bujumbura.  (They are always looking for teachers if there are any volunteer minded people reading this.)

One of the highlights of our time was a trip with them to a Mexican restaurant on Wednesday evening.  It was a great place where you can get real LA style giant burritos.  Very American!  The kids had a great time running around together in the restaurant.

Yolanda playing Sorry with Oren

By Thursday it was time for us to leave and our family headed back to Bujumbura without incident.  We arrived in the afternoon on Thursday and I was even able to take a swim on Friday morning. 

The weekend was relaxing and we had a number of service workers come down for various reason, Yolanda, and Melody came down from Gitega and Michael Sharp was passing through from Bukavu.  They actually stayed with our other service worker Jennifer Price who now has a decent size apartment very close to us and can host some of our team when they are in town.

We also had a nice evening on Saturday with our friends J.J and Courtney and their 2 daughters.  (Who are in my ballet class)  He works with World Relief and they are also familiar with the Baltimore area as they are from there. We have wanted to get to know them better.  We do see each other in our small group on Sunday's but the evening together was a chance to talk a bit more intimately.

Monday was my Birthday and though it was a bit understated this year, we did have a cake made from a real Betty Crocker cake mix!  (A rare treat here.)  We shared it with Oren, David and Tim and Jeanette (our South African friends) who in turn baby sat for us while Rebecca and I went on a date night to an Indian restaurant.

 

Happy Birthday to Me!