Congo Nile trail

I'm really not good at writing a blog. It's been 8 months. But this weekend was so surreal, it needs to be documented.

Day 1:Rubengera-Musasa

Highpoint: the lady who felt Jo needed a demonstration on how to use the squat toilet

Low point: Enquiring about something to eat (anything!) and a place to sleep (anywhere!) in Musasa and being told ‘here, those things are difficult to find’

On Saturday morning Jo and I started walking in Rubengera. We had no map, didn’t know the path, didn’t know where or if there was anywhere to stay, we were sleep deprived (me) and hungover (Jo) and to be honest, badly prepared overall.

We had a good breakfast in Rubengera, and then started off walking towards what we hoped was Musasa. The Road from Rubengera is exactly where you want to be hiking, we went through little villages, met lovely people, and were happy out. People in general seemed a little bit confused about why we were walking so far, but everyone was so nice to us. We stopped and had a picnic in the banana trees. At one stage we went the wrong way and when we said we were going to Musasa we were brought back to the village and a woman who was going that way walked with us through the fields to show us where to go. There was a moment when we got a text message from Vodacom DRC welcoming us to Congo when I got a little bit worried that maybe doing any walk with Congo in the title was a bit stupid, but we were definitely still in Rwanda so we reckoned it was OK. Some other volunteers get that message where they live, and VSO wouldn’t put us anywhere that wasn’t safe. That was our logic anyway.

and we found a puppy!

We didn’t see anyone else doing the hike, but we were stopped by an American in a big car who wanted to take our picture because he’s working on marketing for the trail. It was a bit disappointing that he wasn’t actually doing the trail, how can you market something you haven’t done??  And he couldn’t tell us anything about where we might find somewhere to sleep, but he did give us a map. Which, on hindsight, is a good thing to have if you're trying to hike a trail you don't know.

We eventually arrived at Musasa. This is where we were told it would be hard to find food or somewhere to stay.. We ended up in a shop, chewing mandazi and drinking fanta and beer by candlelight. There had been no sign of anywhere to sleep and it was pitch dark, but we were feeling optimistic (maybe that was the beer though). The owner, the nicest man ever, went to his house and came back with his mattress, which he put in the back room for us to sleep on. We were happy with that, but then the umudugudu leader came to see the visitors. Through French and Kinyarwanda and gestures we explained that no, we were not together with the young man he had seen us talking to earlier, we were walking for fun and we had come from Rubengera. That changed everything! Suddenly there was more smiling, head nodding, and we were offered a room in the Umudugudu leader’s house. His son slept in the sitting room and gave us his bed. This is the kind of hospitality that I don’t think you would ever get at home! We had a good night’s sleep and the family wouldn’t even take any money from us

this is the back room of the mandazi shop where we were told we could sleep

This is in the cell umudugudu leaders house. Much better.

they even gave us a jerry can to wash with

Day 2: Musasa – Kinunu

High point: Finding a village that sold fanta

Low point: the 5 hours before that where we could not find liquid for sale anywhere. And we were walking a lot, uphill mostly. And it was SCORCHING. I have never been so thirsty in my life.

We got out on to the road just after 6, and apart from us being really stupid and assuming that every village would sell bottled water, we had a gorgeous walk.

This is a cow. It just swam across lake Kivu while being dragged by a boat. Fair play.

We stayed in Kinunu, in a guesthouse. We were the only visitors, and I think the manager was bored, they’ve only had 20 people since May. So we got a tour of the coffee washing station, which was interesting. We’re still not sure what exactly goes on there, again we were working in a mixture of French and Kinyarwanda, and we don’t really speak either of those languages. However we did figure out that what we had from a distance thought was a water feature in a fancy hotel was actually pools for washing the coffee. He also took us down to see the beach, we didn’t swim ‘cause it was getting late and we were hungry, but it would be a lovely place to hang out for a while.

Oh and the food there was really good. If you don’t go for the walking, the swimming or the coffee station, go for the fresh sambasa, straight from the lake.

Day 3 Kinunu- Gisenyi

High point: the boat trip, where we squished in with too many people, and chickens, and a lot of bananas. I would describe it as a boat version of a matatu, with a lot of extra mad stuff.

Low point: being brought to the police station on one of the islands

So, we had to get back for work on Tuesday, and we didn’t have enough time to walk to Gisenyi. Gervais, the manager, suggested we take the boat. It costs 50p, so we said yeah sure, why not?

Well, I’ll tell you why not. Three words you never want to hear on a boat are ‘abantu ni byenshi’. (too  many people) Especially if the police are the ones saying it. The lake police came onto the boat to count how many people were there. Considering there was a lot of bits and pieces crammed onto the boat, far too many people, and some of us perched precariously on the dodgy roof (Jo and me included), it wasn’t really a surprise when we got taken to the police station.  Protais, the main guy, was particularly upset. When we asked him was everything ok he just mimed being handcuffed. Not good. We had to line up, be counted, get a lecture, but then we were all allowed to go, even Protais. So, I would actually recommend getting the boat, if just for the experience of crouching on a sack of green bananas and passing the time playing guessing games with the other passengers. And the beautiful view across the lake.

And that was the end of our weekend. The trail is longer, it would take 10 days to do the whole thing. For anybody in Rwanda now, I really recommend you do it while you have the chance, it’s so amazingly beautiful! Unless of course you don’t like kind, patient people with a sense of humour, or waterfalls, mountains, valleys and lakes. My only advice is to take loads of water, buy food wherever you see it, and if you are getting on the boat do not make the mistake of thinking ‘oh – it’ll be an easy day so I can wear my high heels’. Some eejit did that and really regretted it when she was walking across the narrow beam on the roof of the boat. I think I could get a job in the circus if I get sick of teaching.