November 4, 2024

The land of a thousand hills

We had a great stay at St Paul’s last night and I got a chance (and some Sun light) to wash my cloths again as they did not dry at the One Love Club. The room was also a third of the price, but was split in the middle so we each had our own minute little bed. This brought out an interesting fact. We finally saw which one of us it is that mess up the room. This is my side after about thirty minutes:

Boot fixing
I am busy fixing my BMW boot for the third time (first on this trip). That’s German precision engineering and Romanian craftsmanship at its best! Now you know why we went for the Motomias!

The road to Musanze in the north east of Rwanda is never straight or flat for more than a couple of meters. That is why they call this the land of the thousand hills.

GPS profile
There is also not a single stretch of road where you can stop without being surrounded by people after a few seconds. The older people just greet and walk past, but the kids gather around us and stare without talking. It is the strangest feeling. Some others again don’t stop talking and welcoming you to Rwanda. It is amazing how different the people of each country are, yet we are all somehow the same.

The road
We read about a place that has campsites close to Musanze where we wanted to stay tonight. The past few days in Kigali weren’t good for our budget, so we tried our best to find a cheap spot. We need to stay in Kinigi tomorrow as we have to meet at the park entrance at 7h00 the following morning, which is 300m form Kinigi Guest House. We rode around and asked for more than two hours, but could not find the campsite. In the end we headed back to town and booked into a hotel. It’s not cheap by Crossing Africa standards, but about half what you pay for a small room in Sutherland Hotel. We’ve been spoilt the past few weeks with the accommodation rates.

Since our room took up most of today’s budget we had bread and hot sauce for lunch (in our lounge area):

Cheap lunch
We haven’t had such a nice room for a while (see funky décor below) so we did not know how to use the facilities:

Decor
Here Tania is cooking supper on the floor in the bedroom:

Cooking
And I used the bathtub (haven’t seen one of those for a while… don’t even have one at home) as a dining area. I am sure it’s normally used for something else, but could not quite get lay my finger on it.

Eating in the tub
We went out for drink at the restaurant and found the group that’s going on the gorilla trek tomorrow for the third or fourth time in the past few days. We also saw Lihn (that’s trekking with us on Wednesday) there. It really is a small town! We had a great time and are now off to bed and will spend tomorrow resting and preparing for the trek up the mountain. Good night.

5 thoughts on “The land of a thousand hills

  1. Hi julle!
    Bly julle is veilig in Rwanda en geniet dit daar, lyk na baie interessante plek! Geniet die Gorilla trip ook Woensdag! Dink dit gaan ‘n baie spesiale dag vir julle wees en julle trip net nog soveel meer die moeite werd vir julle maak! Dankie vir al die updates en foto’s sover, is baie lekker om so saam met julle te kan toer! Ons was laas week by die Vic Falls gewees en so bietjie die mense daar rondgevra of hulle julle dalk onthou, maar lyk vir my dit was al bietjie te lank terug gewees! 😉
    Groete!
    Martin & Amelia

  2. Hi! Ek het gedink ek het al als gesien op hierdie trip, maar nee, julle kry dit steeds reg om my helemaal te verbaas! Tania kook haar noodles op die slaapkamervloer en Francois sit aan, of ‘in’ vir ete in die bad, regte hansworse sou Villiers se!!! Ek begin dink julle het jul tent (en ‘n paar varkies?!) verloor langs die pad. En, laat weet gerus as julle die present nodig kry wat julle per ongeluk teruggee het. XX

  3. Brood en hot sauce – siestog, asof daai wollerige hartjie nie al genoeg my hartsnare geroer het nie!
    Hoop nie julle kry “anti-highsky” ( Chinese vertaling) daar in in die 1000 berge nie.

  4. Dankie vir die insiggewende trip log – dit sê alles van die terrein! Ja ek weet van kosmaak op kamervloer (het dit op ‘n Europa self gedoen), maar eet in ‘n bad!!?? Ek het heerlik gelag vir die nar! Julle is een van ‘n soort en baie prettig – hou so aan! Voorspoed en mag die gorilla uitstappie aan jul verwagting voldoen en self meer.

  5. Net gou ‘n laaste waarskuwing as julle dalk vannaand nog jul ‘comments’ lees voor die gorilla ‘encounter’: Tania, ek is regtig bang een van daai bos-tantes gaan Francois wil huistoe vat; vat ‘n foto saam van sy kamer om haar te waarsku waarvoor sy haarself inlaat!! Hehehe

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