Rwanda

The trip from Malawi to Rwanda took us on a 4 day journey from the south to the north of Tanzania. This included over 50 hours of buses, over two thirds of which didn't hit tarmac. The best journey took us from Mbeya to Tabora, where an expected 12 hour journey was supposed to see us arrive at 8pm. 5 breakdowns later and we arrived at 2am, after circling the town to find accommodation either full or trying to charge us a fortune, we went back to the station and spent the night sleeping on the stationary bus.

After a rough few days travelling through Tanzania we reached the Rwandan border. Here we discovered that about 2 weeks earlier Rwanda had changed its policy of letting in tourists in for free and started charging them for a $30 visa. This turned into a nightmare as we didn't have enough dollars to cross the border, but after getting some off a local for some outrageous exchange prices, we finally made it into the country.

The contrast between Rwanda and Tanzania or Malawi was huge and immediately obvious. The land was completely dominated by hills, with all of this land cultivated for farming. The buildings, roads and organisation of the land gave the country a much wealthier feel to it than what we'd been used to. A ban on plastic bags and the whole population donating two hours of their time on the last Saturday of the month to community service, gave the country a beautifully clean and finished look. 

Our journey from the west of the country into the centre only took a couple of hours, the country is a dot on the map next to Tanzania. Our destination was Kigali, the capital of the country and the cleanest, calmest and most welcoming city we've seen. The streets were even lined with palm trees. 

The first day in the city was spent doing the main tourist site, with it being Rwanda this was the genocide museum commemorating the 1994 genocide where 1 million people were killed in 100 days. The museum was fascinating, looking at the causes and effects of the genocide, it was crazy to think even people our age must have witnessed horrific events. The Hotel which the film 'Hotel Rwanda' was based on didn't live up to the heights of the museum, with me and Sammie walking around the hotel for 15 minutes before realising there was nothing here but a functioning hotel. A good few days in the city was topped off by sharing a goat leg and arm between 5 of us, a delicious Rwandan speciality. (I'm still not sure goats have arms).

From Kigali we headed to Kibuye, a small town on the edge of Lake Kivu. 2 and a half hours of snaking roads through mountainous scenery took us to the town. Here we hired a motorbike taxi to our hostel, seeing Sammie try and balance a bag on her front and back whilst staying on a motorbike was hilarious. She fell off a stationary bike just before we came out here.

Our new home was equipped with stunning panoramic views of the lake. We spent the next few days relaxing here, reading, playing plenty of cards and going on some hikes of the hills surrounding the lake, even spotting an otter who came up for air a few metres away from us.

A boat trip north up Lake Kivu took us to our final Rwandan destination of Gisenyi. Here we stayed in an old Belgian colonial mansion which had been converted into a hostel. We stuck to a similar routine of doing very little here, organising future plans and spending some days by a pool. 

The time spent in Rwanda has been a nice chilled break, it's a beautiful country where just walking or driving through the hills is a great experience.