Mambo!
Happy new year! I will preface as I do with most of my blog posts by saying, this post is not short. I can’t be brief!!!! I tried really hard to keep it short, but I didn’t want to leave anything out. Plus I wanted to have a detailed post so that in a few years from now, I can come back and read about my travels and transport myself back to that time. So I’m sorry!! If you want the short version: I visited Kigali, Rwanda and Kampala, Uganda over 2 weeks and I got sick but it was amazing! The end.
If you want the long (like really long) version, keep reading! 🙂
I was very lucky this year having two weeks off during christmas and new year, so I knew I had to do some travelling. After talking to other expats, I decided to go to visit Rwanda since they all had such a positive experience and it was accessible by bus. Since I had such a long break, I decided to also visit Uganda before coming back to Mwanza.
We left on December 24 with the bus company Zube Mwanza, since their office and pickup station were in town and really close to our apartment. I was so nervous we’d miss our bus that Eddy and I woke up at 3:40 am and went to the bus stand at 4:10am… The bus didn’t even turn on until 4:55am and we didn’t leave until 5am so there was no need to have gotten up and left that early hahaha. At least we didn’t miss the bus. The bus drove to the ferry station about 10 minutes away, where everyone had to get off the bus, pay for our ferry ticket and wait to leave. Since there was also a bus coming from Nyegezi – the other bus stand 30/40 minutes outside of town, we had to wait for that bus to arrive before we could leave. That ended up taking over an hour and a half and we didn’t get onto the ferry until 6:30.
Anyways, we finally got on the ferry, prayed for 30-45 minutes that it would be fine since a ferry sank in Mwanza when I first got here and got off at 7:30 in the town Sengerema. It was chaos trying to figure out which of the two buses we had tickets for and when we finally got on the right bus, it was different than the bus we had stored our bag on… so that made for a fun seven hours checking to make sure the other bus would actually end up where we were going.
While we were driving, I didn’t think the bus was that bad, but I do think my excitement to be leaving Mwanza and going to Rwanda made me more oblivious to how bad it actually was. The bus was 5 seats wide, so any time someone would get off or move around, they’d bump into both side. Plus there weren’t any actual stops… we stopped at a bus stand for about 3 minutes, where Eddy got off to make sure the second bus was actually going to the same place and we almost left without him. We stopped about halfway through for a pee break on the side of the road with no toilets… All apart of budget travelling, I guess.
After a long drive on bumpy and pot-holey roads, we arrived in Benaco, a town close to the border of Rwanda and Tanzania at around 2:45/3pm. We got our bag from the second bus and because it had been raining and so close to the tires, the blue backpack we’d bought the day before was soaking wet and covered in mud… At first I was a little annoyed, but after eating lunch of rice and beans, it just made me laugh.
From the bus stand, we took a taxi for 4,000 tanzanian shillings ($2.30CAD such a steal) that was filled to the brim – a 5 seater car with 3 people in the front and 4 in the back. Shh don’t tell my mom and dad. The people in the car were very nice and it was Eddy’s first time meeting people who look like they could be Tanzanian – like him, but they spoke kinyarwanda and not swahili. He thought it was hilarious.
When we got to immigration, Eddy flew through with his Tanzanian passport because there are agreements between East African countries that East African citizens can enter each country for free for 90 days. But mine took quite a lot longer. I really dislike lines and inefficiency so I’d definitely think I should’ve been proactive by applying and paying online, but I didn’t so it took a confusing 45 minutes going back and forth between different windows before I finally got my passport stamped. Then we walked across the border, but not before getting stopped and asked to empty both bags. I guess they were checking for drugs, but I’ve also heard they check for plastic bags since Rwanda don’t allow the sale or use of plastic bags.
After crossing the border, I think it was around 5 and we took the Select Express Bus to Nyagobogo bus stand for 3,500 Rwandan Francs each ($5.25CAD). This was a little more expensive but considering how far we went… surprisingly cheap and more comfortable than the other bus we took. We got into Kigali at around 9pm and took a taxi to our disaster of an Airbnb. I tried contacting the host a few days before, no response. They when we called him, the phone was disconnected. So we had no other option than to show up and when we got there, the security clearly hadn’t been expecting us. So they put us in a different room and it was disgusting. The sheets were stained and dirty, there was 1 dirty towel, only 1 pillow for 2 people, the bathroom was covered in hair, the toilet had pee on it, in our room, there was hair all over the floor and they gave us 1 flip flop. Not a pair, just 1 flip flop.
I was done almost immediately and got the security to try and reach the host. We couldn’t, but ended up talking with his sister or maybe girlfriend. She basically did nothing. Eddy convinced me that we should just stay the night since it was already 10pm. So we slept restlessly and when we woke up, we saw a bed bug crawling on the bug net. At that point, Eddy was done and we both packed to leave. We wandered the streets looking for food and ended up at Kigali Art Cafe. Despite being exhausted, dirty and without a hotel, I felt so much at peace in this cafe. There was jazz music playing and the lemongrass tea we ordered was one of the best teas I’ve ever had. I hope that wherever I go when I die, it’s an endless loop of sitting in that cafe drinking that tea and smiling.
After that, we walked around aimlessly trying to look for the centre of town. We asked 4 different people and no body seemed to know where to point us. So after walking for an hour it was around 11:30, we decided to get a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) to drive us to what they considered to be the centre of town.
This whole time we were walking with our bags, which in hindsight might’ve not been the best idea to do, but Kigali is VERY safe and in the 4 days we were there, we were never harassed or bothered. Also all of the mototaxis are VERY safe, they have to be registered, wear a red vest and have two working helmets – one for the driver and passenger. Oh and they also can’t take two passengers – a common practice in Uganda and Tanzania.
We got some lunch in the “centre-ville,” registered a SIM card and looked on Expedia for a hotel to check in to. We decided on Onomo Hotel and despite the shitty start to our vacation, once we checked in, I can’t even begin to describe the level of relaxation and peace I felt. When we got there, we were given fresh juice and greeted by every staff with a “merry christmas.” Oh yea, it was christmas day. When we got to the room, I almost cried. It was spotless, and the bed even had a duvetttttt. It was beautiful. To say I slept well that night is an understatement. I think it was the best I’ve slept since I came back to Tanzania in August, 2018…
The next morning, we had a delicious breakfast at the hotel and I got to try a tree tomato. It looks like a tomato, but has a bitter sweet taste (with a very small hint of tomato).
We then took a mototaxi to the Kigali Genocide Museum. The museum is entry by donation and you can also purchase a pre-recorded guided tour for 40,000 Rwandan Francs. I’m use to my money being in the thousands so I didn’t think 40,000 francs was a lot… but later I converted it and it turns out it was $54 CAD…. The money from the guided tour does go to education programs for youth about the genocide and peace, but since there is already so much reading to do throughout the memorial, it was definitely not necessary to buy it.
The memorial was very moving and educational. Before going to Rwanda, I didn’t have a good understanding of the history of the genocide so visiting there on our first real day was a good introduction to learning more about what happened in April 1994.
I cannot possibly do the history justice so I strongly recommend you read this to get a good understanding of what happened and why.
I’ve never visited any sort of genocide memorial or country where a genocide took place and being somewhere where only 24 years ago that happened, I found myself obsessively thinking about it the entire time. Every person in Rwanda has a connection to the genocide and I couldn’t stop thinking about that. It was so difficult to learn about what happened leading up to and during the genocide and yet, Rwanda looks like it does today. The streets are spotless, the roads are well maintained, it’s safe, peaceful and no one stops or harasses you.
There are many more memorials around Rwanda to visit, but Eddy and I only visited the one in Kigali. When we left Rwanda, I felt like it was a country I will re-visit and when I do, I will definitely take the time to see other memorial sites and their national parks.
After we finished out visit, we went to Meza Fresh for lunch. We ordered a veggie burrito and my favourite, nacho chips. After we walked around the convention centre and nearby shopping mall. We went back to the hotel to go swimming and enjoy the panoramic view of Kigali.
For dinner, we went to a restaurant in the Kimihurura neighbourhood. The neighbourhood is built like a subdivision, with gated houses but there are restaurants sprinkled along each of the streets. The restaurant we chose was Repub Lounge and the ambience and view of Kigali were beautiful. The menu was a little confusing and we tried to clarify the menu with the waitress twice, but both times she was less than helpful. So we thought we had to order the “african style” menu of 9 different bowls of food and ended up spending $60 on wayyyy too much food for two people. It was tasty, but the amount of food we wasted kind of ruined the whole experience for us.
We ended the night bowling at an expat hangout spot. It was Eddys first time bowling and he must’ve had beginners luck because he beat me.. by a lot too hahaha.
The next morning, December 27, we went on a walking tour of the muslim neighbourhood in Kigali called Nyamirambo. Our tour was through the Nyamirambo Women’s Centre, which is a centre that trains women to sew, read and write in Kinyarwanda. They had a gift shop of all the different items they make out of kitenge – bright coloured fabric. I really wish I had purchased some items because they were all so beautiful and so well made. When I go back to Rwanda 😉 I will definitely be purchasing some items from them. We ended our walking tour having a local style lunch – rice, beans and vegetables including cooked cassava leaves with peanuts.
We left Nyamirambo and walked to the Belgium soldier memorial. This memorial site is to remember the 10 slain Belgium soldiers who were protecting the Prime Minister that were killed at the beginning of the genocide. They were abducted, their weapons taken away and brought to where the memorial site now is. They managed to escape and hide inside the building for hours before being killed. The memorial site is moving and a grave reminder of what happened just 24 years beforehand.
We continued to walk around Kigali and decided to walk past the Hotel Des Mille Collines. During the genocide over 2,000 people were given shelter in the hotel and it’s a focal point in the movie “Hotel Rwanda.”
After a long day of walking, Eddy and I headed back to our hotel for some rest. We had dinner nearby the hotel and had an early night sleep. The next day we were moving on to Uganda!
The lush green forest side. Rwanda is famous for it’s coffee and tea plantations!
My opinion of Kigali, Rwanda started off a bit rocky, but the more time I spent there the more I fell in love with it. I think a part of me really loved it there because I don’t like Mwanza and the things I miss so much from home can easily be found throughout Kigali. I know one day I’d love to go back and visit more of the memorial sites, national parks and even take part in a gorilla trek but for now, I’ll just have to enjoy the memories I was able to make in the time I was there. If you’ve ever been considering travelling to East Africa or somewhere new, I highly highly recommend visiting Rwanda.
Talk soon,
Laura
Two Years in Tanzania 