Slippery When Wet

Motorcycles are cool. Period.



So, when Jen noticed the best taxi's in Kigali were motorcycles, we couldn't resist. Granted, there's probably someone somewhere saying, "those roads look slippery" and I'm happy to say "we never found out for certain." We rode said moto-taxis twice while in Kigali and loved it both times.

I suppose it doesn't really work with luggage, but there were plenty of times when we'd stash our things at the hostel/hotel. That gave us freedom to walk, run, ride, skip... whatever.

VOD: Why read a book?

Is is me, or is the person in front of me reading a book? OK, I suppose that's allowed (but only because the entertainment system's VOD (Video on Demand) hasn't been turned on yet.

This may not be a big deal to all my international traveling friends, but things have changed in the world of in-flight-entertainment since I last flew abroad (or maybe it's just because these were MUCH longer flights. Anyhow, point is - instead of just giving you 10 movies to pick from, and insisting that you watch your selection at the same time as everyone else on the plane... Our flights had mini-individual-TiVo-esue units for every passenger. I think there were 200 program choices and we were able to pause, rewind, restart at will. Pause live TV is now right there in the seat-back in front of you!

Now, lest you think my brain turned to mush watching 18 hours of TV and movies - I will admit that I read some on the plane as well (so I suppose I'll let my fellow passenger off for doing likewise). Of course, my book was about Rwanda, which when added to in-flight versions of The Last King of Scotland and Blood Diamond. Actually - maybe my brain did turn to mush: too much media-style tellings of strife on the African continent.

To balance it all out - I watched Sliding Doors on the way home. See - I have a sensitive side!

Ooops, did I just admit that?

Rwanda and that Hotel

Moments before leaving LA, I considered all the time I'd have on the various flights and decided to bring some "light"reading for the trip. One book I bought was An Ordinary Man. I was heading to Rwanda after-all... and a book about their past seemed like good reading (this book - not actually "light" - is the first-hand account of the Hôtel des Mille Collines... or Hotel Rwanda).

Granted, I was also heading to Kenya, which was having it's own current-day mini-version of Rwanda's troubles from 1994. Needless to say, the book got me mildly anxious - wondering if Kenya was heading down the same genocidal path of its neighbor (what do I know?).

In Rwanda, they've come a long way since 1994. We visited the Hotel Rwanda and a genocide museum and talked with people first-hand about the experiences they went through. The end result of their tragedy is a keen awareness of how destructive racial & class distinctions can be (were) - when bred, believed and left to fester. My impression (during my short visit) is that they learned (albeit the hard way) something a large number of people still have yet to learn... Hopefully the learning process won't be so hard for everyone else.


Enough on that... Rwanda was incredible (and not just for the politics lesson and the gorillas). The landscapes are lush and green, and nothing like I was expecting. Overall, I'd say Kenya and Rwanda were both greener than expected (and I didn't even bring a rain coat on the trip - big mistake).

Gorillas in the Mist

Gorillas in the Mist (1988) tells the story of Dian Fossey and her time spent studying and living among the Gorillas of Rwanda. I saw it 10 or 15 years ago... But I lived it (kind of) 10 or 15 days ago. After a short layover in Nairobi, our first stop in Africa was Ruhengeri, Rwanda - to hike with the Gorillas (yes mom - this is safe).

The Rwandans strictly limit how many visitors get this opportunity (by charging notable fees, leading only small-group visits, and limiting tourist-interactions to exactly one-hour-per-day). They even place 24-hour armed-guards on the mountain to fend off potential poachers. They're serious about safety (of the gorillas and - thankfully - the visitors).

Travel Companion (and owner of said Nikon D-40) put together a great slideshow of her best images/videos from the day.



I posted a second post about this experience - here.
And all the photos and videos from the trip are - here here.

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Here's how it works...

We (our small group: 7 Americans, 2 guides, 2 guards with rifles, and a guy with a machete - who also carried Sara's back-pac) hiked up into the foggy hills expecting, but not guaranteed, to find a family of gorillas. We were not disappointed. After about an hour-ish of hiking we found the Silverback and his many wives and children (ok, so maybe they never actually got "married" but really - what priest is going to "marry" a gorilla, let alone to five different women). Anyhow, I digress.

Point is, there were 11 gorillas (1 male, 5 adult females and 5 children) slowly wandering through the hills eating bamboo and playing in the trees. What a life!

So there we were - for exactly 3,600 seconds snapping untold pictures while quietly stalking these amazing beasts. Anyhow, fun times - and certainly worth the side-trip.

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PS Thanks to Adam Sidwell for the head's up on how to do this (who to contact, where to go, how much to pay), and the video that convinced us we had to do it: