Thursday, November 3, 2016 (Travel to Solace Guest House, Kigali, Rwanda)

I just want to reiterate what I said in an earlier blog...our pictures were quite a mess, not being in the correct order or even the right date. It's been quite a chore trying to organize them. I just wanted to mention this again to any of the tour group who may be reading.

We were up early this morning...here is a picture looking out our bedroom window...nice!


Anxious to have a look around, Gordon, Steve and I headed out for a walk.

The cabins are very cute and look great from the outside... unfortunately, they are in dire need of maintenance/upgrading inside...
 The property is on the side of a very steep hill...so lots of walking down....
...and up...
That walkway goes to a new building next door...at the time, we did not know that it was also part of the Peace Guest House property. That's Lake Kivu and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the other side...

 Single rooms....
 Restaurant (dining room)...
 We decided to walk up the driveway to the entrance...
These guys were taking the chairs to the new Conference Centre which was quite a distance away!
 Looking back down the driveway we just walked up...

This is the Peace Guest House's brand new Conference Centre...it is opening up this weekend with it's first conference coming in. We were given a tour inside and had a look at one of the guest rooms.... very small but very nice! Drats, too bad...our stay here was just a tad bit too early!
What a view!
Now you have some idea how far we walked and how far these guys carrying the chairs had to go...
We returned from our walk and met Esther sitting out on the patio. We had breakfast and then sat enjoying our coffee. Esther, Alan, Steve, me and Marianne (thanks for the picture, Joan!)...

Our guide brought out a map and showed us the route we had taken yesterday...and the route we'd be taking back today. Yesterday we drove from Kigali, to Gitarama, south to Butare...and then west through the Nyungwe Forest National Park, to Cyangugu.

Today, on our way back, we are going to follow the very windy road along the lake to Kibuye then east to Gitarama and to Kigali.
(Click on any photo to enlarge)
On our way back down to our cabin to pick up our backpack, we passed this group having an exercise class...
We got a group shot before we boarded the bus...
Front row: Annick (our bus driver), Anne and Gordon
Second row: Joe, Jean, Alan, Emmanuel, Caesar (our guide) and Kaye
Third row: Betty, Marjorie, Donna, Joann, Linda, Alberto and  Barb
Back row: Joyce, Byron, Annette, Marianne, Shelagh, Brian, Larry, me, Steve, Esther and Joan
Then we were on our way. Before heading back, we took a drive a little further along the road to the Rwanda Congo border. That's the Congo across the lake...

Bridge to the Congo behind these 3 guys...
Taxi motorcycles...
 We turned around and started our long journey back to Kigali...

Carrying livestock feed...
Marina...
On our way along the new highway built by the Chinese...
That's a water container on her head...

Larry and Joe bundled up in the back seat...guess it got a little chilly with the window open! That's Alberto snoozing on the far side....
Tea plantation...
 A church under construction...
Drying some sort of plant root...


 A rare piece of machinery...


Firewood...
Kids playing in a tree...
 We were "big news" when we stopped at this village for a potty break...
Although these toilet facilities were okay most others are quite disgusting by our standards. Normally you have to pay then you get to squat over a hole in the floor...


This is still Lake Kivu...
Homes all the way to the top of the hill...
 This fellow lost his load...

Rice paddies...

We came from the road below and are continuing up to the top right of photo...

 Lake Kivu is huge...

An inlet from Lake Kivu...

Arriving in Kibuye...



We stopped at a beautiful beach on Lake Kivu in Kibuye for a box lunch that the guest house had packed for us...





Our driver Annick enjoying her lunch...
 To the left, a line up at the beach bar...
...and to the right, locals swimming all wearing life jackets...
 Larry and Gordon...
Steve enjoying his first beer in six days since getting sick...
The view from the hotel bar (across the street)...

 Museum of the Environment...
That was a really nice break and a great spot for lunch! Then we were back in the bus and on the road again...
Fish pens...


You never see long grass beside the roads as the locals graze their animals everywhere...
Another village...


It was dark when we arrived back in Kigali...another long day on the bus! We'd had two long days sitting on the bus but it had been really wonderful seeing the beautiful countryside of Rwanda...it's so green and lush! Rwanda is a very small country. Smaller than Vancouver Island where we're from and slightly smaller than the state of Maryland, and it felt like we saw it all.


No comments:

Post a Comment