If You Go Down To The Woods Today
- Carmen
- Jun 16
- 3 min read
A leisurely breakfast followed by a short meeting with the diocesan accountant and we were free for the morning.
We had scheduled a morning off, time to catch up with reports and take a short break. Contemplating a swim in Lake Kivu we took a stroll down the track to the boat jetty, but not finding any steps to get out again we decided maybe that was not the best plan.
The boats were being watched over by a young man with limited English who appeared to be living in a tent on the jetty. We asked how much for a boat trip and were told 1000rwf an offer to good to refuse, sadly a phone call to the boatman established it would cost us $40, we don’t pay muzungu prices so plan B was also a non starter.
We stood and admired the view of the Congo for a while, the border runs down the middle of the lake, about half a mile out (don’t tell the insurance company, they were not keen on us being within 10km of the border) however the land is approx. 4 miles away, but it is clear to see the densely populated town which stretches across the hillside. Sadly, there has been a constant haze across the lake and the photos do not do justice to the stunning scenery.
The climb back up to the guest house required a few stops to admire the view.
All to soon it was time to finish repacking the cases and head to the restaurant where we were to meet Leah, a charming young lady who is being funded through theological training. She had travelled the 7 hours from Kigali where she is attending college just to meet with us. She joined us for lunch whilst we chatted about her course, and her family before being joined by Rev Berth and John our driver who were to take us on to Kigeme.
Our cases don't seem to be getting any lighter despite offloading all the tennis balls, but that didn't seem to be a problem for the lovely men who took them to the car for us.
Cases loaded and it was time to leave. We dropped Leah near the bus station as she was heading back to Kigali tonight.
The road to Kigeme twists and turns it’s way for about 50km through the Nyungwe Forest climbing high into the mountains.
L’hoerst monkeys scatter from the roadside as the vehicle approaches and military personnel patrol the road.
The area is uninhabited and has been notorious in the past for bandits from Burundi and the Congo. Today, with road lighting installed and regular patrols it is considered safe to travel through this area.
The road is treacherous with sheer drops and few barriers but John is an excellent driver and we felt very safe. Not so safe was the lorry we saw which had gone off the road, although as we were told, he was lucky you can still see him, he was caught in the trees and hadn't plunged to the bottom of the ravine.
A quick stop was required as we reached civilisation again and as the car came to a standstill street sellers descended with bowls of produce for sale, a practice that seems to happen less often in today’s Rwanda, a little nostalgia for Carmen.
The 70km journey took almost 3 hours with stunning scenery at every turn, Pauline did her best but once again the camera cannot possibly capture the beauty of this country.
We received a warm welcome from Bishop Assiel and his wife Valerie whom we last met in Ipswich when they were in the UK visiting friends. A welcome tea of eggs, samosas, chapati and nuts was waiting for us.
We prayed for journey mercies as we said goodbye to Rev Berthe and John, it will be dark before they are out of the forest tonight.
We settled in our rooms before joining Bishop Assiel and Valerie for a brief meeting as they have unexpectedly been called to Kigali and will not be able to accompany us to the projects, then half an hour to start on the blog before dinner at eight, yes they really are feeding us again.
We have fair internet here, although we are not sure how!!
An early start and a long day tomorrow so we are hitting our beds early tonight.
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