Day 8
This morning, after breakfast, we said goodbye to Joseph. The guesthouse was very simple, but Joseph’s kindness—and that of everyone else who worked there—as well as the food, made for great moments and lovely memories.
We left Nyungwe Park to head to Gisenyi on the shores of Lake Kivu, where we’d spend the night before crossing the border into Uganda the next day.
The sky was overcast, and it started to rain. The road wound along the hills. Tea fields gave way to rice paddies, then back to tea fields.
The ground was soft, and we saw a few landslides. We arrived at a spot where the hillside had spilled onto the road. Police were already on the scene. We let two cars coming from the opposite direction pass—one was spinning its wheels in the mud. The officer waved us through. We drove onto the muddy section, and luckily, the 4x4 handled it well. Just as we passed, two rocks the size of a good fifty centimeters in diameter came tumbling down the slope 😱😅.
About fifty kilometers before Gisenyi, a motorcyclist flagged us down. Since it was raining, he asked if we could take his passenger, who was headed to the same place as us. Ronnie asked if we were okay with it. We turned the question back to him—it was his car, and he was driving. He said it was up to us since we were the clients. Okay then, if we could help out. Our new passenger was very grateful and, in broken English, thanked us profusely.
Ten minutes later, with the woman now sitting next to him, he told us the vehicle was only insured for the driver and two passengers. "So what does that mean?" He didn’t answer…
Around 1:00 PM, after just over four hours on the road, we finally arrived in Gisenyi, a town on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, bordering Goma in the DRC.
The tour operator had told us we’d be staying at the Musanto Hotel by the lake. Ronnie wanted to "stick us" in a hotel up the hill. We insisted on staying by the lake, as agreed. Luckily, there was still a room available.
No activities were planned in the package for that afternoon, and Ronnie made that clear. We asked the hotel receptionist if it was possible to arrange a boat tour. Ronnie wasn’t happy because he didn’t know what we’d be doing the next morning (he’d planned a boat tour for the following day). No big deal—we could do another boat tour; the lake’s big enough ;-)
The boat tour cost $50 USD for an hour and a half. It seemed expensive, but after three afternoons of doing nothing, we really wanted to do something, especially since the weather was nice!
We ordered food at the hotel restaurant, and an hour and fifteen minutes later, we could finally eat. The boat tour was arranged with the receptionist’s cousin. We needed a car to get to the boat since it was docked in a small village a few kilometers from Gisenyi. Ronnie had to take us there and said he’d agreed with the guide that the boat would drop us off at the end of the excursion in Gisenyi, a five-minute walk from the hotel.
At 3:30 PM, we were finally on the lake. We saw a few artisanal fishing boats docked and some birds too. They dropped us off on a peninsula, which we crossed on foot. We walked among flowers, birds, and goats. The scenery was idyllic, and we were happy to stretch our legs in such a beautiful place. It was really hot—probably around 30°C.
our boat
We met some kids—most said hello, then asked for… money… 😱. Others were more direct. "Give me money" was on just about every lip. We found it really sad… 😢
The hour and a half flew by, and we returned to shore where we’d boarded. Wait—had we misunderstood Ronnie? The guide told us Ronnie had asked to take us back to Gisenyi, but since he’d have to spend gas on the round trip, it would cost us an extra $50. "Uh, you’ve got to be kidding?" We quickly asked the guide to call Ronnie to come pick us up. If he’d asked for $10, we probably would’ve paid, but $50 for a 12-kilometer round trip seemed way over the top.
Ronnie didn’t answer right away, and the guide had to call him again. He told us it wasn’t safe to stay at the port and suggested we start walking toward Gisenyi. We walked along the road and began climbing the hill. It was scorching hot—after about twenty minutes of walking, we figured Ronnie shouldn’t be far since it had taken less than ten minutes to get there. We stopped in the shade and were quickly surrounded by about fifteen kids watching us.
Minutes passed, and still no Ronnie. The guide tried calling him. He said he was already there… then backtracked. Fifteen minutes later, the guide called Ronnie again. This time, he said he was on the road near the brewery. Except we were much higher up on the (only) road, and none of us had seen him pass—and a safari car stands out. The guide told him where we were; he couldn’t have missed us.
Five minutes later, we saw him coming from Gisenyi—not from the brewery, which was in the opposite direction. Long story short, he’d, shall we say, bent the truth a bit. He wasn’t happy and told us he’d agreed with the guide that he’d bring us back by boat and that we’d been okay with it. That was true, but no one had told us we’d be charged an extra $50.
We couldn’t really tell if he was mad at us or the other guide…
Anyway, we went back to the hotel, pre-ordered dinner, and had a drink. The night was mild, and the temperature was just right.
Daniel suggests changing spots and heading to another forest patch near a tea factory, just 5 minutes away by car. Daniel tries to reach Ronnie, but he’s disappeared and unreachable... so the Australians make a round trip to pick us up since we don’t all fit in their RAV4.
