Ethiopia

Leaving Rwanda was a huge wrench but the excitement and anticipation of travelling in Ethiopia helped to ease the pain. Imagine my delight, on arrival at Addis Ababa, to discover I was only 53 and travelling with my 18 year old daughter. Ethiopia follows the Julian calendar so we had now entered the year 2005, 7 years behind our own Gregorian calendar. The New Year had been celebrated the previous week on 11^th September. Our arrival in Addis was at night and the first thing to strike us was the number of homeless people we saw sleeping under arch ways or just under polythene sheets on the pavements and of course a far cry from the cleanliness of Kigali.

We had two days to explore the sights of Addis, which only became capital of the country at the turn of the last century, so we used a taxi driver recommended to us by previous VSO travelers to show us the sights. Addis is the third highest capital in the world at 2,500m. Our first port of call was to the top of Mt Entoto which had been designated as the capital site but it was too cold and difficult to access so it was decided to move lower down to Addis Ababa( meaning “the new flower”) At the top we were shown round the octagonal church of Raguel and the church of Marium where  Emperor Menelik11 was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in 1889. Unfortunately the panoramic views of the city below were shrouded in mist. We also visited the tomb of Haile Selassie, Emperor until 1974, and then the ethnological museum, part of the university, which gave us an informative picture of Ethiopian culture and history.                                                                           

On Friday we took an early morning flight to Bahir Dar where we immediately set off on 30km journey along a dusty track to the Blue Nile falls which, arriving at the end of the rainy season, were at their most spectacular. In the afternoon we took a boat trip on Lake Tana out to one of the many islands where we walked through dense vegetation to visit a church, Betra Mariam, which was famous for its wall murals.

The next day we set off by road to Gondar, a 160km journey this time on a road which was asphalt and well maintained. Gondar was the imperial capital from 17^th-19^th centuries and we were able to visit the compound of castles, which are still under renovation, where the various emperors lived. Nearby we visited the Water Palace, which is still used to celebrate the Ethiopian epiphany and where worshippers still plunge into the chilly water to reenact the baptism of Christ.

Another early start the following day, took us off into the Simien Mountains where at Debark we had to pay to enter the National Park, pick up our guide and our armed escort. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site and although the weather still made the views hazy we were presented with some amazing and dramatic scenery. Many peaks are over 4,000m with Ras Dashen at 4620m being the highest mountain in the country and 4^th highest in Africa. We booked into the highest hotel in Africa and set off on our first guided walk along the escarpments through the families of Gelada (bleeding heart baboons) and watched the lammergeyers (vultures) soaring around us. It got much colder towards the end of the day and we were pleased to see the log fire which had been lit in the main lodge and even happier when we were given hot water bottles to take to our beds.

The next morning we set off for a longer walk and covered more of the escarpments, unfortunately the mists never really cleared to allow us to get good photographs of the spectacular views.

We left in the afternoon to head back down to Gondar where we spent the night before our flight the next morning to Lalibela, named as the new Jerusalem by King Lalibela in the 12 and 13^th centuries. We visited 11 different churches all hewn out of solid rock and now acknowledged as one of the wonders of the world and all of the churches are still in use today.

The next morning we set off on mules and then by foot to reach the church of Ashetun Mariam at the top of the mountain with spectacular views en route to be shown some of the treasures of this tiny church. A break at lunch time took us to a new restaurant which is partly owned by a Scottish women who had previously gone out with an NGO and decided to stay ( seems to happen quite a lot!), again the situation and views from the many seating areas were breathtaking.

In the afternoon we had a long and precarious drive to reach the cave church Yemrehane Christos, considered to be the finest example of its kind in Ethiopia, and after a fair hike up the mountainside is totally not what you expect to find inside a cave.

When we arrived back in Lalibela, the village were busy preparing for Meskel (the festival of the discovery of the true cross). We had the opportunity to see the locals dressed in their traditional costumes and the clergy dressed in all their finery. The next morning before we left we were able to watch the burning of the cross and then a short flight later to Axum we were able to witness their burning ceremony, which was being held at a later time.

Axum was the seat of the empire from 200BC to 700AD, which extended from the Red Sea to Arabia and was part of the main trading route with India and China. It had its own coinage, alphabet and notational system and was considered to be one of the 4 great powers of the ancient world. In the middle of the town we saw the “stelae” (the largest single pieces of stone erected anywhere in the world) and the site of Ethiopia’s first church. A chapel within the church compound is believed by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians to house the Ark of the Covenant (the original tablets of Moses on which are inscribed the 10 commandments) but they are not available for viewing. We then visited the site, which is said to have been the Queen of Sheba’s palace.

Our final destination was a trip to Yeha, Ethiopia’s first settlement, which dates back more than 2,800 years where we saw the remains of the temple dedicated to the moon god and where there is currently some extensive excavation going on. This temple is the oldest building in sub Saharan Africa.

The final day of our Ethiopian adventure took us back to Addis where we had some time to explore the streets and shops and spend the remaining Ethiopian Birr before our long journey back to the UK. We have only visited a small portion of this beautiful country but it has been a truly amazing experience with dramatic scenery and a wealth of history and culture to absorb and I would highly recommend that this goes on the “countries to visit” list!

Congo/Nile Trail

And so a new era begins - I am now a Rwandan tourist and no longer a VSO volunteer. My exit interview completed and new visa issued, I was ready to start exploring parts of Rwanda I had previously only read about in the tourist guide.

On the 1st September, 4 of us took off in our hired vehicle, a Rav 4x4, heading for the southern part of Rwanda on the Congo border at the southern end of Lake Kivu, to make the first stop of our journey in Cyangugu where we would stay with another volunteer who lives and works there. On our way down there we passed the refugee camp where thousands of Congolese have fled from DRC.

Our route took us down through Nyungwe forest with the hope that we would be able to do one of the guided walks through the rainforest, (walking is forbidden in the forest without a guide) unfortunately we were unable to find something which fitted in with our time schedule but we did take the opportunity of stopping at Uwinka Visitor Centre where we learned about the Congo/Nile divide and then stopped at the very exclusive Nyungwe Lodge for coffee.

Our day spent in Cyangugu took us down the steep slopes and tracks to the shores of Lake Kivu where we spent a pleasant afternoon watching the locals swimming in the water and of course the odd refreshement stop, the most interesting of which was right on a tiny piece of land between Rwanda and the Congolese border beyond the giant flood barriers at the mouth of river where it flows into Lake Kivu. We took the opportunity of celebrating our one year anniversary, with 6 of us who had all arrived together, along with much reminiscing and reflecting about our respective times over the last 12 months.

The next morning we were all ready for an early departure to start the 227 km Nile/Congo route which was only opened in November 2011. The first part of our journey took us on a variation of tarmac road and road under construction but we were impressed at the general work which was going on to create this new road, however after the first 20 km we realized why this route has been designated for hiking or 4x4 vehicles only. The track??? snaked its way up hill and down dale at an alarming rate of knots with more hair pin bends than I cared to think about and most of the time we prayed that we would not encounter another vehicle going in the opposite direction, as many parts of the track were only wide enough for our own vehicle, particularly where the land had slipped and fallen away. However, Dave our fearless driver took the whole thing in his stride and never wavered from his task, as the knuckles in the back clutched ever tighter and the conversation of the passengers varied from very fast and high pitched to absolute silence.

The views were spectacular and there were many requests for photo stops - aka bush “wee” stops and it was with great relief that we reached our first destination at Kibuye some 5 hours later where we were able to relax at the spectacular Home Saint Jean Hostel over a well earned beer.

The second leg of the journey to Gisenye at the top end of the lake was marginally shorter but even scarier when we, at one point, ran out of track and found a whole crew of people hacking soil out of the hillside. We then entered into some lively discussion with the locals as to whether we continue our attempt to descend or attempt to reverse back up the hillside. We are still unsure whether we took the wrong track, as the tourist map/leaflet we were following, was very confusing to say the least and bore no resemblance to the route we were on, however we manfully continued and found some more solid ground to follow further on. The map showed various tea and coffee plantations which it would have been nice to stop off at, but we never found any means of accessing them. Our second day of travelling took us to our favourite place of Paradis Malahide, just south of Gisenye, where we were greeted like long lost friends. We had completed our journey in only two days from the south to the north end of the lake and it was particularly impressive, knowing that in ten years times there will be a proper road all the way up the lakeside, which will be bustling with traffic.

The final day of our exploration was inland down the Ngororera road, which is now a proper tarmac road all the way but with continual landslides, which had to be avoided and that’s before the rainy season really gets into full throttle. From there we headed to Nyanza, the historical site of the Rwandan kings to visit the thatch roofed palace now an Ancient History Museum.

“Based in Nyanza, 88 km south of Kigali Capital City, this was the residence of King Mutara III Rudahingwa and the Royal Palace that was traditionally built. This Palace offers a glimpse into Rwandan traditional seat of their monarchy, it is an impressive museum, restored to its 19th century state and made entirely with traditional materials. Recently the Long horned Traditional cows, Inyambo were also introduced for cows make up most of Rwandan Culture.”

         

    

 All in all a truly amazing experience and a great privilege to have seen so much of the untouched and beautiful Rwanda that we have all come to love so much.  

   

Farewell celebration

As it is now the final countdown to the end of my placement, I decided to hold a small celebration at my house for a few of the people I have worked with more closely over the last year. It would also be the last opportunity for Jane, Hetty, Margaret and I to spend time together before Margaret flies home on Saturday 25^th, so also a good chance for some girlie bonding time.

Similar to wedding invitation dilemmas, was who to invite and who to leave out, with 85 head teachers that I have worked with plus all the people at the district who pop in and out of the office almost daily, it was easier to restrict the numbers and stick with only those that I felt particularly close to. I made small invitations in Kinyarwanda and handed them out two weeks before hand as I was going to be working in Kigali for most of the next two weeks. In typical Rwandan style, people did not bother to actually read the invitation and because everything is always done with very little notice, at least two different lots of people thought the party was the Saturday before!!!

At any training that we do, the Rwandans love any of the energizer type activities that we introduce so we decided to make the theme revolve around children’s party games. This was a great success, with games like Pass the Parcel, the chocolate game, pin the tail on the Rwandan cow and some team balloon games but the overall favourite was - pass the orange from chin to chin, that had them all in fits of laughter and strangely enough the oranges all disappeared at the end of the game, of course they are considered to be a bit of a luxury.

 Inevitably there was some speech making which turned into an opportunity for everyone at the party to stand up and introduce themselves, how they knew me and how sad they were that I was leaving, I did not appreciate just how many “best friends” I had made. There were even a few tears (from one of my favourite head teachers!) and I had a real lump in my throat as I thanked everyone for coming and how much I had appreciated their friendship over the last 12 months.

As darkness started to fall towards 6.00pm most people took their leave and we were left with the hard core so that Margaret and I could demonstrate a “Gay Gordons” and get a few people to join in which was then followed by some of younger lads giving us a demonstration of Rwandan dancing, which they love doing.

All in all, a very successful way to round things off, with lots of happy memories and pictures to accompany them.

Birthday weekend

Of course most people remember those big birthday milestones by special celebrations or holidays to acknowledge that major step into a new decade and for me entering the realms of the free bus pass decade, this will be no exception as I will always remember my time here in Rwanda. Since my arrival last September I have celebrated many volunteer birthdays by meals out or visits to different parts of Rwanda but in true traditional style of not wanting to bring any attention to my own birthday (much preferring to be the organizer of someone else’s) I chose to keep very quiet about my birthday and jumped at the opportunity to accompany another volunteer to visit Akagera National Park on the Saturday and then attend a dowry ceremony on the Sunday.

Akagera Park is right on my doorstep, in fact most of my district was part of the designated national park area pre 1994 but much of the land has now been used to repatriate many thousands of returning refugees who fled in the 50’s and 90’s and who have been encouraged by the government to return to Rwanda.

“The Akagera National Park covers 1,200km² in eastern Rwanda, against the Tanzanian border. It was founded in 1934 to protect animals and vegetation in three ecoregions: savannah, mountain and swamp. The park is named for the Kagera River which flows along its eastern boundary feeding into several lakes, the largest of which is Lake Ihema. The complex system of lakes and linking papyrus swamps makes up over 1/3 of the park and is the largest protected wetland in central Africa.

Much of the savannah area of the park was settled in the late 1990s by former refugees returning after the end of the Rwandan Civil War. Due to land shortages, in 1997 the western boundary was regazetted and much of the land allocated as farms to returning refugees. The park was reduced in size from over 2,500km² to its current size. Although much of the best savannah grazing land is now outside the park boundaries, what remains of Akagera is some of the most diverse and scenic landscape in Africa.

In 2009 the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) and the African Parks Network entered into a 20 year renewable agreement for the joint management of Akagera. The Akagera Management Company was formed in 2010 as the joint management body for Akagera National Park.

Over the next 5 years a US$10 million expenditure is planned for Akagera including the construction of a 120km western boundary fence and the reintroduction of lion and black rhino.”

In typical Rwandan style, in that you should never anticipate that things will go according to plan, I got a phone call on the Friday night to say that our driver that we had booked to take us through the park had been involved in a road accident and although no one had been hurt he now had to spend the whole of Saturday with the Police completing paper work, so we were facing the cancellation of the outing. However he suggested a friend of his who might be able to step in at the last minute to help us out, so I woke up the next morning unsure whether we were going or not. Jane was getting picked up in Kigali and then I would get picked up in Kabarore en route, as we would entering the Park by the north entrance. She texted me to say that they had left so our day was going ahead after all and I duly got picked up just before 7.30am.

We arrived at the park entrance just after 8 and already there were several groups ahead of us, needless to say all them were “muzungos”. Fortunately we were given reduced entrance fees because of our residence status and then our safari was ready to begin. Another volunteer had described Akagera as “Rwanda’s hidden jewel” and that is indeed what it was, we drove through such a variety of scenery, vegetation and landscapes and for the most part never saw another sign of a vehicle or any other humans. Our 4x4 negotiated the dirt tracks with ease avoiding the fallen tress which had obviously been destroyed by elephant and our heads dotted from side to side as we peered for animals, hidden in the undergrowth. The bird life was particularly amazing and I was so glad of the binoculars I had brought with me and resolved that if I should ever return to the park then a bird book was an essential.

The attraction of the park is its feeling of simplicity and unspoiled beauty and the feeling that you are indeed in the heart of Africa. There is only really one track through the park but our driver was quite happy to take us off track to allow us to get closer to the groups of animals that we spied, even though he was driving though spiky scrub land and I could hear the scratches on the vehicle and anticipate the value of the car going down by the minute!

We were apparently particularly fortunate to see elephant as our driver Lucien had been there on 4 previous occasions and had not seen any, but they did stay quite far from view and again the binoculars came to the rescue. The open savannah area was particularly spectacular, as so many different types of animals wandered freely across the plains and were quite happy to come up close to our vehicle to observe us.

We should have kept a notepad handy to record all the different species we saw during our journey as we headed south following many of the lakes and swamps which separate Rwanda from Tanzania where we saw many hippos but only one crocodile. We had taken our own snacks and were glad of the bottle of Primus we had brought to whet the palate but had to think twice before diving in behind a bush to answer a call of nature not knowing what else might be lurking there. Our safari trek lasted 7 hours as we wound our way south before reaching the other park entrance and the start of our homeward journey. Altogether a very satisfying day and I couldn’t wait to get back to look at the photos I had taken.

I woke up on Sunday morning to discover there was no power but thinking it would be only temporary I held off getting washed and dressed knowing I had plenty of time before Margaret was due to arrive for the dowry ceremony which was scheduled to start at11.00am. Finally I had to accept that the power was not returning and had to face the cold wash- not good when you have to wash your hair but needs must, particularly after a very dusty previous day. Also challenging when you can’t get a cup of tea to start off the day, however one more thing I have grown accustomed to.

Margaret and her daughter arrived early, they had also had no power and made do with the “ baby wipe” wash, another emergency alternative. Water is also becoming a problem in this area with the continued dry season and I had found it difficult to get my jerry cans filled up so I was being particularly careful with the water I used.

By 12 o’clock we decided we could probably head for the wedding ceremony – you can see we are getting better at trying not to arrive at the appointed time and then finding you have to sit and wait for hours for things to begin. Imagine our surprise to arrive and find guests already seated, two big marquees had been erected in the house gardens and we were asked to sit on the side according to the family you were invited by. We were squeezed into seats at the back and the ceremony was ready to begin. There followed a lengthy bartering discussion between the two fathers of the bridal party where they exchange views about what is an appropriate dowry which will be mutually acceptable to both families, so although we could not understand much of what was being said, the whole event follows a predetermined script and revolves around numbers of cows ( being the recognized and accepted source of wealth). With both parties satisfied much to the appreciation of the audience, the two bridal parties make their first appearance, first the groom and all his groomsmen and then the bride to be and her attendants all resplendent in traditional dress and co-ordinated colours. They then have to go through a ritual of present giving, to parents and key family members, before we all celebrated with Fanta.

Food was to follow but had to be done in a set order which indicated that it would some considerable time before it reached the back row where we were sitting so instead we decided to make a discreet retreat and bid our farewells to our host, brother of the bride. The lure of getting back home to get tucked into my birthday present that Margaret had organized her daughter to bring from the UK was too great……..a Cup a Soup!!