Lake Kivu

Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, which flows southwards into Lake Tanganyika. The lake covers a total surface area of some 1,040 sq miles and stands at a height of 4,790 ft above sea level. Some 58% of the lake's waters lie within DRC borders. The lake bed sits upon a rift valley that is slowly being pulled apart, causing volcanic activity in the area, and making it particularly deep: its maximum depth of 1,575 ft is ranked eighteenth in the world.

The world's tenth-largest inland island, Idjwi, lies in Lake Kivu, as does the tiny island of Tshegera, which also lies within the boundaries of Virunga National Park; while settlements on its shore include Bukavu, Kabare, Kalehe, Sake and Goma in Congo and Gisenyi, Kibuye and Cyangugu in Rwanda.

Lake Kivu is one of three known exploding lakes, along with Cameroonian Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun, that experience violent lake overturns. The trigger for lake overturns in Lake Kivu's case is unknown but volcanic activity is suspected. The gaseous chemical composition of exploding lakes is unique to each lake, in Lake Kivu's case, methane and carbon dioxide, due to lake water interaction with a volcano. The amount of methane is estimated to be 65 cubic kilometers (if burnt over one year, it would give an average power of about 100 gigawatts for the whole period). There is also an estimated 256 cubic kilometers of carbon dioxide. The risk from a possible Lake Kivu overturn is catastrophic, because of the approximately two million people living in the lake basin.

In 2011 ContourGlobal, a U.S. based energy company secured project financing to initiate a large-scale methane extraction project. The project will be run through a local Rwandan entity called KivuWatt, using an offshore barge platform to extract, separate and clean the gasses obtained from the lake bed before pumping purified methane via an underwater pipeline to on-shore gas turbines. Stage one of the project aims to build and supply three "gensets" along the lake shore, totaling 25MW of electrical capacity. In addition to managing gas extraction, KivuWatt will also manage the electrical generation plants and on-sell the electrical power to the Rwandan government. Extraction is said to be cost-effective and relatively simple because once the gas-rich water is pumped up, the dissolved gases (primarily carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide and methane) begin to bubble out as the water pressure gets lower. This project is expected to increase Rwanda's energy generation capability by as much as 20 times and will enable Rwanda to sell electricity to neighboring African countries.  Wikipedia

I have been twice now to Lake Kivu, both times to celebrate birthdays of other volunteers, once to Kibuye and once to Gisenye and both times I have been struck by the beauty and majesty of the lake and its surrounding mountains. The weekend I spent at Kibuye I discovered my camera had no battery life and I was unable to take any photos but we all stayed at a huge hostel set in the most imposing situation on a raised promontory with views of the lake on 3 sides, where I felt as if I could have been looking out onto a Norwegian fjiord. After a swim in the very fresh waters of the lake ( one of the few parts where it is safe to swim and free from bilharzia ( snail fever)) we took a boat trip out round some of the many little islands which are dotted off the shore line and then stopped off at a hotel along the coastline where we enjoyed local refreshments before setting off on a lengthy walk back to our accommodation. It was at this time, the heavens decided to open with a vengeance and we were caught in the most terrifying overhead electrical storm where we could see the lightening striking in front of us along with the sound of thunder which vibrated through our bodies. We got back a little shaken but unscathed and soaking did not even begin to describe ourselves, with no hot showers in sight and the thought of a bunk bed ( more like a hammock) in a dormitory to look forward to, however at £2 a night we couldn’t really complain.

Our journey back to Kigali the next day was nothing if not eventful, the rains from the night before had washed away much of the roads and there were landslips all along the way, we passed 3 different accidents – none serious - where the low visibility was obviously too much for other vehicles, the twisty hairpin bends en route were also too much for many of our fellow passengers ( Rwandans are not good travellers on these roads and twice I have required a complete change of clothes by the time I have got off the bus at the end of one of these journeys) and a timely reminder never to put any of your belongings on the floor when you travel by bus!

All in all, a memorable experience in so many ways.

My trip to Gisenye more recently, was much more civilized, as a group of 10 of us made our way to spend the night at Paradis Malahide, this time arriving in style by car. The afternoon we spent at the lake side where we watched some of the locals swimming and a wedding taking place, we could also see the excavating platform barge off shore in the distance and we were aware of an army patrol boat which constantly patrolled the shores of the lake reminding us of the close proximity of the Congolese border.

We took the opportunity of walking along the shores of the lake until we reached the border patrol crossing into the Congo. We are constantly hearing about thousands of refugees who are crossing the border from the Congo into Rwanda and we had already passed on our way, a huge refugee camp which is apparently increasing in numbers every day. However everything at the border looked very quiet and we approached as close as we dared before turning back the way we had come.

On the shores of the lake an International Women’s beach volleyball tournament was taking place with 8 different African nations taking part. With 2 women per team dressed in scanty beach shorts and tops there was a large crowd of Rwandan male spectators watching and cheering on the competitors.

Our accommodation was outside of Gisenye, staying in small African style huts right on the edge of the shore where we could sit watching the local fishing boats setting off into the setting sun and then the next morning we watched them row back towards shore and could hear the sound of singing from the crews, a sign of a good night’s catch. There was something quite magical about watching a scene which had remained unchanged for decades.

Our evening meal was conducted round a campfire where we all went away with the smell of wood smoke, in true Girl Guide fashion, during the evening we were entertained by some local Intore dancers who insisted we all got up and joined in. There were only the 10 of us dining but we had such a good evening, it was strange to think that only a few months previously none of us had known each other and yet we had all formed a really close bond in a short space of time. Another reminder that one of the best things about an experience like this is the likeminded people you meet, who have been brought together with a common purpose.

It was a beautiful spot and one we were all very reluctant to leave but I had to make an early start to face the 8 hour journey to get back to Kabarore!