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Loading ...After a short 2-hour mini bus ride from the border on very nice new roads we made it to the charming Rwandan capitol of Kigali, set among the hills of Rwanda. I found the countryside and landscape of Rwanda to be as beautiful as southern Uganda and among the nicest landscapes in all the countries I have visited in Africa. After a local showed us the way we found rooms in a guest house, down a steep hill from the city center. Kigali is very modern and clean by African standards, a testament to the massive influx of International aid and assistance that has flowed into Rwanda the past 14 years since the horrible atrocities of the Rwandan genocide. While people still stared at us and street touts tried to sell us trinkets and phone cards the level of hassle was extremely lessened from the rest of Africa (and not even on the same scale as Egypt and Tanzania).
Loading ...After my bus trials and tribulations I spent four days resting up in Kampala, doing errands (Western toiletries!), going to the movies with the friendly Canadian couple that I met in Arusha, and generally chilling out on the lovely grounds of the Red Chili Guest House (where I also ran into several overland tour groups that I had met multiple times in Southern and Eastern Africa). Finally I felt ready to head out and I took another somewhat harrowing bus ride down south to Kabale (for 7 ½ hours the driver sped along and wove at high speeds in and out of massive, Mini-Cooper-sized pot holes). This trip was taken with a young English couple, and we then shared an over-priced taxi to beautiful Lake Bunyoni (even after stern negotiations one cannot avoid the Mzungu prices in Africa).
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Third World Travel at above-First-World Prices
[Note that the politically correct term is Developing World and Third World terminology is obsolete Cold War rhetoric]
Africa is much more expensive than I expected, even after researching prices and speaking with others who had been here before. Part of this expense is due to the flaccid weakness of the US Dollar (thanks, George W.) and the large dependence that most Southern and Eastern African countries place on the historically solid US currency; many locals and businesses prefer dollars over their own currencies which may have astronomical inflation rates. Zimbabwe is the current red-headed economic stepchild with recent inflation measured at over 1,000,000 % (your $10,000 cash bundle from last year is worth $1 this year, plus the notes themselves have expiration dates that prevent them from holding any value beyond 3 months). In addition to a devalued dollar, many African opportunists play a fun game I liked to call Screw-The-Tourist where they set their prices in US Dollars, which are nearly impossible to get in Africa (when possible one incurs a hefty 8-15% exchange rate gouging), they adjust those dollar prices based on how far the dollar devalues relative their home currency, and then when you move to pay in the local currency they bump the exchange rate an additional 10-20% in their favor; it’s all just one big, fun, shell-game of getting fleeced at every end.
(0 Ratings) Loading ...[July 30 update: I originally posted this as private (viewable only by me) in hopes of not jinxing future African bus travel and of limiting needless worry by my parents but now that I am safely out of Africa and in easy-travelin' Thailand I decided to make the post public and think it makes quite a good story (always in retrospect). Enjoy.]
Many of the roads in Kenya are horrible, with rocky, pock-marked vast sections of highway mixed with other vast sections of poorly constructed roads (where the construction funds were siphoned by corrupt politicians who then skimped on construction) and these are rutted up to 18 inches deep along the wheel radius by the weight of trucks who pass over them. On a night bus from Arusha, Tanzania, through Kenya to Uganda we were unlucky enough to come across an unmarked detour on the dark, unlit highway at night (”highway” is a stretch because although it was the main road it was all rutted dirt and rock) and the driver rolled the vehicle swerving to avoid a collision with a gas tanker truck parked perpendicular to the road to serve as a detour barrier (fortunately we all survived with only minor bruises and scratches).
Loading ... (0 Ratings) Loading ...While spending a day organizing my safari travel in Arusha I found myself with a few hours to kill and headed for the Arusha International Conference Center where I found there was a massive 8th annual Sullivan convention (Sullivan was a US Southern Baptist minister who brought together influential African Americans with influential African political and business leaders from a round the world), as well as the Rwandan Genocide Tribunals, which have been under way since the mid 90s and more rapidly since Uganda and DR Congo stabilized and stopped being a haven for Rwandan war criminals.
After exchanging my passport for a security badge I entered the court gallery and the court came to order a short while later for the afternoon session. Immediately one of the Western defense attorneys went to refute a point while questioning the defendant (one of the provincial Rwandan ministers) and started to submit references from established documentation evidence of one of the main massacres where 20,000 Tutsi victims were massacred in a church in a single day in this ministers province. While I had read about the atrocities of the genocide a few times they became crystal clear for me in that gallery as I became a part of the history of the genocide and I started trembling with the enormity of that realization. The trail continued for a few hours and I listened in on the headset which provided the translation for the Rwandan testimony (the rest of the trial was in English). The experience was humbling and heavy but at the same time fascinating and I felt it was one of the most important events that I have ever pushed myself to experience.
You are currently viewing the vagabum.com weblog archive for June, 2008.
World Adventurer and amateur archeologist Mike Lopez (currently abroad on an extended sabbatical through Africa).
[July 30] After 4 months in Africa, Mike is taking a much needed rest in Thailand and SE Asia.
After a short 2-hour mini bus ride from the border on very nice new roads we made it to the charming Rwandan capitol of Kigali, set among the hills of Rwanda. I found the countryside and landscape of Rwanda to be as beautiful as southern Uganda and among the nicest landscapes in all the countries I have visited in Africa. After a local showed us the way we found rooms in a guest house, down a steep hill from the city center. Kigali is very modern and clean by African standards, a testament to the massive influx of International aid and assistance that has flowed into Rwanda the past 14 years since the horrible atrocities of the Rwandan genocide. While people still stared at us and street touts tried to sell us trinkets and phone cards the level of hassle was extremely lessened from the rest of Africa (and not even on the same scale as Egypt and Tanzania). 
After my bus trials and tribulations I spent four days resting up in Kampala, doing errands (Western toiletries!), going to the movies with the friendly Canadian couple that I met in Arusha, and generally chilling out on the lovely grounds of the Red Chili Guest House (where I also ran into several overland tour groups that I had met multiple times in Southern and Eastern Africa). Finally I felt ready to head out and I took another somewhat harrowing bus ride down south to Kabale (for 7 ½ hours the driver sped along and wove at high speeds in and out of massive, Mini-Cooper-sized pot holes). This trip was taken with a young English couple, and we then shared an over-priced taxi to beautiful Lake Bunyoni (even after stern negotiations one cannot avoid the Mzungu prices in Africa). 
Many of the roads in Kenya are horrible, with rocky, pock-marked vast sections of highway mixed with other vast sections of poorly constructed roads (where the construction funds were siphoned by corrupt politicians who then skimped on construction) and these are rutted up to 18 inches deep along the wheel radius by the weight of trucks who pass over them. On a night bus from Arusha, Tanzania, through Kenya to Uganda we were unlucky enough to come across an unmarked detour on the dark, unlit highway at night (”highway” is a stretch because although it was the main road it was all rutted dirt and rock) and the driver rolled the vehicle swerving to avoid a collision with a gas tanker truck parked perpendicular to the road to serve as a detour barrier (fortunately we all survived with only minor bruises and scratches).