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Uganda, Congo, Rwanda. Hello fr. the land of Dian 
Fossey & "Gorillas in the Mist"

Sent 4/24 from Kigali 

Thru Uganda, Congo, Rwanda. Hello from the land of Dian
Fossey & "Gorillas in the Mist." 

Femsi, Gigi, Rawan go and rent the movie above and enjoy
(again); Femsi the 2 towels you gave me left behind
somewhere; get me 2 more for next trip; they are VERy
practical. Gigi, lost that wonderful fleece shirt--as
Cavit's.  Had used it as blanket while camping.  Have a
thicker one from Femsi, so OK.

I am typing this at the Internet cafe near the Kigali Hotel
(mentioned in Lonely Planet) in Kigali, Rwanda.  More
below.  Tomorrow (Apr. 25) at 7am, I am off (on Yahoo Bus)
to Bujumbura, Burundi, arriving at about 1pm.  The bus
people told me there IS a ferry from there that travels the
length of Lake Tanganyika, all the way south to Zambia.
(Bus ticket $10, they accept Dollars here as readily as
Rwandan Franks.)   If so, I plan to be on it on Apr. 26, in
Kigoma Apr. 27, in Mpulungu, Zambia on Apr. 29, though I am
not yet sure on what dates the ferry operates, and if 2
days on a ferry, facing endless water, will relax me or
bore me.  (I am a high-gear person who likes to be doing
things when traveling; I do NOT like contemplating my
navel, even if it is called relaxing.) Anyway, tomorrow at
6am, a motorcycle guy will come to pick me up to Yahoo Bus
station . . .  The next report will likely be from Zambia.

0. For my other friends, our tour group with Wide World
21-days from Vic. Falls to Nairobi, + 3 days to Masai Mara,
consisted of 19 disparate people, who somehow blended
famously together, some due to their own effort, some by
natural flow of sharing a rare adventure, some due to the
irresistible enthusiasm and cheerfulness that infected us
all by our tour guide Sharon.  (Huh, what a chick...) 
Anyway, when I post the group photos, I will immortalize
them all, plus, of course, the crew, along the lines I did
with the Aussie group with whom I shared a rather plush
14-day tour of Western Turkey in 2002 (on web site).

1. Useful Tidbits

a) Dollar Bills.  If you travel abroad, especially in
developing world, I had mentioned that you should bring
along lots of Dollars in various denominations.  What I
forget to add is that better make sure you have new bills,
like after 1996, preferably 2001 or later.  Also, some
places accept $5 or higher bills only; you may be stuck
with $1 bills, but they are OK for quick tips, etc., when
you no longer have local currency and are about to leave. 
Yesterday, I did just that ($2 to a minibus driver) to get
out of Congo to Gisenyi, Rwanda.

b) In Kabale, Uganda, Hotel VisiTour Dump charged me 10,000
Ug.Sh., about $6, too much for that place.  If you come,
try the Skyblue Hotel Instead, also by same name in Kisoro
for 8,000 Ug.Sh.

c) Exchange.   You can readily exchange Ugandan Franks to
Rwandan ones, actually use the former at some places.  Of
course, Dollars are international, but for bus tickets you
MUST pay in local currency.

d) Hotel Kigali in Kigali charges 6,500 Rw.F, about $13,
but it is spotless, nice cleaned and ironed sheets.  But
dont be surprised that this is where lovers have a session.
 The rooms have bath in them, but cold shower.  There is TV
with supposedly 30 channels, BUT the first guest that
orders a channel dooms all the rest of the rooms to that
channel.  Never heard this before.  As you exit Hotel
Kigali, turn left, walk up the street, turn right and see
the large white building a block away on the other side. 
The Internet there (2nd floor) is good and charges 500 RF
($1) per hour, best since Nairobi.  There is also a good
restaurant on the first floor.  

e) Motorcycles. Pay anywhere from 300 to 600 ($1.20) for
rides to anywhere in the city on someone's back on a
motorcycle in Uganda and Rwanda.

f) Road Comparison. One thing that surprised me is the nice
condition of the roads in Kigali and Rwanda in general, and
in Burundi, as compared to the atrocious ones in Kenya,
which is a richer country with many tourists.  To have such
bad roads to Masai Mara and Mombasa, main destinations, is
dumbfounding.

g) Between Gisenyi, Rwanda and Goma, Congo, I also passed
Lake Kivu and have nice shots of it also from the
mountains.

h) Post cards. You will have difficulty finding post cards
in Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo.  Try the gift shops of better
hotels.  I found some at the Intercontinental in Kigali,
and Novhotel in Bujumbura.

h) Vegetation.  Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi are much more
green and lush than all the countries we visited on the
tour.  As far as scenery, the countryside in them is much
more scenic in general, but for places like the Serengeti
and Ngorongoro crater in the latter.

i) Temperature.  Due to the elevations of Nairobi and
Kigali (and Kabale and Kisoro in Uganda), evenings and
nights are cool in both cities.  However day temp. are
still high, and as you drop to the level of Lake
Tanganyika, temp., humidity, and mosquitoes rise.  

j) Swahili. There are many tribal dialects in Africa.
Swahili, spoken mostly along the coastal East Africa (if I
can so generalize) seems one common denominator and a
version of it was spoken between hosts in Uganda with 2
people from Congo, they said.

k) Drive on the Left.  After all the countries influenced
by the British, thus driving on the left, with the wheel on
the "wrong" side for the rest of the world, it was
refreshing to see people in Rwanda driving on the right
side for a change, but curiously, with the wheel still on
the wrong side on some vehicles.

2. Kenya left a + impression with me.  I think I could live
there, as well as in Mombasa, though not so much in Dar Es
Salaam, Tanzania. (By the way, Dar is the financial capitol
of Tanzania; the legislative capitol is Dodoma centrally
located.) Of course, I could also live in South Africa, and
I think in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, but dont ask me "how
long?"  As for Uganda, I think the natives are still
shell-shocked from their terrible history.  I felt they
lacked the sophistication and vitality of the Kenyans. 
They striked me as what we in USA call "God-fearing" sort
of decent souls. In the case of Kenya, of course tourism
and constant interaction with white foreigners left them
more assured of themselves, not to mention the 1 million or
so white Kenyans in their midst.  In turn, I found the
Rwandans a bit provincial.  Many voiced polite objections
that a grown man would wear short pants, for example. 
Being under the influence of the French, I guess one can
forgive them such misplaced ideas of "style."  By the way,
people in Rwanda, Congo (Zaire) and Burundi speak French
and their own tribal dialect, but many on the street do
understand English too, which is more than I can say for
South Americans--where VERY few do.

3. Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda.  Are under East African
Community.  Exiting one for the other 2 and then coming
back, you do NOT need another entry visa.  Also after
crossing the border to Uganda, a money changer in the
Akamba bus gave me 23 Ugandan Sh. for each Kenyan Sh.,
actually a very good rate, and later, I exchanged Ugandan
Sh. into Rwanda Franks.  In Dollars: $=70-77 Kenyan Sh.,
1700 Ugandan Sh., 500 Rwanda Franks.

b) Congo & Rwanda. In Congo they accept Rwandan Franks as
readily as the local Franks, of course also Dollars.  I got
in just for a day, 1) to see the formalities ($30 for 8-day
transit visa, readily given as just a stamp), and 2) to see
the Virunga Volcanos also from that angle.  I spent the
night in Goma, otherwise spent several hours on the back of
a motorcycle.  Anyway, despite all warnings, I did not feel
in danger, except taking photos, which I did in
semi-secret.

4. Roads.  The major roads in Kenya may be the worse of the
lot, more like pot holes interrupted by dirt and asphalt. 
The bus drivers may be some of the best in the world, the
way they can navigate the huge vehicle on roads with no
highway lights, no markings, with full of pot holes, no
shoulder or a foot of drop from the surface to the
shoulder, narrow lanes; where there is still asphalt left
on the road, it is often like a bone-rattling wave.  The
road to Jinja in Uganda began nice then turned even worse
than the road to Masai Mara.  Curiously, after Ninja and in
relatively desolate parts like from Kampala to Kabale, the
road was better.  In Rwanda, they were fine.

5. Nairobi to Jinja, Uganda.  As you might know, Jinja is
the Source of the Nile off Lake Victoria.  I paid the
Akamba bus 1000 Shillings. The bus was supposed to depart
at 7am, it did at 8:17am, after a wild city tour for some
reason that ended back at the station.  The 2 borders are
separated by a narrow river and a bridge over it, like Vic.
Falls and Livingstone.  At the border I paid $15 (Dollars
only) for a 7-day Transit visa to Uganda. We arrived in
Jinja at 5:50pm (following an all-nighter from Mombasa that
arrived in Nairobi at 5:50am, which followed an all-nighter
to Mombasa at 10pm 2 nights before, which followed 5 hours
of drive from Masai Mara, up at 5:30am...).  All along in
the buses, stations, on the way, I was the only white
person around everywhere.

The bus dropped me off on the main highway in Jinja. I paid
a motorcycle driver 3,000 Sh. to take me and my bag to the
Backpackers Explorer (8500 Ugandan Shillings, hamburger
6000, soda 50).  There were 4 young Brits there at the end
of a 3-month teaching stint.  I decided on an empty dorm
room that was as hot as a Turkish hamam.  I took a cold
shower, dried myself with the cover, turned on the fan, got
under the wet cover to cool down, and dozed off to 4:30am,
now ready for another 2-day on-the-go without sleep.  It
turned out so.

6. Jinja, Kampala, Kabale (Uganda). As agreed, in the morn,
the same motorcycle guy came again to take me first the
12km to the falls, then 3km to the Source of the Nile. 
After many photos, he brought me back to the hostel, we
loaded my bag on the cycle and he drove me to the bus to
Kampala (Bus 2,000 Sh), all for 7,000 Shillings ($4) for 2
hours of sigh-seeing.  1.5 hours later I was in Kampala. 
The city did not strike me as elegant as Nairobi.  The bus
station for buses to inland destinations looked more like a
bazaar, with mobile vendors selling everything imaginable
entering and exiting the buses, many passengers already in
the bus seemingly immune to the endless waiting in utter
heat.  I paid 15,000 Sh for the 7-hour ride to Kabale. 
That was at 12:30pm; at 4pm, the bus finally had its 67
passengers and we started, arriving in a dark Kabale at
11pm, right in front of the VisiTours Hotel (Dump better
word), that was closed.  After 5 min. banging on the metal
door, 3 young guys in filthy clothing opened the door.

By then, a couple from Congo and a single woman had joined
me, looking for rooms.  Lonely Planet recommends this one
as a good value.  I began missing my tent, including
putting it up.  Here there sheets and pillow cases had not
been washed after the last guest (or 10 guests ago), and
they smelled.  Kabale being the highest city in Uganda, the
air was on the cool side. I spread a shirt over the pillow
and crawled in, but could not sleep.  The 3 guys had told
us in broken English that at 5am they would catch a taxi
(minibus) to Kisoro--the stretch between Kabale and Kisoro
recommended by Lonely Planet as one of the most scenic in
Africa.  Up at 4, 2 guys came with a graveyard model
minibus.  It was 10am before it was full to the seams and
loaded on top to havens. I did not like Kabale; it looked
like haphazard wild-west town.) We left, and YES this was
perhaps the most scenic 2 hours I had ever seen.  So lets
make it formal.

7. Kabale to Kisoro (Uganda, 2 hours), Kisoro to Ruhengeri
(Rwanda, 1 hour), Ruhengeri to Kigali (2 hours). RATING 10
for the unbelievable scenery of huge mountains clad in
tropical fauna, terraces of land with various crops, banana
trees, forests, twists and turns . . .  By giving these a
rating 10, I have compared this landscape to the best in
the world: in Hawaii and Bali, the Rocky Mount. Nat. Park
in Colorado, the stretch between Banff and Jasper in
Canada, the drop between Whistler and Vancouver in Canada,
Southern West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania, the Coast
Mount. of Calif., Aegean Turkey, drive to Kinabalu in
Borneo, village of Tuk Tuk in Sumatra, and of course the
Mosel Valley in Germany, the Alps in Swiss, the Andes in
Northern Chile . . . which are the best of the best.  (Only
the Himalayas, as seen from Nepal or Tibet,  stand out even
more, really.) Rather than utilizing vacant poetry here,
wait till I post the photos.

8. Kisoro, Uganda to Ruhengeri, Rwanda.  The beauty of the
landscape to Kisoro continues, with added features:
beautiful views of the 7 volcanoes (and habitat of
gorillas) at the Parc National des Volcans.  The bus ride
took about 2 hours, including the red-tape at the border. 
A surprise awaited me at the Rwandan side: Americans did
NOT need visa, just an entry stamp. We arrived in Ruhengeri
at about noon. A motorcycle guy greeted me in a novel
fashion--that he is from the tourism board, etc.--which I
liked, also his English.  I hired him to take me around,
also to the Ministry of Tourism (I think) where I paid $25
to enter the Park des Volcans and $50 to visit Dian
Fossey's grave.  (The door at the ministry was locked, the
person inside supposedly taking lunch break; I banged long
enough to bring the security from downstairs too . . .) Off
we rode 40+km to the site; I paid my respects to this VERY
brave woman, enjoyed the unbelievably lush scenery, and
returned.

b. To Kigali.  Rather than spending the night at Ruhengeri,
I took the Virunga Express bus to Kigali (1200 Rwandan
Franks ($2.40) for the 2-hour ride.  Kigali must be one of
the prettiest cities in Africa.  Like La Paz, Bolivia, it
is spread all over the hillsides of the many mountains--not
hills--around it, cascading all the way down to the valley
floor.  Again, I jumped on the back of a motorcycle--as I
had also done frequently in Bangkok--and first came to
Gloria Hotel mentioned in Lonely Planet; I did not like it,
came instead to Hotel Kigali also mentioned in Lonely
Planet.  The hotel is located in a predominantly Muslim
area, near a humble mosque, parts of it painted in
black--as also the mosque in Medan, Sumatra, the only other
one with black domes. At night, the streets around the
hotel are like Mideastern commercial streets, very
animated, full of happy people, obviously almost all blacks
here.

I had decided to relax a day here after all the mileage,
but awake at 4am, I decided I wanted to see the Virunga
Mountains in Congo from Congo, not just from Rwanda.  That
change of mind cost me a whole day of activity.

10. Land of Dian Fossey and Gorillas.  This area covers
southwestern Uganda (why I came to Kisoro), northwestern
Rwanda (why I next arrived in Ruhengeri), and central-east
Congo (Zaire).  All along, having seen the movie Gorillas
in the Mist, I came here not to see (rather disturb) the
gorillas, but to see this habitat, and visit Dian Fossey's
grave at the foot of one volcano, about 50km north of
Ruhengeri, in Rwanda.  I did these.

As Lonely Planet states, half of world's mountain gorillas
are in Uganda, specifically in the Bwindi Impenetrable
National Park north of Kisoro.  The other half are
scattered in 3 contiguous national parks in Uganda
(Mgahinga National Park), Rwanda (Park National des
Volcans), and Congo (Park National des Virunga).

Sirman