Kibuye....sweet, sweet Kibuye

Needing a break from the diesel fumes and chaos of city life, Ariana, Jamie, and I decided to head to western Rwanda to a small lake town called Kibuye. Kibuye is situated alongside Lake Kivu, a massive lake that provides much of the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

We packed our things early to catch a bus downtown and then quickly go to another bus station to buy our tickets west. The busses are reasonably nice and everyone does get there own seat, which was contrary to the stories I had heard about people being packed in like sardines. We enjoyed an amazing three hour journey along curvy mountain roads that allowed us to really see the Rwandan countryside. It was beautiful. In a very small country with 8 million people almost every bit of land is being used in one way or another. Looking out over the mountains and valleys as we drove the land appeared as a bright green patchwork quilt. Despite incredibly steep hillsides, we saw farmers out in the fields everywhere. What struck me most was the variety of things being grown. In the US, I am so used to seeing cornfields that stretch for miles. Here the farming plots are generally not bigger than a few hundred yards and there are banana trees next to coffee plants next to corn next to vegetables. It is hard to describe how fertile and lush it appears.

Arriving in Kibuye, we quickly grabbed some Moto's and got a quick ride up to Centre Bethanie, our hotel for the night. It was like entering a tropical resort paradise. It sits perched high on a mountain peninsula with incredible views of Lake Kivu. We soaked it in for a few minutes and then headed to our hotel rooms to watch some TV. We watched several reruns of "The Bachelor" and then a couple of old B-rate movies. Just kidding. We headed into town to check out the big friday market. It was a nice long walk to town and we were excited to see the market. All I wanted to do was take pictures (it was a photographers dream), but this was the last thing that felt comfortable. After a few minutes it was quite obvious we were not interested in buying anything and we could barely move in the crowded market. Add the open air fish smell (lots of drying sardines) and the fact that the word Mizungu seemed to be coming from all directions and we decided to head back to the relaxing paradise at our hotel.

Back at the hotel, we enjoyed a leisurely swim in the lake before we met up with a guy we had met on the bus to go on a boat ride. The slow ride weaved us in and out of many islands before we stopped for a little break at "napoleons hat" island. Our guide had told us there were many birds here. Big deal right. What he didn't tell us was that we were about to be treated to a show of fruit bats like we could never imagine. We waited below while he flushed them out... thousands upon thousands of fruit bats flew above us and it was a magnificent spectacle. We stood in awe. I had to remind myself that I was on a small island in the middle of a lake in Africa watching a fruit bat colony take flight. Surreal.

We made our way back to the hotel as the locals returned by canoe from a long day at the market. Some amazing African dinner and we were in bed by 8:30 - exhausted.