Kigali

City of Kigali

Cafe latte at Bourbon

Rainbow by the mall!

I love Kigali. It is the first African city that I actually thought I could live in and be very happy. Kigali is clean, the people are extremely friendly and polite, and it is very safe. In general, Rwanda is more expensive than Uganda and Tanzania, perhaps because it is so small and has received a lot of aid?

In Kigali, we went to Bourbon, a wonderful coffee shop. I've started to love coffee, mainly because the coffee I have had in Africa has been very rich, aromatic--heavy like chocolate, but fragrant like tea. We went to some craft markets, but our main purpose was to see the genocide memorial.

The memorial is very difficult to endure, because it is so sad. I used to think that the Japanese were the most cruel and depraved fighters, since they had very sick ways of torturing and raping women. After working at the ICTR however, I am convinced that the darkest, most brutal and wretched war in human history is the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. Granted, there probably are worse wars, that I just don't know enough details about. The Interahamwe killed at a rate that was about 30 times faster than the killing of the Jews in the Holocaust. Even worse, it was a war that almost everyone participated in--civilians participated in the killing of Tutsis because the Interahamwe would kill moderate Hutus. Tutsi women and children fled to churches for protection, but the priests often collaborated with the Interahamwe, and allowed them to surround the church and slaughter everyone inside. There was widespread rape, since they would use rape to punish women. People would take bets on whether a pregant woman's baby was a boy or a girl, and then slice her womb open to see. The Japanese did stuff like that too, but I suppose what is particularly shocking about Rwanda is that many of these people lived side by side, they were neighbors--many knew each other, their children played together, but that no longer mattered. Also, the fact that civilians, often children, participated in the slaughter. Often, the interhamwe would drown people in latrines. Their way of killing was so torturous, victims would pay them money for a bullet.

There was another memorial that I did not go to. It is south of Kigali, and at this memorial, they have 800 bodies that were preserved so that they look exactly like they did right after the victims died. I did not go because I thought it would be too much to handle. You can see the expression on people's faces, and there is even a room of toddlers and babies, and you can see the machete wounds on their bodies. So, if you do want to see some of the most graphic consequences of the genocide, perhaps you should visit that memorial.

After seeing the Kigali memorial I was extemely depressed, so I went shopping at the craft market. The large craft market has a lot of traders that bring carvings from the Congo. Popular items included woven plates/baskets.

There are also many heart warming stories as well. We went to visit Hotel des Mille Collines, the hotel that inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda. It is the story of Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu man who worked for another hotel. The European owners of Mille Collines had evacuated early on, and Paul was left to run it. During that time, he opened the hotel to Tutsi refugees, bribing the Interahamwe with money and liquor so that he could keep some people safe.

During the night, there was the opening ceremony for an annual festival called, fespad, a Pan African Dance festival. It is hosted in different countries every year, but this year it was in Rwanda. China for some reason is also in it. During the opening ceremony, they did three tirbutes t Chinese dance, which they seem to think is lots of people in bright costumes running around in circles. Of course, I was very proud that they did a tribute, and very happy. We were sitting in the free seats, having forgotten about the warning not to attended crowded events that might draw international attention. Paul Kagame gave a speech there! We got within 40 feet of him and took pictures. As we were coming down the steps however, I heard an exploding noise, and people screaming. I thought it was a bomb, but it turned out to be fireworks! I was very happy, and I was telling people that my people invented these, hahahahaha. There was lots of cheering and dancing, people would applaud when particularly large fireworks exploded.

Rwanda: Musanze and Gisenyi, Congo: Goma

Dumptrucks carrying people to Kagame's rally

Streets in Goma, where the lava had run through

Beach in Gisenyi, weather was not very good.

We crossed into the border at Cyanika, and took a car to Musanze, previously known as Ruhengeri. In Musanze, we went to the cheapest hotel, recommended by Lonely Planet. However, when we arrived, it was getting dark. The hotel is over a bar, and as soon as our car pulled up, creepy looking men surrounded it. Needless to say, I did not feel comfortable staying in that place so we asked the driver to take us to another hotel, just outside of town.

In the morning, we took a bus to Gisenyi. Gisenyi is by Lake Kivu, and it is now a "safe haven of peace", according to Lonely Planet. I wanted to see Gisenyi, since the man we are prosecuting at the ICTR is from Gisenyi--indeed, most of the Akazu, the masterminds of the genocide, resided in Gisenyi. The Accused was a very famous man there, and gave speeches there (allegedly) about Hutus getting together to fight against the Tutsis. While we were they, we avoided telling people that we worked for the ICTR, since one of our witnesses had been poisoned, and other witnesses claimed that his family was still very influential in that area. So, we told people that we were anthropology students, studying indigenous people from around the world.

We wanted to visit Goma, really just to say we went to the Congo. At the tourism office, we found a man who was willing to take us. His name is Innocent, his family was Tutsi and had fled to the Congo during the genocide. People told us Congo is not very safe, and that we had to go with someone who was familiar with the area. Right now, Congo has the largest contingent of UN peacekeepers. At the border, I forgot to bring my yellow fever card, so they refused to let me in, unless I paid for a vaccine (and let them administer it). Our guide suggested that I give them some money for a "soda", and they might change their mind, so I did, and they let me in. I guess Rwanda is not corrupt, but Congo definitely is. Goma was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 2002. The town is currently being built (LP describes it as a modern day Pompei), and there are areas where you can see where the lava flowed through the streets and into Lake Kivu. I got out to take photos, and random people would stop and shake my hand. They seemed very friendly. Supposedly there is always ash in the air, but we went on a rainy day (the first rain they had in months), so that was not a problem.

I am still working out the kinks to blogger's picture insert, so it is a bit disorganized. Back in Gisenyi, there was a rally for Paul Kagame, the current president of Rwanda. Election are on August 9th. We were actually told to avoid Rwanda during election time, in case there was violence, but we thought we'd be okay. It was however, very chaotic. There are people running against Kagame, but they do not have the money to campaign. After talking with people, it seems some people definitely want a new leader. However, there were tons of people showing up for his rallies. People got free RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) flags, T-Shirts, and hats, and they would clamber into these huge dump trucks to be transported to the rally. People were singing, yelling, and banging on the side of the trucks.

A bit about Kagame, for those who do not know: Kagame was the leader of the RPF, who came into Rwanda from Uganda to fight against the Interahamwe; their victory was what ended the genocide of 1994.

Gorilla Photos

Kisoro and Gorilla Tracking

July 21, 2010

The next day, we took a car to Kisoro.

A bit of background information on my Gorilla Tracking: I read about Gorilla tracking when I got to Arusha. There are about 400 mountain gorillas left in the world, half of them are in Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest, in Uganda, and the rest are in the Virunga Mountains, which are spread over Congo, Uganda and Rwanda. Permits can be booked up to 2 years in advance, and they are often booked several months before the date. Thus, based on my time frame, it was extremely difficult to get a permit. I tried many places, but nothing was open. There were a few cancellations, but either someone snapped up the permit before I did, or the process was just too complicated (in one I would have had to arrange a meeting with a safari guide to pick up the permit and then get transportation to the area). In Uganda however, there were suddenly many cancellations because of the terrorist bombing that killed about 70 people during the World Cup Final. I went the week following this event. One person in our group dropped out because his parents were too upset to let him go, but I figured that it would be even safer in Uganda following the bombing, since the security would be even tighter. At the mall in Kampala, we got searched before going into the building. At Mgahinga, you can only reserve 2 weeks in advance, since the gorillas often cross in to the DRC or Rwanda. They were booked out, so I went on stand by, and luckily for me, three people did not show up, so I got to go! I was so excited!

A bit about Kisoro, before I launch into my gorilla trip--Kisoro is famous for honey and gorillas.

While I did the gorilla tracking, Laura did golden monkey tracking. Golden monkeys are also endangered, and only live in the Virunga area. Usually, it takes 1-3 hours to find the gorillas. I was lucky that day, since a group of Germans had a car with them, and the car drove us part of the way, so we save about 2 hours of walking time. From the camp on the mountains, we hiked for about 35 minutes, and then I saw a gorilla. When the guides approach, they make a noise to warn the gorillas that they are approaching. The noice is supposed to mean, "hey, here is some food!". It sounds like, "MEarrrrgh...MWOAM". Anyhow, the guides were grunting this loudly, and then I heard a rustling noise, and saw my first gorilla! I was so excited! As we climbed higher, the tracker cut some bushes down with a machete. The group, comprised on 13 individuals, has 3 silver backs and 2 babies. the silverbacks are the older males. We saw all the gorillas in that group. The babies ride on their mother's back, and the mother would climb a tree. The baby would peer at us from the branches, and then get off and eat by himself. The German girl got knocked over by a gorilla. She was standing in the path, and the gorilla sort of made an effort to go around her, but then bumped into her. She was scared, but I was super jealous, since she got to touch a gorilla! People asked me if I was scared, but I was not scared at all. I kind of thought of them as dogs...even though thay are 97% the same DNA sequence as humans! The alpha male, an enormous silverback, got annoyed when we got too close, but the smaller males and the females did not care. One walked so close by me, I could have easily patted it with my hand.

That night, we ran into money issues. My bank has a daily limit of $500, which is the cost of the gorilla permit. My friend Laura's card would not work. So, we essentially had no cash. Luckily, we ran into an Irish man and his daughter, who is half Chinese. They live in Beijing, and were very kind to us, and lent us money to pay for our room, so we could make our way over to Rwanda. While the guy at Ugandan customs said that Irish do not need a visa since they are friends of Uganda, on the Rwandan side Irish people do need a visa, and they cannot just buy it at the border. Since it has been our experience that East Africa is very corrupt, we asked another group (they had the same problem) about bribing, but they said that the Rwandans would not accept bribes. Although I was really sad that our Irish friends could not come with us, I was really happy that Rwanda is not corrupt.

Kabale and Lake Bunyonyi

The bus ride from Kampala to Kabale is about 8 hours long. For most of the way, the road is a fairly flat, dirt road. This dirt is a bright, coppery red color, like a natural bronzer. After travelling along it, I appeared to have a marvelous tan, but I would shower, and the water would run brown, and then I would return to my normal color afterwards. My backpack was completely coated in this dust, so I had to wash it when I returned to Arusha.

Anyhow, Kabale is a small town near Lake Bunyonyi, the deepest lake in Africa, and I think in the world as well. At Kabale, we met Jon's friend Bruno. Bruno knows a lot about gorilla tracking, and when to school for tourism. I will go into more detail about gorilla tacking later. After taking a water taxi, we arrived at our hostel, Boona Amagare. This is a very environmentally friendly place, but in all seriousness, I think environmentally friendly is often a nice way to disguise being cheap. It is run by an American, and uses only solar energy...which would be super cool if there was electricity at night, which there isn't. There is no electricity at night, and no plumbing. They give their toilets the fancy name of, "compost toilet" instead of just calling it a porta-potty. It was disgusting. There are no hot showers, but for extra money, they will boil 10 liters of water and you can use that. However, we had a very nice view of the lake, and their restaurant was really good. They have a lot of crayfish, so I had crayfish avocado (an avocado with friend onion, garlic, and crayfish in it), and crayfish curry.

The next morning, we went canoeing with Bruno and his friend Ipuff. Bruno assured me that the lake was safe to swim in, no crocodiles or hippos, only "small friendly animals", like otters. It is rare to see an otter, but we did see one. There is a sign by our hotel that asks us not to bleed in the water since it attracts otters, who bother the fish...I would think it is preferable to have otters, but perhaps they cause all sorts of trouble. We rowed to some of the islands.

About the Lake--it is a large lake, with a bunch of mountains rising in between it. I guess they are islands, technically, but they loom so largely, they really are mountains. One small island however, is called punishment island. Women who got pregant out of wedlock were taken here to die. Apparently most Ugandans cannot swim. Demarcus told us this, because he yelled at a school teacher at the Nile because he send children in wooden boats, close to the rapids, with no life jackets. Many children have drowned before because the waves will just knock the wooden boat over. Anyhow, the pregnant women would die on the island, unless a poor man who could not afford to pay the bride money rowed to the island to get her and make him his wife. So, free wives for poor men from Punishment Island.

On another island, we walked around, and saw some plants with bright, red, thin petals. Bruno said that people used to think that fire came from this plant, since the flower looks like a flame. We met Marvelous Grace there, she is an orphan who is being raised by people who own the hotel on that island.

In that area, there are also the Batwa Pygmies. I never got to see them, but Bruno says they aare very small people.

In the early morning, the lake is very still, and there is a mist that hovers over the water. It is very pretty, and hard to capture on camera. The water in the lake is quite cold, but after having grown up swimming in the Atlantic, no water is really cold for me.

Kampala Day 2

In Kampala, more so than in Arusha, people seem very excited to see me. Within 20 minutes of walking in the market, at least 7 people have pointed at me and yelled China! or Japan!! or Konichiwa!! Jon (who did peace corp in Uganda for 2 years) said that there are Asian in Uganda, but they usually stick to their own community and rarely go out where the local people are. I tried to explain to Demarco that there are many types of Asians, and not everyone is Chinese. He got confused, and was like, "but you ARE Chinese!" and I tried to explain, "yes, I happen to be Chinese, but Koreans and Vietnamese and various other groups also exist." Not sure how successful it was. I did think it was annoying sometimes, to have people yell into my face, "Ni Hao!", but I reminded myself that they are trying to be friendly. If I was in a good mood, I would pretend to be a rockstar and wave back and people like they were my fans.

We went to go see Mengo Palace, which used to be the home of the King of the Buganda; Buganda is one of four big kindgoms that made Uganda. The Buganda Kingdom dates back to about 800 years. During Obote's rule however, he used the prisons by the palace to torture people. There are three cells in the prison. On the walls of one of them, a man wrote, "Obote, you have killed me, but what about my children?" What is very sad is that you see handprints on the walls outside the bars, and there are messages that children wrote. The children whose parents were missing would come to the prison to look for them, because so many people got put in there.

Interestingly, we also saw posters for a book titled, "Amin DaDa, the other side" (Dada meaning father). Idi Amin was the ruthless dictator who usurped Obote and then, during his reign, killed about 300,000 of his own people. The people selling things told us we should definitely read it. Perhaps Idi Amin is the Mao Tse Tung of Uganda, as in the West hates him, but lots of people in his own country think positively of him? Plenty of Ugandans also openly despise Amin and have very bad memories from his rule.

That night, we ate Ugandan food. Matoke, which is made from plantains, is kind of sour, like Ethiopian injera (the flat spongey bread thing). I did not like it. Kalo, which made me think of a Chinese desert, is made from cassava and plaintain, it is sticky in consistency, like a rice cake. A popular dish is ground nut sauce and meat or beans. I had smoked beef in ground nut sauce, which was delicious. The ground nut sauce tastes like a peanut curry.

Jinja

On June 16, 2010, we got picked up from our hostel at around 7:30 am to go white water rafting on the Nile. The source of the Nile is Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa and 4th largest lake in the world. On our way over there, we crossed a bridge and I saw a crocodile in the water; I have always been afraid of crocodiles, there is just something very creepy about them. Maybe it's the fact that they drag their prey into the water and drown it, and then leave it to bloat and get soggy for a few weeks before eating it, maybe it's that they are deadly in the water and pretty dangerous on land as well. At least sharks stay in the water, crocodiles and alligators can come into your backyard and eat your dog or child. I know people like Steve Irwin tried to show that animals like crocodiles are not evil, etc., but I just don't like them.

Anyhow, I figured that at the rapids, there wouldn't be crocodiles, since they prefer calmer water. After eating breakfast at the company, we got fitted for life jackets and helmets. I asked a friend of ours who did it before whether anyone fell out of the boat, and he said that I should be asking "if" people fall out of the boat, since the entire boat flips over, multiple times. Somehow that didn't bother me that much, since I had a helmet (I have a lot of faith in helmets).

Our guide, Demarco, is a very funny man. We practiced falling into the water the right way, flipping the boat over, and flipping it back. When the boat flips over, there is an air pocket below it. The guide will climb on top of the raft, and then we all come out, and hold onto the side of the boat. When the guide flips the boat back, we are supposed to duck under the boat (where the air pockets are) to avoid being hit when the boat flips back again). Demarco said he wanted to avoid getting his shirt wet, which made me think perhaps we would not tip over, but I guess he was joking and the sarcasm bypassed me. On a particularly large rapid, a bunch of locals sit on the shore (like, a hundred people at least) to watch the white people flip over on their rafts. Every boat flipped on that rapid, except for ours. Demarco says it is because he prayed. He told Michelle, one of the girls in our group, "you are not religious, you just pretend to be". He then said to me, "this might be a stupid question, but if Jackie Chan popular in China too?" I explained to him that yes, he was very popular, but that I actually am American and cannot really say what's very popular in China or not. Regardless, Demarco told me. "when you go back to your country, can you please tell Jackie Chan to come to Uganda? Ugandans really love Jackie Chan." I told him I would give him a call and relay the message.

Our boat flipped over twice, which is actually quite good. Once however, I got hit in the fact with the oar, on the side of my head, right below where my helmet ended. I suppose the helmet was not as helpful as I had thought it would be. While we were rafting, we had a professional photographer take photos and videos. I look very grumpy in the video, although I was having a very good time.

At one point, the water was rapid, but then became very still. Demarco said if we fell out there, to get back in as soon as possible, since there were crocodiles in that area. I can't tell whether he was joking or not, but I clung to the rope during that period. If the rapid is shallow, we are supposed to lie on our back and avoid swimming. If the rapid is deep, we are supposed to try to swim to the boat. At one point, we went down a waterfall (Demarco was saying it is so small, it doesn't even count as a waterfall, but it is a significant drop). Many boats would get stuck at the waterfall, and they had people around that area with ropes, since it is common that the power of the water will trap you, so you can't even swim out.

There is one point where the rapid is so bad that we had to get out and walk, while people carried our boat on land to the other side. Demarco told us there was a racist rock in the water that only hits white people ("muzungus"), and not black people. I might have been okay, since I'm a "mchina". We ate pineapple, which was very sweet, and had an early dinner after rafting. We stayed the night at their camp, and went back to Kampala the next morning.

Kampala Day 1

I just got back from a 10 day trip to Uganda, DRC and Rwanda. I will separate the posts, although they will all be listed on the same day. I realize that I should have put dates on the previous posts. Oh well.

On June 15, 2010 I flew into Entebbe from Arusha. From Entebbe, we went to Kampala, a large city. The first thing I noticed was the air quality. While I do not have problems with asthma in America, I do in Taiwan, where it is very polluted, and I did again as we rolled into Kampala. The city is growing, and there are too many cars wedged on roads that usually have only one, at most two, lanes. Supposedly they are building a new highway that will help alleviate traffic jams, but for the moment, we often inched along in the cab. Bodas, which are motorcycles, are usually much faster, cheaper, but also more dangerous. I figured since I had ridden motorcycles in Taiwan frequently that I would be fine on a boda. In reality, boda in Uganda is completely different from biking in the US or Taiwan. First of all, there are often no traffic lights, and the bodas will speed in front of cars, weave through traffic, and sometimes cut across a busy intersection while cars are coming at them from the opposite direction. Needless to say, I rode a boda once, and determined to always take a taxi afterwards. The taxi ride however, usually makes me sick because of the heavy stench of gasoline, mixed with the red dust that lines every road.

In Kampala (which is the capital, by the way), we went to a shopping mall. There is a place called New York Pizza in the parking lot, which is just okay, but probably nice if you miss American food. That day, we went to a craft market and a used clothing plaza. The craft market in Kampala is much nicer than the one in Arusha because the people do not heckle you at all. Granted, it is also slightly more expensive. In general however, Uganda is cheaper than Tanzania.

I slept early everyday, mainly because I was still recovering from a stomach infection that struck again (the doctors suspect it was the same one, and that it had never healed, but I think it is just a new infection).

We stayed at a place called Red Chilli Hideaway, which is decent. They have goats and dogs running around, and one huge pig that comes out every now and then. The food is not bad, but it is extremely slow. The waitresses have an attitude, I guess since everyone is always asking them how much longer it will be until their food comes out.

Zanzibar!

Last Thursday I left for Zanzibar. The name for Zanzibar means land of of the blacks, and it was part of the slave trading route. Now, the island is beautiful and warm, basically everything I had expected Arusha to be. When we got off the plane, the sun was shining, even though the forecast had been for rain. We have perfect weather all weekend, except for a slight drizzle during lunch one day.



On Thursday and Friday we explored Stone Town. Zanzibar is predominantly Muslim, and the architecture in Stone Town reflects that. The area was famous for the spice trade, and the stone buildings and narrow alley ways make it seem like its part of a different time period. There are very ornate doors, which reminded me of the doors of some palaces in Beijing, with the studs on them. We went to see the old slave market, which is now a cathedral. They have a pit where people were chained by their necks, and tiny rooms, about 10 by 10 feet, in which they would shove 75 people. As we were walking to this market, we passed a series of winding shopping streets, with a lot more variety than the stores in Arusha. I really liked all the colors, especially the kangas, other clothes, beaded purshes, and paintings. I ended up buying a lot of fabric to make dresses with. The sunset over the water was gorgeous, since the water there is an aquamarine color near the shore, then turns to a tourquoise, and then a rich, dark blue. Someone commented that the dark red of the sunset indicates that there is a lot of pollution here. Other buildings that we saw included the distillery, the House of Wonders, the Old Fort, Princess Salme's House, and the big tree (which literally is a very big tree). Princess Salme apparently eloped with a German Merchant, and is still famous in Zanzibar. We stayed at a hostel called Princess Salme Inn, which was really nice and had a rooftop cafe. At night, we went to Forodhoni Gardens, kind of like a nightmarket. There are stands with tons of seafood. I tried shark, baracuda, rock lobster, crab, red snapper, snail, octopus, and squid. Most of the seafood is very cheap, about a dollar per stick, but my favorite was the crab claw (half kilo) which was about 4 US dollars. They also made a Zanzibari pizza, which was mango and chocolate in a crepe. One restaurant, called Monsoon, supposedly has the best coffee in Tanzania. Their coffee is spiced with either masala, clove, cinnamon, and some other spices. I liked it a lot, and wanted to return for dinner (supposedly their food is very good too), but did not have enough time.

Afterwards, we took a shuttle to Kendwa, the northern part of the island. The beaches there are really nice, with white sand, clear water, and not that many people. There were some annoying people on the beach who would try to sell you stuff, but other than that I have no complaints. On the first night, we took a sunset dhow cruise. The water is very warm, but also saltier than the Atlantic (at least I think so). The next day, Sunday, we went on a "dolphin adventure" to Mnemba Atoll. Mnemba Atoll is the best snorkeling I have ever done. In the water, there are many schools of fish that overlap. It is such a high concentration of fish; their scales reflect the light, so it just looks like the water is shimmery and silver. Every now and then, something would freak them out, and the entire school of about 200 fish would dart one way, in unison. I saw some baracuda, and a really psychadelic neon purple, blue, green, yellow and pink fish. Blue starfish and giant sea urchins were sprawled across the ocean floor, and our guide found us a sea cucumber. About half of our group got stung by jellyfish though, including me. The guide had a bottle of vinegar, which he poured on (so at least I didn't have to have someone pee on me). For most of the day, we just lounged on the roof of our Dhow, and enjoyed the perfect weather. The resort itself is very inefficient, and the staff is incompetent, but the beach is so nice that it is easy to forget about all that. The best dish I had in all of Tanzania is a lobster curry that I had from white sands hotel. I will try to make that at home.

Fourth of July

This weekend was the fourth of July, and of course there were barbecues and parties. One of the ladies who works at the UN invited us all to her house, which is gorgeous. After entering the main gate, her house looks like a secret bungalow in the middle of the jungle. It is exactly how I would fantasize life abroad in some exotic place. She decorated the entire house herself, pairing colors that I wouldn't think to put together, but ultimately look very nice--like lavender and bright red doors. She has many pieces of yard furniture, covered with woven clothes, some embroidered. I've decided that I'm going to copy her and decorate my future house the exact same way, kekeke.

One thing about Arusha though, is that a lot of the dogs are guard dogs, and at least two interns have been bitten. One had to go to the hospital and get the foot long rabies shot into his stomach, the other got bitten on the leg and bled, but supposedly those dogs had all their shots so she didn't have to get rushed to the hospital. There are also a lot of bigger dogs here, I haven't seen any of the lap dogs that seem so common in the US.