Arriving in Rwanda

 Thursday August 22

We got off to a roaring start, sitting on the tarmac for two hours and then being told the flight was cancelled.  But they served us lunch before we disembarked— and had to watch the safety video before they could feed us. It was certainly odd to eat a meal on an airplane sitting on the tarmac in the repair part of the airport. The airline rebooked us on the next flight out, and NatHab arranged a later flight from Nairobi to Kigali…. But then, after 4 hours on the tarmac, the problem was solved and we took off 5 hours late but in time to make our original flight to Kigali! We were somewhat ironically grateful for our original 6.5 hour layover in Kigali, but a little concerned to be told that we didn’t have to change planes because they had found “an acceptable alternative to the broken satellite system”. 

Then the flight to Kigali was delayed by late arriving aircraft, and then that aircraft developed air conditioning problems (Kevin suggested we just open a window while we flew), so in the end we arrived in Kigali 90 minutes late having eaten far too few meals in the 30 hours we’d been traveling. 

Saturday August 24

This morning we drove from Kigali to Kinigi, the location of the park office for Volcanoes National Park and of our lodge for the next four nights.  We knew that the northern province of Rwanda was mountainous but we had not expected how very hilly and steep much of the central province is as well. The drive from Kigali was on beautifully kept roads, but with a single lane each way and many switchbacks, the rate of progress depended a lot on how many trucks were in front of us.  There are many scooters and bicycles, including as taxis (if the back rack of a bicycle has a cushion on it, it’s a taxi). 

Amokoro Songa Lodge is beautiful with extensive grounds and gardens. We spent the early afternoon birding around the lodge where all the flowering plants were an attraction. Later in the afternoon we went for a walk in a local park, ostensibly for birding but also just to explore an interesting location.  Buhanga Eco Park is based on land used for coronation ceremonies for the kings of Rwanda, dating back perhaps to the 11th century. In the early 2000s, a local business man bought the land and started installing stone walkways, platforms and even creating the location for the swimming pool of his planned hotel. The government decided that the location had too much significance, paid him off and added the park to the Volcanoes portfolio. It was surely interesting to walk on paved (volcanic cobblestone) walkways in what was otherwise jungle. 

Pictured: bronze sunbird, a bicycle taxi, a statue welcoming us to the northern province.