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Welcome to my travel log! You will find here a lot more than in the travel reports, stripped from political correctness. Enjoy! 
Nov 27, 2005 07:00 PM Lamu - Traditional Fishing Trip (Kenya)
The fishing trip with Shee and Omar, and Omar's younger brother Kamal, was a perfect holiday day.
Shee, known as Fishbrain, was a great sailor and brilliant fisherman. I was using exactly the same technique as he was and I caught only three leather jacket fish and I do not even know how many Shee caught!
The technique was based on a piece of elastic string, a hook and a dead shrimp on the hook. You just tossed the hook in the water and waited. When you felt there was something biting the hook, you just pulled the string back up, hoping it was not too big, otherwise the string would cut your hand.
The ocean was relatively calm and the small dhow managed waves very well, contrary to Kamal, who became sea-sick. Both the dhow and Kamal surprised me! I would expect local islanders to be fluent in sailing and immune to seasickness, and small dhows to be too small to go deep sea fishing.
The guys were very friendly and Omar proved to be an excellent chef. He bossed Kamal and Shee around while cooking vegetables in tomato and coconut sauce, coconut rice and then grilling the fish we had caught. The food was superb! Shee made sure I had two entire leather jacket fish on my plate and Omar loaded there two huge portions of rice. I was sure paradise was somewhere very close!
Actually, the guys threw the anchor near Manda Island offering a wonderful beach with hammocks and a bar, which became my supplier of fresh, cold drinks (hence the bottled water I took on the trip, which was hot by then, was never used). The sun kept shining uninterrupted from clear sky and I really felt I was on holiday.
An attractive skimpy dressed female Italian holidaymaker approached the dhow and asked if she could buy some of the grilled fish. She wanted four dishes, and I told the guys not to worry about me but make most of their catch. Shee, the captain, agreed the price (which I thought was a little bit too reasonable - that fish was excellent!) and the guys made a little bit more money that day. I was very happy to see them happy.
Later on, a few friends of Shee's and Omar's came with another, slightly larger dhow. The lads were very funny and we had a little, two dhows party with beers, sodas and plenty of fish and coconut rice. We ate, we drunk, some of the guys smoked. The party also involved swimming in the ocean and fooling around on the beach.
I really took a large number of very crazy and rather funny pictures then. The guys were quite intrigued with the camera and were striking poses one after another. I had a great time there. The fact that I decided to come to Lamu made me feel good about me. Again! Indeed!
Shee put me back in town immediately before sunset. Even after taking a long cold shower, I was not hungry. Omar fed me just too well. So, I went out with the guys for a few drinks at Petley's, a popular local bar - just at the waterfront, and decided to stick to drinks only.
Later, Shee introduced me to his cousin, because I confessed that when I travelled in Africa, I usually kept meeting only guys and hardly ever spoke to any African girls. I said that I understood the culture, that men spent time with men and women with women, but it would be nice to see how the African girls really were. I explained also that I knew I had to be careful with the girls, because many of those who picked white boys up in bars, restaurants, discos and clubs, were in fact working girls, or like my Gambian friends called them, bad girls.
Shee’s cousin was very nice and very young. We took a stroll along the waterfront, under the stars and chatted about... nothing. Unfortunately, I soon realised that she was hoping that I could potentially take her to Europe. She was on about how Africa sucked and how life there was boring and hard.
I remembered then that she did want to come for the fishing trip with us, but her mother ordered her to cook dinner so in the end she had to stay home.
Anyway, it was far from my intentions to give her (or Shee, perhaps) any signals that I was interested in taking girls back home to Europe! Well, we came back to the bar and I met a few more local women.
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Nov 26, 2005 07:00 PM Lamu (Kenya)
There were three motor vehicles and three motorbikes on the island. One of them was a tractor, which took a trailer every morning to pick up rubbish in the town. The other belonged to the UNESCO office, and the third to the Kenyan waterboard.
Two motorbikes belonged to certain individuals and one was used by the government. This made Lamu blissfully free from motorised traffic.
The boat trip from the Lamu airstrip to the island was already atmospheric but the seafront of the Lamu town hit me hard with gigantic contrast with the Meru National Park.
Meru was film-like standard Africa with wildlife hiding in the bush and classic and comfortable safari-style lodge. Lamu image was kids riding on donkeys in narrow alleys between mosques and Madrasas.
Lamu wakes up well before sunrise. The boat captains attend their boats to ensure they are not caught in the morning's low tide, skilfully untying the knots and manoeuvring between other vessels. Many people on the pier begin increasingly more vocal trading with the first goods’ and fishermen boats. Countless donkeys with the tears in their eyes tiptoe remarkably quietly but frantically, carrying heavy loads and their owners, who beat them mercilessly with wooden sticks. Late worshipers, dressed in long pale robes, rush to the old and grand white-washed mosques still rubbing their sleepy eyes. Children dressed in deep blue uniforms proceed quickly to schools somewhat unwillingly.
Suddenly the sun comes out and hits the white facades of the oceanfront buildings and astonishingly, everything and everyone slow down. The air gains temperature.
I took a short stroll about Lamu town in the morning sunrays. I had absolutely no idea where I was going but I quickly realised that I could not just let myself lost there as it was a medina town, full of labyrinthine narrow alleys with no names. So, I had to pay close attention where I was going and look behind my back very often.
Nevertheless, I managed to find a castle and some great historical buildings inside the town. The alleys were so narrow that it was quite hard to take pictures there and even three people in an alley made a crowd and I did not want to snap pictures of people without their permission.
However, let me go back in time a little - about fourteen hours. When I arrived in Lamu, the sun had about an hour to set. As soon as I checked in to a hotel, directly on the waterfront, I went down to have a peek at least at the fraction of the town, where I was staying. As soon as I descended to the promenade, near the boat pier, a ‘guide’ spotted me offering his services. He was an old man dressed in white Muslim dress. I could not shake him off! So when I saw a small fishing boat coming in, I tried to make an impression that I was into boats and not town touring.
The guys in the boat, Shee and Omar, asked me if I would be interested in a fishing trip. I started talking to them, and hoping the old man would disappear, agreed to the terms. Shee was the captain, and he insisted on a deposit. I did not want to pay anything in advance and only wanted the old guy to disappear. He was still there standing behind me. So, to make it clear that I was going to commit to this fishing trip, I agreed to the advance. Shee had good arguments, anyway. He said they were going to cook for me and he needed to acquire some provisions.
I was still a little nervous that I was not going to see either Shee or Omar again in my life, but Shee suggested that I should go out with them that night. And I did.
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Nov 26, 2005 07:00 PM The Equator (Kenya)
At the Nanyuki airstrip I had an hour and twenty minutes to kill. I checked a shop there and then went to the Air Kenya office to ensure my flight to Lamu did not get cancelled. I wanted to confirm that as they happened to cancel my flight to Nairobi. Well, later on it turned out that they actually booked me twice, and only one of me was cancelled.
Then, I was killing time on the airstrip. I started talking to two mechanics of Tropic Air, Peter and Martin, who were taking a break from their duty. I shook their hands as a token of respect for their knowledge of the air planes, which in fact saves people’s lives. I think they liked that.
I kept asking them the usual stuff - what tribe, where from etc. They said that their houses were really very close - a few minutes from the equator. Peter told me that the airstrip was not at the equator, contrary to the welcome board. It was actually just 7 kilometres away. He said I should go and see it but my flight was leaving in 25 minutes so I could not do it.
Then something totally unexpected happened. After disappearing for a few seconds, Peter said he would take me to the equator himself. He so kindly agreed with Air Kenya that he would take me there and bring me back five minutes before my flight's departure. I could not be happier or more astonished!
At the equator, local guys were offering a show with water and a match demonstrating the Coriollis Forces - just a few inches north and south of the magical line. On the northern hemisphere, water swirls clockwise, and on the southern, anticlockwise.
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Nov 26, 2005 07:00 PM Mount Kenya (Kenya)
As soon as the minute aircraft climbed above the clouds, Mount Kenya appeared in its full glory. Completely free of clouds! Finally I was in heaven, literally. Plus I spotted an elephant hiding in the bush!
I told the pilot the saga how I got to Meru National Park, and that I ventured in to the area only because I wanted to see Mount Kenya. I complained a lot about weather and that the mountain was never visible.
He then decided to surprise me and took a course directly over the mountain. Since there were only two people in the aircraft, the captain and I, the plane was not heavy and it was possible to climb over the mountain like that. Otherwise, I would have taken the regular route, which goes around the mountain.
I could never imagine I would be so close to the top of the second highest mountain of Africa! I took a few rather good pictures from the plane.
And I have to admit that due to this excitement, I managed to forget to switch off my mobile phone. I could actually hear it interfering with the cabin instruments. It was making the same low humming sounds as if it was placed near a laptop screen or a radio and receiving a text message. My pilot did notice but never said anything...
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Nov 25, 2005 07:00 PM Meru National Park - Lioness (Kenya)
On the day of my departure, I got up at 5.30 a.m. to go on a game drive hoping to see the lions, which roared so nicely in the evening. That easy Sunday morning was lovely weather-wise. The sunrise was pretty and the sky was cloudless clear until 7.30 o’clock, so even the very distant Mount Kenya was visible - as a faint shape on the horizon.
That easy Sunday morning was also utterly hopeless for game viewing. There were no animals to be seen, even the populous guinea fowl appeared to be decimated. I simply could not believe it!
My charter flight came on time. I heard it coming as I was packing my bag. My personal butler, Elizaban, came and said the pilot was in a hurry and that there were two lions waiting for me at the airstrip. And I thought that if I charter an entire plane for myself it would wait as long as I would need it to wait! Silly me!
I had to pay my bills and jump onto the Land Rover and go. I stopped at the aircraft and asked the pilot if he had ten minutes, so I could go and say hello and good-bye to the lions. He said he did not have ten minutes, because he had another client waiting for a ride. I then asked for five minutes, and he agreed but said that he was leaving after that.
Well, I took my chance. One of the lionesses was resting on the new green grass. She was calm and wagged her tail slowly. I took a few shots and was very happy.
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Nov 24, 2005 07:00 PM Meru National Park (Kenya)
Elsa’s Kopje lodge in the middle of the Meru National Park was indeed great. Expensive, but great. It had a wonderful bar and restaurant, and a natural swimming pool located on a rock overlooking vast terrain of the national park.
Management of the place managed to confuse me by diverting the air traffic from the flooded Meru airstrip to another one, whose name I cannot remember. This was why I could not identify exactly where I was going. For a fraction of a second, I thought that I was not going to Meru at all!
As soon as arrived there, I realised I was stuck for good. There was no public transport anywhere nearby and the only practical way in and out was by air. Usually with a charter plane, which Wendy took. I could have asked for an overland transfer to the Nanyuki airfield (this was where I needed to be next) but it would have cost me as much as chartering the plane and would have taken five hours. Although Air Kenya landed in Meru just for me, they would not pick me up from there, just for me. Well, I had about 24 hours to think about how to get out of there.
In the meantime, I decided to remain horizontal and do whatever the lodge had in the programme of activities. All activities and food were included in the price so I could indulge. And by the way, the food was amazing!!
Staying at Elsa’s Kopje was a little exciting. Apart from laying in bed with insects surrounded by all sounds of the bush, including the lions, and spotting green mambas (pictured) swinging from the trees, the place was very relaxing. It was actually a perfect spot to wind down, away from civilisation. Did I mention that it was a rather secluded little luxury place, getting to which was a bit of a challenge?
The lodge provided a few simple activities, including game drivers, game walks, night bush walks, and ... that’s it.
The personalised game trips with no other vehicles in sight was the idea of a safari I would support wholeheartedly. The problem with the park was, however, that its size was disproportionally large and the small number of wildlife there made it hard to spot any fierce creatures. This meant that the game drives were often uneventful.
The park claimed to have Africa’s Big Five: the lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino, plus the giraffe, hippo, waterbuck, and many bird species, such as the long-crested eagle, red hornbill, secretary bird, and of course, guinea fowl.
I think I already mentioned the green mamba, one of the most dangerous snakes on this planet. It was living in the trees on the way to my hut, right near the little suspension bridge, which I was crossing several time a day and night. Its venom, the neurotoxin, can kill an adult human in under an hour. Together with its cousin, the black mamba, it is also the fastest snake in the world.
I spotted the green mamba right after sunset. It was moving on the tree very quickly, and I hope it was more scared than I was. I heard that they were there near the lodge, but I was hoping I would not encounter one of them. When I saw a green snake, I was not sure that it was the green mamba. Later, my butler happily confirmed that it was, in fact, the green mamba. After that event, I realised I was crossing the suspension bridge much faster than I used to before.
Elsa’s Kopje was named after the famous lioness Elsa raised in the park. There was the Elsa's grave nearby, located almost exactly on the equator. I went to see it. The track led through vast oregano fields which smelled wonderfully, and reminded me of my first pasta experience. I mean my first non-tomato-sauce pasta, just cooked al dente and sprinkled with extra virgin olive oil and oregano. The smell was truly intense and for a while I transferred myself to Italy, if only in my mind. I have this ‘thing’ that I associate places with scents. So, when I go to a new place, I try to take an aftershave that I have not used before. This way, when I am back at home and want to travel back to the place, in my mind (and through my nose), I get the aftershave I took there and sprinkle myself.
Anyway, on the way back from the Elsa’s grave I met three running giraffes. They were huge and very shy. More shy than the ones I have seen elsewhere in the park. My driver explained to me that since Elsa’s grave receives fewer visitors, the wildlife is less accustomed with moving vehicles.
Maybe I was a little unfair with the Meru National Park regarding the amount of wildlife. I am sure that if I stayed long enough, and made several game trips, I would eventually see all the exciting animals. Still, only by staying a couple of days, I managed to spot a few. Out of the Big Five, I saw the buffalo, and, with some effort, the rhino. Fortunately, there was a rhino sanctuary in the park and at least the guides knew roughly where to drive.
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Nov 23, 2005 07:00 PM Meru and Meru National Park - not the same! (Kenya)
When I got to the airport, it was still quite dark, and the airport was closed. There was absolutely no-one there. My taxi left, and I was stuck there on my own with absolutely no idea what to do. Bearing in mind that Nairobme was a very dangerous place, being left alone in the dark, at a strange place was not giving me much comfort exactly.
About half an hour later, which felt like a whole day, a security guard appeared and said that the airport was about to open, but there were no flights before 9 a.m.
I was very pissed off. My ticket said that the flight was departing at 6:30 a.m. and I got up at 4 a.m. to make sure that I was at the airport on time. I had to arrange for a taxi and make the poor man to get up so early as well. Then, I was told that no plane was leaving before 9 a.m.
At least, when the airport opened, I could come inside the terminal and wait for the Air Kenya personnel to explain the situation to me.
When they came, they said: ‘oh, yeah, sometimes we do change the timetable of the flights to Meru’. They had no answer for me when I asked why I was not informed about the change and why therefore I had to get up at 4 o’clock in the morning! I was not amused at all (not amused = really pissed off).
I still had to wait for the sales personnel so I could pay for my tickets. Wen they came, the process went relatively smoothly. However, since I booked three different trips with Air Kenya, I had to deal with two different people, a man and a woman. Separately!
The lady casually asked me where I booked accommodation in Meru. I said: ‘nowhere, when I get to Meru, I’ll grab a taxi to take me to a hotel’. She replied: ‘what?! What do you mean you will take a taxi? In the middle of the bush?’ And I said: ‘what do you mean in the middle of the bush? I am going to Meru, a town at the foothill of Mount Kenya’.
The lady then kindly explained to me that I was not going to Meru town but to Meru National Park, some two hundred kilometres, or five hours drive, away from the town of Meru. The airplane was going to land on an airstrip, which was just a piece of flat land, free of trees in the middle of the bush. There were not going to be any taxis, and frankly there were no hotels around.
She was surprised that I did not know that and I was surprised that the airline never specified on their schedule which ‘Meru’ they had in mind! I was almost screwed.
The lady had, however, a telephone number to one of the park’s lodges and said that perhaps I could try to get a room over there. Apparently, many people who went to Meru by Air Kenya ended up at that lodge. I let her make the call.
She put me through, and I agreed to pay USD 280 per night to stay there. I did not even know the name of the place!
Surprisingly, I was not even stressed out at all! It did not matter to me that I had never paid for a hotel so much myself, and that it was against my principles to be spending more than USD 40 for accommodation in Africa. Bed and Breakfast in Britain costs less than that!
Well, what I did not know was that I was going to have my own luxury hut, on a hill with a private observation terrace, open air toilet and bathtub, both with a magnificent view, and a well mannered and genuinely personal butler, who could be called anytime using a walkie-talkie radio.
Also, any game ride and activity in the park were included in the price. So were all the meals.
However, before I could get there, I had to perform a sort of a flight ballet. Bad weather in Nairobi meant that the small domestic airport (Wilson) could not handle flights due to a lack of appropriate instruments. This meant that the aircraft I was meant to board could not land there. So, all passengers to Meru, Samburu and Nanyuki had to be transferred to the large international airport out of town.
When all of us got there, we had a pleasure to speak to our captain who was kind enough to come to the terminal and explain the situation. He calmly said that weather in Nanyuki was very bad and that he could not fly there. Not at that moment as we spoke, anyway.
Then, I found that my flight to Meru (National Park!!!) was going via Nanyuki and then the aircraft continued to Samburu! I almost forgot that there was a difference between a direct and non-stop flights! Having seen the aircraft I would be much happier to limit my takes of and landings to an absolute minimum. In this case - one.
The pilot then suggested that he was going to go to Meru first, where weather was better, then to Samburu and finally, at least attempt, to land in Nanyuki. Otherwise, the plane was going to come back to Nairobi without going to Nanyuki at all.
I was reasonably happy, but all those people who wanted to travel to Nanyuki, were rather concerned. The flights to Nanyuki were not departing daily...
One of the passengers, a lady named Wendy, was travelling to Meru National Park, via Nanyuki. She was however travelling to Nanyuki with Air Kenya and then hopping onto a charter plane to some airstrip in the park. I said that maybe she could go with me to Meru and in the meantime the pilot would have contacted her charter airline to pick her up from there. The pilot said that he would be speaking to the charter airline, but he did not think they would agree to the scenario.
I was thinking whether I was going to the same place where Wendy was going. However, since I did not know the name of the lodge I was staying in the park, we could not verify it.
Well, eventually, weather in Nanyuki improved so the plane landed there first, and Wendy got off there, and caught her charter flight. Then, the pilot took us to Samburu, and I was over two hours late in Meru.
As the aircraft was approaching the airfield, I had a look outside the window and saw that the name of the airstrip was not Meru, and saw Wendy standing by a Land Rover. We were staying at the same place, and she did not need to take the charter at all!
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Nov 22, 2005 07:00 PM Nairobi (Kenya)
Due to security issues at an incredible scale, Nairobi is often called Nairobbery. I thought of better name though - Nairobme.
I have to admit that I had been horrified by all those terrible stories of mugging, attacks and assaults as well as numerous warnings of not setting out to town with anything of value, including a watch or any kind of bag.
I was hoping it was all a little exaggerated, nevertheless I was not planning to tour the city much, just a short motorised tour, perhaps. As my flight from Kigali, which to my surprise stopped en route in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, was terribly late. I landed in Nairobi at sunset. This meant that I had to cancel my short tour altogether.
Walking anywhere in Nairobi during the hours of darkness should be avoided at all costs and the hotel taxi driver, who collected me from the airport, reluctantly confirmed that. When I asked him if I could take my camera to take some pictures, he said 'no, do not take anything'. I really did not want to hear that.
However, as I drove through the city, I actually liked it a lot. It was well organised structurally, had a good mix of colonial, attractive, dull, completely stupid, unconventional, interesting and modern architecture. I liked a few high rise buildings, the town hall, the parliament, and the National Archives buildings.
I did plan to take a taxi and shoot some photographs from the car but, as I said, I landed too late on arrival and was departing too early the next morning. As a result, I have absolutely not a single picture of Nairobi. What a pity and shame!
Double shame, as my flight to Meru was delayed by two hours and I could have had my tour had I known that before I ended up at the airport. However, I the thing was that I was not to know that my flight was delayed by its own schedule and some other factors.
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Nov 21, 2005 07:00 PM Kigali (Rwanda)
I chose to stay at the Okapi Hotel in Kigali and guess what - there were no rooms available apart from a top floor two-room apartment. I did not fancy looking for another place to stay, the town was wide spread across a million hills and there were absolutely no taxis around. So, I had to take it. Considering that my next accommodation in Nairobi was going to be free, I thought I could splurge a little.
There was absolutely nothing attractive in Kigali. This large town was dusty and apart from being a typical African city, it had little character. Although I was told that nightlife was legendary. I was therefore preparing myself and making plans to check it out.
I took a map of the city centre and addresses of a few bars and went for a search. I found nothing. Absolutely nothing! I understand that nightlife evolves and places open up and close down for good but all those I was looking for, seemed to had been converted into pharmacies and stationery shops.
I finally ended up in Nyira Rock, which was a pub and club. The art outside the main entrance was suggesting it was a place of doubtful reputation, so I had some reservation of coming in there.
Inside, there was a stage and at about 9 p.m. something bizarre happened. It was actually hysterical. People came up on the stage and mimed to song recordings. It was like a drag show without the drag queens. Some of the 'performers' did not even know the words (as they mostly chose songs with lyrics in English) so they mimed something else. I have to say however that some of them could dance very well, so I made sure I was not laughing too much. Also, the place was taken very seriously and it was absolutely packed. This 'show' must have been a rarity of evening entertainment.
I was sitting at the table with the sound technician, Matt, and a guy whose job was to fetch drinks from the cellar, Jean d'Amour. What a name!
Matt was Ugandan, so I could have a conversation in English but Jean d'Amour was Rwandan and he could not even speak much French. It was a challenge talking to him. He consistently spoke to me in local African languages of which I could not understand a syllable, so most of the time a smile, frown or entire variety of gestures and sign language had to do instead.
Astonishingly, I managed to learn that he was an orphan as a result of the horrendous genocide. The war left him with no education and now at the age of 22 he had absolutely no perspectives for a better life. With no European languages, of which French was totally essential in Rwanda, he could not even begin dreaming for a better job than a general help in the pub. He actually considered himself super-lucky to have that.
Well, in the end I did not even had to ask him to escort me to the hotel. He just took me. Next morning he came to the hotel to say good-bye and to take me to the airport. For a farewell gift I gave him two of my T-shirts. He was so happy that he kissed my hand! I was utterly embarrassed by that.
Jean d'Amour took my e-mail address and said he was going to use it, but I just wondered in what language exactly he would be writing to me...
Just one more thing about Rwanda, before I continue. Rwanda was another East African country that was unacceptably finicky about US dollar notes older than 5 years. It did not matter that they were in mint condition. In addition, the most popular notes - up to and including 20 USD had their rate reduced by a third! Only the USD 50 and USD 100 notes were exchanged at the regular rate.
This is very opposite to the commonly accepted travellers tip that it is best to carry small notes. Not anymore! And not in Africa (and in other parts of the Third Word, actually)! Since at certain locations USD 100 note was out of question, the only banknote that was of use was the 50 dollar note.
In Zimbabwe and Zambia the shops, the banks and the bureaux de change had problems with the ‘small head notes’ of the 1995 and older series.
Before I left London, I specifically made sure that my notes were beautiful but no-one told me that they had to be of the two most recent series only!
I must have had at least two thirds of my US banknotes older than the series of 2001. I had to think of ways how to get rid off them. Eventually, I used most of them as gratuity.
I just remembered an incident on the Rwandan border where I was changing 50 US dollars to Rwandan francs. I was surrounded by the money exchangers and everyone wanted to make business with me. When I selected one of them, I agreed on the exchange rate, he gave me francs and I gave him dollars. After the transaction was complete, and I moved towards the immigration office, the guy started chasing me trying to reverse the transaction because he did not like the fact that the 50 dollar banknote was issued in 2001. He wanted to reduce the rate by a third and demanded that I gave him the francs back. I had to tell him that he agreed the price and the transaction was complete. He never told me that he had different exchange rates for banknotes issued in different years. Although he went away, I decided to give him a newer banknote, though I do not think I should have.
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Nov 20, 2005 07:00 PM Kibuye (Rwanda)
Kibuye, the so called alternative to Gisenyi was not nice at all. Although it did have its own character and was weirdly located between and within small bays and peninsulas of the Lake Kivu. Nevertheless, such location made it hard to navigate. The issue was that there were no tunnels between the bays so one had to go around the hills and peninsulas to get either to other bays or to the town centre.
The town centre was nothing more than a roundabout junction surrounded by drink and soap stands, phone booths and a few unidentified venues perhaps housing hairdressers or welding shops.
The architecture of Kibuye was extremely simple. The small cubic houses had small windows, single doors and small porches created by the extended flat roofs supported by a few square columns. All looked the same.
Gisenyi has absolutely nothing to fear as there was nothing to do in Kibuye and the town was much less attractive. There were not any nice beaches or places to go out or even stay for the night.
The quite attractive Kibuye Guesthouse was closed indefinitely by the government, which meant there were no good restaurants anymore either. The hotel I had to stay, the Golden Rock was an eye-sore and architectural monstrosity, although it had a decent rooms with hot showers and large terraces offering nice sunset and lake views.
I spoke with the supervisor of the Golden Rock Hotel about life in Rwanda. He kept saying that there would never be a truly democratic state of Rwanda. People might not like the situation or the country leaders but they were terrified to say anything as they feared they might be killed. He therefore kept dreaming of migrating to another country, which respected human rights.
I told him about Poland and the way to democracy there. I explained that it has never been easy to change the political system, but it have always been the people who could make the changes. Sitting and waiting would never change a thing. He remained sceptical about it and said that it was all different in Africa. Many Africans have the same excuse - ‘this is Africa, it is like that... it is different, etc.’ I stopped arguing about that.
I do not have much more to say about Kibuye and I did regret that I had left Gisenyi.
The trip from Kibuye to Kigali on the Okapi Car minibus was not as bad as my trip in the opposite direction, because I reserved the front seat. It was mainly downhill but the Toyota Hiace had to break down, of course. Otherwise it would have been an uneventful and rather boring ride.
I think there was something blocking the flow of petrol in one of the small pipe junction. Many people gave up and stood on the side of the road hoping for a lift. Ironically, this has happened about 17 kilometres out of Kibuye.
However, the driver never gave in and forced the vehicle to push the clog out. Well, it only took him five minutes and I was on the road again.
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