Shortly after I arrived in Rwanda, my dear college friend
Nadine began talking about coming to visit me.
I, of course, was excited about the idea of seeing her and showing her
Rwanda. As time went by and we talked
about when she would come we found that the only time that worked between our
two schedules was the second week in April.
Unfortunately that’s about the worst time to visit Rwanda as it’s the
beginning of the Genocide Memorial.
There is a national period of mourning that begins in April and continues
until July when the genocide officially came to an end, but that first week is
the most intense with daily meetings and memorials that are considered
mandatory for all Rwandans. I was
hesitant to have Nadine come at this time because I didn’t want her only
impression of Rwanda and maybe even Africa to have such a somber and negative
tone to it.
I had been planning to visit Zanzibar in April anyway so it
seemed like a perfect place for Nadine and I to meet and enjoy a vacation on
the beach. Zanzibar is a small island
just off the coast of Tanzania that was a major trading port and as a result
still maintains Africa, Indian and Arabic influences. I met Nadine at the airport in Dar Es Salaam
where we spent the night. Dar is
significantly bigger than Kigali and more developed but lacks anything really
worth seeing so we immediately left the next morning and took the 2 hour ferry
to Zanzibar. We spent two nights in
Stone Town which is known for its winding, narrow streets, night market where
you can buy exotic seafood that is cooked right in front of you, and lots of
shopping. Zanzibar is known as the “spice island” and was at one point the
largest exporter of cloves in the world.
While in Stone Town we took a
spice tour to a spice plantation. There
we saw how many common spices are grown including vanilla, cloves, nutmeg, and
several others but my favorite was the cinnamon tree.
It was nice to see Stone Town but we were both happy to get
to the beach. Our first stop was a
coastal village in the Southwest of the island called Kizimkazi. We booked two nights at our hotel and would
have stayed longer but it was closing down for a month and a half for the slow
season. As a result, the hotel was really
quiet; I think there were only 6 of us staying there. It was a beautiful place that was nice with
modern amenities but still had an authentic feel to it; example, the outdoor
shower. During the day we sat by the
pool which we had all to ourselves or ate lunch in the open air dining room,
while watching the women from the village go meet the fisherman and take their
catch in to be sold at the market.
This area of the island is known to be the home to many
dolphins so we had the opportunity to go out and swim with them. When I signed up for it I really didn’t know what
it was going to involve so I kept my expectations low and I decided I would be
happy just to see some dolphins from the boat.
So Nadine and I got up early and went out on the boat, it was just her
and I, a driver and 2 guides. We rode
for about an hour then we spotted the dolphins so they told us to get ready
with our snorkel gear and sit on the edge of the boat. When the driver positioned the boat just
right and they would yell at us to jump in.
So with the boat still moving, and Nadine and I with our goggles and
flippers on, very ungracefully, flopped ourselves over the side of the boat
into the middle of the ocean. Once in
our guides yelled at us to “look, look” so we would look down and could see the
dolphins swimming below us. When they
swam away we got back into the boat and repeated the process. It was all a little bit ridiculous but still
pretty cool.
After Kizimkazi we went up to the North of the island to the
village of Nungwi which is generally more touristy. Even though there were more people it was
still really quiet because of the slow season.
Nungwi is known for its beaches as it’s the only place on the island
where you can swim during low and high tide.
On the other parts of the island the tide can go out about half a
mile. While in Nungwi we took a day trip
to go snorkeling near another island. We
had a perfect day and the water was so clear and a beautiful, bright turquoise blue;
it was gorgeous I was really excited to
snorkel, I had done it once in St. Maarten but it was pretty pathetic but this
time it was great. There was lots of
beautiful coral and interesting fish to look at. After snorkeling we had lunch on the beach
and then had a nice boat ride back. The
rest of our time in Nungwi was spent relaxing, reading, eating, talking, and
swimming. Then the time came for Nadine
to leave so I dropped her off at the airport and we said goodbye. I can’t even begin to express how wonderful
Nadine’s visit was and I grateful I am to her for coming. I love all my friends here in Peace Corp
dearly, but there was something so comforting about being around someone who
has known me for years and really knows me, it was just so easy. I was also really proud of Nadine, I know
there were a lot of people back home that were worried about her and couldn’t
believe she was going all the way to Africa, but she came prepared and handled
everything really, and she never got sick!
A hugely successful trip!
So after Nadine left I still had 3 days in Zanzibar. I took a taxi to the East and met two Peace
Corps friends who were also on the island.
We stayed in an awesome, rustic bed and breakfast. Here we were the only one’s staying which was
great because I didn’t have to fight any for the hammock but also a little
creepy especially at night since I had my own room and there wasn’t any
electricity. It was so nice and relaxing
though! While there I spent most of my
time reading but we did also get to go out on a short snorkeling trip which was
fun especially because we went out just the 3 of us in a small, traditional
sailboat. Before we left the island we
spent another night in Stone Town, did some last minute shopping and then
headed back home.
Zanzibar was a perfect combination of good friends, good
food, natural beauty, relaxation, culture and a little bit of luxury (at least
by my current standards). A great vacation.
I tried to load pictures but my internet is just too slow,
I’ll try again next time I’m in Kigali.
In the meantime you can watch the video Nadine’s husband Rob put
together. He sent Nadine with a small
video camera complete with waterproof case to capture our trip. He did a great job! Here’s the link: http://youtu.be/JrYPptMlU7Y
Fortunately for me, my vacation wasn’t quite over when I got
back to Rwanda. As some may know, Rwanda
is known for the mountain gorillas that live in the volcanoes on the border of
Rwanda and Uganda in Volcanoes National Park.
Visitors to the park have the opportunity to hike up one of the volcanoes
and visit the gorillas that live there.
As a foreign resident, we get a discount but the price is about to go up
significantly, so some fellow PCV’s and I decided to take advantage now and go
to see them. We arrived early on the
morning at Volcanoes National Park and met our guide. We learned we would be visiting a family of
about 13 that included 2 silverbacks and a couple babies too. We hiked for about an hour when we came upon
them in a thick bamboo forest. Our guide
informed us that the gorillas love bamboo shoots because it’s sort of like
alcohol is to us and it actually makes them a little drunk. Thankfully they aren’t angry drunks
though. Visitors are allowed one hour to
spend with the gorillas. We watched them
as they ate or slept and as the young ones swung and played in the trees. Our
presence there never really seemed to faze them and they just continued in
their regular business. Because we were
in such a thick forest we were able to get really close otherwise we wouldn’t
have been able to see them at all, so often I was standing less than 5 feet
away from them. It was awesome to hang
out with these fascinating animals out in the wild. It was something I would have never done had
I not lived in Rwanda so I’m happy I had the opportunity. Again, I’ll try to post some pictures soon.
Now I’m 3 weeks into the second term. It’s always a bit of an adjustment back into
real life after vacation but things are going well. I have some projects I’m working on, but this
blog is already exceptionally long so I’ll write about all that next time.
All my love,
Annie
