The Long and Winding Road to........ Ruhengeri, Rwanda

It has been an interesting week. I left Arusha, Tanzania last Thursday making my way to Rwanda. Arusha and Kigali (capital of Rwanda) are relatively close, maybe 500-600 km 'as the crow flies'. Roads in western Tanzania are few and far between. So my journey began last Thursday with a 20 hour bus ride via Nairobi, Kenya. That brought me to the town of Mwanza on Lake Victoria, back in Tanzania. I arrived there on Friday. Mwanza is a nice town. I hoped to catch a bus to Benaco on Saturday, but none were available, so I spend an extra day in Mwanza and caught a bus to Benaco on Sunday. Benaco is the nearest border town in Tanzania to the Rwandan border. The bus ride from Mwanza was in itself an adventure. We had to take a short ferry ride across part of the lake, it was over very rough roads and my window kept opening. By the time I got to Benaco I was filthy, absolutely covered in dirt. I met up with two Swedish guys on the bus that were also going to Kigali, so we shared a taxi from Benaco to the Rwanda border. It costs us about $2 each. Immigration went very smoothly. African 'business men' can see a 'muzungu' "Swaili for white man" coming a mile away. We were approached by several people on the Rwandan side wanting to take us the 150 km to Kigali. We settled on a mini bus that said he would get us there in 3 hours. Almost six hours later we arrived in Kigali. Needless to say I was tired, also dirty and hungry. My new friends and I found a hotel and went for dinner. Funny thing is one of them was complaining that he didn't get to celebrate his birthday on the day before, also my birthday. So, we had a birthday dinner. I was getting closer and closer to Ruhengeri, which was my final destination in Rwanda. I said goodbye to the Swedes and headed to the bus station... again. This bus was great, it was a short two hour ride. So, after about 28 hours on a bus, a boat ride, two days stranded in Mwanza, a taxi ride, a 6 hour minibus ride, another night in Kigali and a final two hour bus ride.... I MADE IT. I get to live here for the next three or four weeks.

Rwanda is a stunningly beautiful country, first impressions are very good.