We started our journey with a 14 hour flight to Ethiopia. From there we had a layover at Addis Ababa airport. Intriguingly, this was an airport with seemingly the most expensive food and drink of any airport we’ve been to. $8 for small fries, and $18 for a standalone Burger King burger, crazy!!
We only ended up buying water which we got from the mart for $2 (significantly cheaper than the Burger King price for water). After a couple of hours at that airport we boarded our flight to Kigali, Rwanda. Something to note is that the plane food from the US to Africa is gross. But once you’re in Africa and going to other African countries, the food onboard gets significantly better – we were served at least one meal on each of our flights.
We landed in Kigali and gave ourselves a jetlag day, where we checked into our Radisson Park Inn and slept. Jack found a car rental place and arranged for us to have a car, which we rented for $50/day the following morning. If we wanted a driver, it would be an additional $40/day. From the research that Jack did, the roads seemed safe enough and we wouldn’t get pulled over and asked for bribes or anything because the country has very low levels of corruption and they care about tourists because they such a significant source of income for Rwanda.
Before driving in the country, you should note that there are speed cameras EVERYWHERE, and speed limits are pretty low, generally 60kph (just under 40mph) and occasionally 80kph (50mph). Unfortunately, we did not evade all the cameras and ended up getting two tickets which were easy to pay online.
We stopped at a supermarket and ATM to get snacks and money for the journey. We then set off on our 6 hour drive to the Nyungwe National Park to do a canopy walk. During our drive we saw monkeys near the road and stopped to take a picture. Then out of nowhere the monkey jumped onto the car! I was glad we kept our windows closed or it would have come in for some food!
Though the canopy walk was expensive at $90/person ($40 for the guide, $50 entrance fee for the National Park), in a country where the average person makes $6000 per year, we were happy to support the conservation efforts of Rwanda. We arrived at the Uwinke Visitor center, where we paid the fee and listened to a briefing by our guide.
He first talked to us about how there used to be elephants in the park, but due to poaching, there are no more elephants. However, at the end of our tour, he told us that part of the conservation effort was to reintroduce elephants to the area. He took us on a 2-hour roundtrip trail in a small group of 7 to do the canopy walk. One thing we thought was strange was that two people in our group were scared of heights which seemed strange considering they paid to do a canopy walk.
We really enjoyed our time with the guide, and seeing all the mountainous rainforest and little did we know our time with him would be extended. Because he was really nice and extremely good at his job we tipped the equivalent of around $10 USD. As we walked to the car, he asked which way we were going, and then asked us for a ride, which we thought was amusing, and we were happy to provide.
After we dropped him off, we headed for our hotel on Lake Kivu. Though our intent was to see the lake as we heard it was very beautiful, we ran out of sunlight. Something interesting about Lake Kivu, is that across the lake, and very much visible from the Rwandan side, is the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which despite them having gorillas, we don’t plan on visiting anytime soon!
We then had dinner, went to bed and woke up bright and early to do our first planned animal activity, Chimp trekking! Rwanda is very famous for gorilla trekking, but less known for chimp trekking. We decided to do chimp trekking after viewing the eyewatering $1500 permit/person cost for the gorilla trekking. We determined that it was better value to see the chimps at this stage of our lives.
The chimp trekking costs $150/person, plus a daily Nyungwe National Park fee of $100/day. We first met our guide at a meeting point bright and early at 5am. From then, the guide got into one of the other group’s cars and we along with the other cars followed for around 30 minutes on a paved road and then almost an hour on a dirt road. We finally made it to our chimp gate. There are 3 places where you can see the chimps, so if you do Chimp Trekking make sure you check in advance which is your gate and meet up point!
Once we arrived, we were given a brief overview about the chimps. There are people who are chimp trackers, who follow the families to make sure they’re okay and also let the guides know where they are most likely to spot the chimps.
You also have the option to hire a porter. The porter is paid by a tip. After debating, Jack and I decided to hire a porter and we’re glad we did. He was helpful in carrying our backpack (which contained water, snacks and a raincoat), clearing a path with his machete and was there to offer a helping hand when the hills got steep. Because these are wild animals, the time it takes to find the chimps is variable. Lucky for us (and the 84 year old woman in our group, who, to her credit, moved like she was in her 50s), we found the chimps in about 30 min.
Once you find the chimps, you are only allowed to spend an hour with them as per Rwandan laws. We saw a single chimp in a tree, then saw a family with a toddler and then saw our last family which was quite large, with grandma and grandpa overseeing all the chimps.
It was wonderful to see them, take pictures of them and watch them interact. And we got an extra special treat! One of the chimp trackers told us to follow him and we ran face-to-face with a chimp coming down a pathway. I was about 10 feet from it, which was really exhilarating! We then turned to walk back to our cars and then drove 6 hours back to Kigali.
We checked into our hotel, the Heaven Boutique, which is the cheaper version of the 5 star resort that it’s attached to, called The Retreat. Though we thought it was a lovely hotel, it was definitely not as nice as the Radisson Park Inn that we stayed at on our first night and there a lot more mosquitos.
We then left for our flight to Nairobi, which was 4 hours delayed. Though they did give us about 12 hours of notice about the delay, so it meant that we could get more sleep and I could make use of the free massage benefit of the hotel. Jack also took the morning to visit the Genocide Memorial. It was very moving and demonstrated the unimaginable level of suffering in 1994, when almost a million people were killed, many by their own friends, neighbors, and in some cases even their own family members. It also was a reminder of just how much the country has been transformed and healed over the past 30 years.
After Jack spent that poignant time in the memorial, we headed off to the airport in Kigali. We had about 7 dollars’ worth of Rwandan Francs that we wanted to get rid of so we went to the foreign exchange in the airport to trade them in for Kenyan Shillings. As we gave her the money I hugged Jack and she smiled and thought it was cute. It might be the hug, the annoyance of counting out change or both, but she ended up giving us above market rate for the transaction so we actually made money. Instead of getting the market rate of 966 Kenyan Shillings, we got 1000 Shillings. There is generally a rule that you should NEVER exchange money at an airport as they’ll give you a horrendous rate, but this was the probably the only time the Forex counter lost money at an airport!
Then we got on our flight to Nairobi. For the Kenyan part of our trip, click here.
