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Off we went to the Volcano region of Rwanda. Of course, we had hoped to have passes to see the gorillas (who are in the same area) but no such luck. Still we decided to head that way and visit the Golden Monkeys. The road to this area of Rwanda is mountainous – curvy, uphill, downhill, a few potholes and there are so many people on the roads. Obviously most people don’t have cars, or even bikes, so the roads are full of pedestrians. Loads of them carrying things on their heads and almost everyone of them turning to look at us as we went by.

Did I mention that this is a lush, beautiful country? Well I should have if I didn’t. Its gorgeous. Lush green mountains covered with stepped fields growing all sorts of crops though the banana farms stand out the most. As I mentioned the other day there is a great deal of poverty one sees going through the villages and we did go through a few but nothing quite as big as what I visited the other day.

Still, it was crazy when we slowed down or stopped in an area with people around. Tons of kids came running over to see us and ask for either bic pens or money. Yes, I said bic pens (Bika! Bika!) Our driver had to help us with that one. Had I known that kids here wanted them I would have filled a large grocery bag with them to hand out liberally. Note to self.

In the afternoon after checking in to the small lodge we were staying in for the night, we went up to see a couple of the big lakes that fill the area (we are in the “Great Lakes” country). As you can see by the first shot, they are gorgeous. We walked on a ridge and took it all in. When we got to the end of the ridge we were looking down on a small village built right on the edge of the lake. As I was thinking about that village the first of about 20 kids appeared up on the ridge with us. They had run a long way up – quickly, after spotting us. The first kid up introduced himself in very good, but broken, English. His name was Eric and he completely took us off guard by asking us for our email addresses (!!!!) We obliged (he had a Bic). He was a sharp kid – I fully expect to call him “Mr. President” in a couple decades. He did ask us to send pens and notebooks, and then right before we left he asked me to send him a laptop. Wasn’t I talking recently about the need for both levels of technology? Hmmmm, maybe.

We were tearing ourselves away from the kids (who could have gone on for a long time) when our driver, translating (and I think prodding) told us that they wanted to sing for us. We watched them sing and perform the traditional Intore dances. There were a couple kids who really nailed that dance too. We had already seen some professionals do the dance right after we had checked in to the lodge – but this performance was far more meaningful.

We had some good sleep that night in the very cool… cold, air of the mountains. We were up early and off to the park office to get our guide and go look for monkeys. Its all very formal here (more so with the gorillas) as there are trackers who go out and find the animals and then guides who radio them and take you to where they have found the animals. Sure makes it easy, but it also includes a lot of folks. We also picked up a couple of armed soldiers. They told Vanessa that this was to protect us from the wild animals (at least as much as I heard from that conversation) but I have got to think that the Hutu and Congolese rebels that work on the border between Rwanda and D.R. Congo have to have something to do with it. Who knows, they were nice enough.

Finally we hiked into a very thick and very beautiful bamboo forest and were almost immediately among the trackers (who are also studying this group of monkeys as its a new one) and the Golden Monkeys. I’ve see a lot of monkeys in my day but I rarely get tired of watching them. Its great in such a thick bamboo forest too as they are illusive and sometimes come flying by when you least expect it. The head of this group was a pretty large one too but I didn’t get a good shot of him at all. Nonetheless, I was a bit surprised at how much bigger he was than most of them.

It was a fun trip and I was glad to have gone, but I’m not sure the monkeys were the highlight. The countryside held more for me personally. So we’re back in Kigali and I only have one more day left. Yikes. I still have a bit to do while I’m here including an interview with a guy I hope can work on this project. I will have to come back to Rwanda at least another time this year (if not twice) and I hope to get some gorilla passes that time. There is also a big park in the east that is more Savannah-like and holds giraffe, zebra, hippos, etc. Perhaps I’ll get out there sometime too. Then there is Uganda… oh and maybe Senegal… hmmmm.

Update: mah has a post and pics