Guide to East Africa: Rwanda, Uganda + the DRC

The Wanderlust Effect Global Guides

Quick Guide Guide toto Experiences Experiences inin East East Africa Africa Quick Where to Stay: v

In Rwanda, don’t miss a luxe experience at Nyungwe Forest Lodge, a five-star resort situated in the middle of a tea plantation.

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In the DRC, you’ll have a finite number of choices in Virunga National Park, but Mikeno Lodge’s jungle locale and excellent service will wow you!

v Also in the DRC, don’t miss a night or two at Bukima Tented Camp for a rustic experience that will set you in the heart of the Congo’s verdant surroundings.

Where to Dine & Sip

v It’s worth noting that the majority of safari lodges and camps in Africa are booked on a full board basis meaning that breakfast, lunch and dinner are served at the lodge. Culture connoisseurs will be happy to know that many high-end lodges offer cuisine that impresses – great food using locally sourced ingredients to highlight the region’s offerings. v As far as cocktails and wine go, expectations should generally be managed. A classic G&T is a fan favorite and a cocktail that most bartenders will be familiar with, but craft cocktails are generally not commonplace. Some places, like Nyungwe Forest Lodge, will offer cocktails that celebrate local offerings, like green tea infused martinis.

Must Have Experiences:

v Carve out time for one or two days of gorilla trekking in East Africa. Gorilla trekking experiences differ from experience to experience so no two treks will be the same! The DRC, Rwanda and Uganda all offer trekking with varying permit prices (around $400, $750, and $600, respectively) and permits must be booked in advance. v In the Democratic Republic of Congo, don’t miss the opportunity to see the world’s largest lava lake up close. A hike to Mt. Nyiragongo is an overnight

adventure that will get your blood pumping, but the boiling lava lake is an incredible sight by night! v For primate lovers, don’t miss the opportunity for chimp tracking, a trekking experience that is much more difficult than its gorilla counterpart. Uganda’s Kibale region offers the richest opportunity for this. v In Uganda, don’t miss the opportunity to enjoy a traditional safari in search of leopards, lions, elephants and more. Wildlife varies by park location but Queen Elizabeth National Park, Murchison Falls and Lake Mburo all offer great game drive experiences.

Local Contacts and Tours:

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In the DRC, work with Julie and her team at Virunga National Park to coordinate accommodations, transport and permits. Transport should never be coordinated independently. www.visitvirunga.com

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For a tour operator specializing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, talk to the team at Inspired Journeys about offerings that will include the DRC in a larger package. www.inspired-journeys.com

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For a knowledgeable driver that specializes in Uganda specifically, talk to Saturday Milton from Around Africa Safaris. www.aroundafricasafari.com

Introduction to Kigali, Rwanda – One Day in Kigali After a couple of days of traveling including a long layover in Doha, we arrived in Rwanda.

We have a few days here before we head to the DRC, and with limited time in Kigali have tried to make the most of our brief time in the nation now fondly known as the ‘Land of a Thousand Hills’. Before that of course, it was known as the location of the Rwandan Genocide, which happened in the context of the Rwandan Civil War, and it’s a history that’s so recent that you can’t help but be taken with the Rwanda of 2016. As a 30-year-old woman I can’t help but recognize that some of my peers – people my age in Rwanda – lived through this horrifying experience as young and impressionable children.

What’s more incredible is that the spirit of Rwanda today is something so palpably bright and positive that visitors can’t help but be awe-stuck by the very soul of the Rwandan people.

Somehow, just a couple of decades after the genocide, people have come together to build a stronger unified country that celebrates a positive way forward while remembering the tragedies of the recent past. With legislation banning the use of plastic bags and a monthly community cleaning initiative that Rwandans collectively participate in, it’s hard not to be inspired by a place that has come impossibly far in such a short time.

Hotel des Mille Collines: A Hotel with History

When we booked our trip with Inspired Journeys, we specifically requested to stay at Hotel des Mille Collines, the hotel that inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda (if you haven’t seen it, you must). While fancy, five-star properties continue to crop up in Kigali as Rwanda focuses on bolstering its tourism, the history of Hotel de Mille Collines can’t be replicated.

While the hotel itself isn’t a five-star property, the surroundings are incredible and the history is such a draw. We actually checked into Mille Collines after our visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial which made everything that much more impactful. The hotel is walking distance from a number of great restaurants as well (it’s totally safe to walk), and has a spectacular breakfast buffet in a gorgeous setting.

Kigali Genocide Memorial

The photo above is us trying to smile after exiting the memorial, and I couldn’t help but think my eyes were puffed up beyond belief after leaving teary-eyed. If you do one thing in Kigali, you must visit the Genocide Memorial. It is a heart-wrenching experience but the museum is so incredibly well done and does such an amazing job of remembering the lives of those lost

and explaining the context in which the genocide occurred. It’s divided into a few sections with indoor and outdoor spaces, including a mass burial site for 250,000 people. The first section gives some insight into Rwandan history, and colonialism and its impact on Rwanda.

The memorial then goes on to cover the genocide itself, with videos from survivors, photos of slain family members, a section on lost children (be prepared for an exceptionally emotional journey), and photographs from 1994. The final section talks about genocides broadly, and I admire the fact that the memorial dedicates a section to talk about other genocides that have happened in recent history including sections on Cambodia, Armenia, Bosnia, and Germany amongst others.

Entry to the museum is free but an audio guide costs $15 and is a great way to contribute to the memorial in a useful way. The audio guide is incredibly well done. With upwards of 40 sections, it takes around two hours to walk through the entire memorial and take it all in.

You’ll finish the tour with the mass burial site, including a wall inscribed with some of the names of those buried at the site. Kigali’s Genocide Memorial is emotional but it’s an absolute must for anyone visiting Rwanda. There’s also a gift shop on site which stocks goods crafted by wives and other family members of those lost in the genocide.

An Evening in Kigali After visiting the memorial and checking into the hotel, we had time to clean up and head out to dinner in Kigali. Within walking distance of us were two restaurants that piqued our interest: Heaven, an international restaurant and boutique hotel; and Khana Khazana, an Indian restaurant touted as being one of Kigali’s best restaurants. We had a hard time deciding between the two, but after great recs from former expats in Kigali, we opted to dine at Khana Kazana and grab a drink at Heaven beforehand as a way to see both places in our short time in Rwanda’s capital. While Heaven’s menu looked great, this ended up being a perfect choice for us. For anyone dining out in Kigali, we had wondered about safety of walking around at night. From Mille Collines to these nearby restaurants, walking felt totally safe and took us less than 10 minute to get to our restaurants!

For our first brush with Kigali, we were impressed. We were greeted with absolute warmth and we were astounded by the cleanliness of the city. The roads are great, clean, and it could be an easy place to rent a car and self-drive if you’re comfortable with getting around on your own. All in all, a fabulous introduction to Kigali to kick-start our time in Rwanda!

Canopy Walkway Tour in Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest After a six-hour drive from Kigali, we arrived in stunning Nyungwe Forest National Park to Nyungwe Forest Lodge (more on that and other lodges we’re staying at in a forthcoming post). As per usual, we couldn’t bear not getting in a full day, so we checked in, had lunch and hit the road to check out the Canopy Walkway in the forest. The Canopy Walkway hangs 60 – 70 meters above ground and represents the highest canopy experience in East Africa.

It’s a guided tour and guests must go with a tour guide (we has assumed it was selfguided). Tours take place throughout the day with a couple of tours in the morning and then afternoon tours at 1PM and 3PM. We arrived a touch early but joined the 3PM tour along with two ladies from the UK and two men from Holland.

Views of Nyungwe Forest’s Canopy Walkway

We had anticipated something a bit different from what we experienced. Heading in, we assumed that the canopy was a quick walk away where guests cross the bridge to scope out views of the forest below. The Canopy Walkway tour is actually a bit of a hike, and it takes an hour and a half or so to complete depending on your group. The hike is noted as being ‘easy’ but our guide confessed that it was more of a moderate hike than an easy one, with some elevation change and a series of steps to make it to the canopy starting point. If you haven’t yet done any chimp or gorilla trekking, it’s a good warm up to get the blood flowing and get in the hang of forested hikes.

Finally, we arrived at a series of three canopies: one 45-meter canopy, one 90-meter canopy, and one 25-meter canopy, all with views of Nyungwe Forest around and below. The forest is gorgeous, made more stunning by Rwanda’s hills (when they refer to themselves as the ‘land of a thousand hills’ they’re not kidding). For anyone looking for an easy to moderate hike with great forest views, the Canopy Walkway is a great first brush with the forest! We had a couple of people in our group who weren’t fans of heights who fared just fine. The canopies are a bit wobbly – especially with a half-dozen people walking across – but with a four-ton capacity they’re totally safe and the railing on the side makes it extra secure.

What to Know

Firstly, the Canopy Walkway experience costs $60 per person. We paid our fees in advance but you can presumably pay at the office right before a hiking experience. The tour is more of a hike than just a simple tour so be prepared for some medium terrain and dress accordingly.

You’ll need hiking shoes (or at least closed toed shoes you can hike in comfortably), and a rain coat is suggested in case of a shower (we had a sunny experience). Hiking sticks are provided and despite making you look like an Austrian trekker, they’re actually very handy!

Chimp Trekking in Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest National Park Guys, seriously. I could hardly write this post.

After not one, but two chimp treks in a day, with a 4:00AM wakeup call and nine hours of trekking, we saw approximately 70% of one chimpanzee. We saw it move through a tree for a brief second so we’re counting that as a score because if we don’t, it’s a terrible story to recap.

Sunrise during our morning trek (4AM wakeup call!)

Let me backtrack: our phone rang at 4:15AM as a wakeup call from the hotel. We were meeting our driver in front of Nyungwe Forest Lodge at 5AM and needed to get ready and have a cup of coffee before our trek. By the time we picked up our guide and actually set off on our expedition it was around 6:30AM (we had to wait around 45 minutes to even get started on the trek once we arrived) and I couldn’t help but wonder why we really had to have that 4:15AM wakeup call after all.

Nevertheless, we were off! One Rwandan guide, two German trekkers, one Finnish nurse and two Americans setting out on an excursion to find chimpanzees in the wild. My first thought: damn, this forest is big. How do they even know where to start looking or how to find these guys? Plus, don’t they move faster than we do? Our guide, Solomon, had a walkie-talkie with trackers radioing him with intel but we trekked and trekked for a couple of hours before we heard sounds of chimps in the distance. This was a good sign, right? RIGHT?!

I looked around, hopeful, camera at the ready, wary of crunching too hard on leaves that may scare away our chimp friends. There were no chimps. We continued hiking, with long waiting periods in between (we would sometimes stop and wait for 20+ minutes until trackers would radio in). Hours and miles passed.

Now, let me stop and share something here for anyone looking to go chimp trekking in Rwanda. You may be wondering what a chimp trek is actually like and if you’re like us (and everyone else we met during this journey) you’re probably thinking that it’s a literal walk in the park. You’ll put on your hiking shoes, stroll through flattish terrain, and chimps will whimsically be swinging from branches overhead as you snap photos.

I hate to be the crusher of dreams but this is not what happens. Chimp treks are actually fairly strenuous (on the upper medium level for me), and can be very strenuous depending on your fitness level. In total, we hiked roughly 8 miles today with elevation changes on uneven terrain. We ran through wild forest that was quite literally off the beaten path and hopped over logs covered in fire ants. It’s an adventure, it takes a few hours and there are no guarantees that you will see a chimp. After all, it’s nature.

So, back to our trek (the first one). Hours and miles had passed (about 5 hours and approximately 5 miles) and our guide had to share the bad news: the chimps were far away and we weren’t going to see them at this point in the day. At least not here and now. Our German trekker friends, clearly hikers on a mission to see chimps, pushed back a little and asked about alternatives, explaining that they’d purchased a chimp trekking permit and wanted to see chimps even if it took the whole day. I was waffling on the edge. I’m not a German trekker so I wasn’t into the whole part about it taking the entire day, but I was with them on wanting to see chimps.

Our guide explained that we could go to another branch of the forest, a little pocket with habituated chimps where he told us that our chances of seeing chimps were good, around 70 – 75%. The Germans were in. Our Finnish friend was totally out, and we were debating. See chimps or go back to our super nice lodge and chill for the day to finally become human after days of travel and early wake-up calls? We finally decided that since we’re in Rwanda, we couldn’t justify not trying our best at seeing these guys. The second trek site was an hour and a half away by car. We committed to joining.

Now, in hindsight I’m not sure how I feel about this decision, but I think it was the right thing to do. My instinct is that I would regret not having tried more than I would have regretted trying and not having great success. At least we gave it our all, right?

The cutest kids waving during our drive to our second trek. So, an hour and a half later down a rugged road (our driver called it an ‘African massage’, and I like that way of looking at it), we arrived at this little branch of forest for our chimp trek. I was optimistic. I waved goodbye to our driver explaining that we’d be back in an hour with lots of chimp photos (hey, if I wasn’t optimistic, why would we have driven this far for a second sweaty trek?!). So, at around 1:10PM we set out on our second chimp trek of the day, us, our German friends and Solomon. About thirty minutes in, we spotted one! We ran through the rugged brush to the top of a hill and watched as one chimp moved through a tree. I saw it’s back. All I really wanted to see was its face. Just for a few seconds, that’s all I wanted. Then, suddenly, the chimp was gone and the trackers were on the move and we were running after them, deep into the forest until we had to stop and wait for more tracker feedback. They’d lost the tracks and were trying again. Now, I’m going to stop an already long story from becoming entirely too long. After two or three hours in the forest, we finally had to call it quits and I was getting impatient waiting. I led the pack on our trek back setting a fast pace knowing that the sooner we made it to the car, the sooner I’d get back to the lodge and the sooner I could take a hot

shower and enjoy the lodge for our final night. Scott spotted a group of monkeys on the way back – including a baby! – which ended up being our highlight as far as forest sights were concerned.

To be totally honest, my highlight was the drive itself, watching the Rwandan landscape pass us by (stunning, to be sure) and driving down the rugged road past a village with little kids so excited to see us. As we’d drive by they’d run up and wave yelling, ‘Mzungu! Mzungu!’ I asked our driver if they were excited to see a car driving by (there were next to none traveling down this road) or if it was because we’re white. He said, ‘It’s because you’re white! You hear them yelling ‘Mzungu!’ when they wave? That means white man.

They don’t see many white people around here and they get excited when they pass by.’

As if I wasn’t already in love So, for a somewhat failed day, it was a bit of a success. We saw a beautiful forest, we waved at happy children who were excited to see us, and we watched the sky turn into a watercolor painting of pinks, purples and gold as the sun rose over Nyungwe. Chimps or not, Rwanda is a beautiful place to be.

A Perilous Journey Crossing Lake Kivu Otherwise titled, That Time We Were Rescued by the Rwandan Military While Crossing Lake Kivu

“Did you know that Lake Kivu can spontaneously combust at any point?”

Scott was reading an article online one night before bed and volunteered this exciting new information after learning about the methane gases that live below Lake Kivu’s surface.

Harnessed correctly, the gases can provide enough energy to power Rwanda for 400 years.

I stared back, with a little laugh. When we planned this trip, crossing Lake Kivu was the least of my concerns. Little did I know it was going to be a life-threatening situation, and it had nothing to do with methane gas.

Traveling Across Lake Kivu from Rwanda to the Congo

We arrived at the boat dock in a town called Cyangugu, across the lake from our ending point in Gisenyi, where travelers cross the border to the Congo. The boat was small and sat just

above the water line, room for us, our guide and two boatsmen plus their containers of fuel for the ride. We had paid for a private speed boat to cross Lake Kivu in 2 – 2 ½ hours, and while this little boat with one two-stroke 40 hp engine wasn’t our idea of a ‘speed’ boat, we trusted that our guide and the company had set us up with the appropriate transport. Perhaps this was their idea of a ‘speed boat’ on Lake Kivu?

We started off, going at an extremely leisurely pace across the lake. Our guide explained that they could go as fast as we’d like but asked if this speed was okay. We were enjoying the flat water and the scenery, and if this was the speed that was going to get us there in two hours, we were fine with that. The boatsmen spoke solely Kiyarwandan, the local tongue of Rwanda, and we were unable to communicate with them directly.

We passed by islands upon islands, some big, some small, some desolate, some inhabited with electricity. Nearly two hours had passed and we were hopeful each time we saw land, only to be told that what we were seeing was another island. Around 2 ½ hours in, we checked with our guide. We should have arrived at this point – were we close? He suggested maybe thirty minutes away, the boat captain said there was about another hour and a half.

An hour and a half?! This whole trip was supposed to be two hours. We had no bathroom, no food, no shade, and no water on board since we were imagining arriving by noon at the latest.

An hour and a half passed, and that’s when I started to become seriously concerned.

Now, as most of you know, we live in Anguilla and are on boats very frequently. We understand the water and Scott has a solid understanding of boats and boat safety. We were in the middle of Lake Kivu, the second deepest lake in the world, looking at a methane plant way in the distance and hitting waves that the boat couldn’t handle. Water rushed in over the front, soaking us and our bags (including bags with computers and cameras). The boat was filling with water and the one of the boatsmen was using a small plastic pitcher to empty water from the boat, one cup at a time.

“Is this safe?!” I asked our guide. He responded positively, but how could he have ever known?

He’d never been on a speed boat in his life. This was his first experience and he was new with the company.

Our boat was moving a snail’s pace – maybe a mile per hour – because the boat couldn’t survive the waves. They were trying to let it float to land. Land was barely even in sight at this point, we were sitting in the middle of Lake Kivu and it would have taken us hours and hours to reach a solid surface at this rate. We encouraged them to keep moving, at least slightly faster than this so we could be close enough to land if the boat were to flood or capsize and we were to have to swim to shore. This was a legitimate concern and Scott, staying extremely calm, had our guide translate that we needed to head towards the nearest land, whether that was Gisenyi (our intended destination) or not. I asked him to send another boat to intercept us. The boat was rocking in the waves and felt as though at any moment it may tip over and we’d be flung into the middle of one of the world’s deepest lakes with a methane plant nearby that we were warned had the power to pull us in if we were to capsize too close.

From the middle of the lake, I called our contact at the organization we worked with and I explained that I felt extremely unsafe in this boat and we needed help.

We needed help. We weren’t going to make it in this boat. At the beginning, in the calm waters of Lake Kivu surrounded by islands and dugout canoes, we felt fine. We hadn’t known any better and assumed we’d be there in the time promised. In the middle of this lake with not another person or boat in sight, we were essentially floating in a bathtub with a 40hp engine with water pouring in.

With assistance, they called the Rwandan military to explain our situation and elaborate on where we were. The men who owned the boat were concerned – they clearly wouldn’t have called on their own – we were told that they feared they would get in trouble. They confessed the boat wasn’t up to standard since it was filled with water and it couldn’t make it across Lake Kivu (they ended up having to sleep on a nearby island later that night while they waited for the waves to subside).

In a tiny boat, holding on to our belongings so they wouldn’t get saturated.

My heart was racing. I was crying. I felt like I was going to throw up and felt the beginnings of panic, though Scott held my hand to reassure me we’d be safe. If we float, and go with the waves, we can survive, he explained. We can survive until help comes.

We were told that the Rwandan military was informed and sent a rescue team to save us. We waited, bobbing up and down in the lake, trying to push closer and closer to land to feel just a bit safer.

Finally, we made it close to land; close enough to swim to shore. In the distance we saw a speedboat. A real speedboat, with camouflage paint and machine guns at the bow and stern.

Our guide stood up with his orange life jacket in hand and waved it to help them see us, our tiny boat in the middle of this huge lake. They spotted us and sped in our direction. After they arrived, we pulled our boats next to one another and tied up. The officers pulled us into the boat and assisted with bringing our luggage in. They fitted us with military life jackets and reassured us we were okay. They were going to take us to land, not to Gisenyi but to a closer point.

At this point, it was nearly 4:30PM. We had left our hotel at 7AM and departed on this boat at 9AM. The military boat cut across the water at lightning speed for about thirty minutes (thirty minutes in this boat mind you) until we came up to a dock in the town of Kibuye, a pretty lake town that seemed to be a beach destination of sorts for visitors and locals. We tied up and the military men helped us out gingerly. I was still shaking and thanked each of them with the ferocious gratitude you muster when you know that someone has legitimately saved your life.

“You saved us. Thank you so much for helping us,” I said to the boat captain.

He looked at us, we were still visibly shaken, and said, “You should never have been in that boat. It wasn’t safe to cross the lake in that.”

As we learned shortly after, the boat we were in would never have made the crossing in less than seven hours. When we coordinated with our contacts at Inspired Journeys, we learned that in Kibuye, where we’d landed, we were still four hours driving from Gisenyi.

FOUR HOURS. How was that possible?! We’d been on a boat for hours upon hours and we weren’t even half way there. If the boat hadn’t rescued us, we would have never made it. If our guide hadn’t been there to translate and help us with the rescue mission, we really may have never made it as we could have never communicated with our boat drivers. To be honest, that thought scares the life out of me all over again, and it kept us awake that night with pits still in our stomachs.

We were put up at the nearby Cormoran Hotel for the night, where we recounted what happened with each other, still in utter shock and disbelief and grateful to be alive. We wouldn’t make it across the border that night, and would have to go the next day, but with luck we could rearrange our permits to get in the activities we had hoped for in the DRC. Going into this journey, we looked forward to our boat excursion across Lake Kivu, watching villages pass by on the lake that sits on the Congo-Rwanda border. I like to think that we’re pretty laid back travelers. We’ve traveled enough to developing nations to learn to go with the flow and be flexible, but this wasn’t a matter of going with the flow. It wasn’t a matter of us

having expected a ‘better boat’; it was a matter of us expecting to make it across the lake safely.

I’ve never felt more helpless in my life, and have only felt that level of fear on a couple of occasions ever. It was our first time working with a tour operator and my instinct is that we put a little too much faith in something we didn’t coordinate ourselves. Normally, we would have known exactly what we were getting into. We would have known what the boat should

have looked like. We would have known who our captain would be. Without knowing that, we wouldn’t have gone. In this instance, we assumed we would be fine since we worked with a company we trusted that had assisted us hugely during our planning process (and with the rescue mission, and with rearranging our permits afterwards). To be honest, I’m not sure that there is a ‘takeaway’ for me from this beyond that; beyond the fact that we need to have an even better grasp on every single aspect of what we’re doing (I thought I knew everything going in, but there were clearly details that I took for granted).

Since we couldn’t make it across the border, Inspired Journeys was able to revise our schedule to move a few things around and still do the activities we had planned. Keep reading to learn more about our crossing into the Democratic Republic of Congo, and our journey from Goma to Virunga National Park.

Traveling to Virunga National Park After surviving our frightening journey crossing Lake Kivu by boat, we woke up the following morning in Kibuye with vigor. It was 3AM and we were heading to Gisenyi, the area that marks the border of Rwanda and the DRC. We had a four-hour drive ahead of us (fortunately we had a great driver and could sleep for a few hours during this journey), and after rearranging our scheduled permits for traveling to Virunga National Park – two gorilla treks and a volcano hike – we sorted out our schedules for the Congo portion of our trip.

We were still shaken from our near-death experience but committed to putting that hiccup behind us and enjoying the remainder of our time in the Congo and Uganda. With our schedules sorted, we were on our way and decided to spend our first day in the DRC exploring Mikeno Lodge and the Senkwekwe Gorilla Orphanage.

DRC Arrival Logistics: What To Know

Before we had booked this trip, still in our daydreaming-about-the-Congo phase, it was the logistics element that got us hung up. How does one get to the DRC? Do you fly to Goma? Side note: WHO CARRIERS FLY TO GOMA?! What’s the border crossing like? Will they let me in?

Well, you’ve already read about us crossing from Rwanda to the DRC via Lake Kivu and the perilous journey that was, but this seems to be the popular route suggested by tour operators on the ground. When I was still in the exploratory phase in this planning process, other tour operators recommended this as well as the fastest and more unique way of getting from Point A to Point B. Plus, when someone offers you the opportunity to cross Lake Kivu into the Congo by speedboat, it’s hard to say no. My advice considering our experience would be to vet your boat driver and vessel well if you’re doing a solo adventure. So, for those wondering: the best way seems to be to fly into Kigali and then cross over into the DRC. You can also cross by land in a car (in hindsight, this would have been faster for us), and will cross the border at Gisenyi, Rwanda.

Here’s what you’ll need to present at the border if you’re traveling to Virunga National Park: •

Your passport

•

A printout of your DRC Visa order confirmation (this will be provided to you in advance through your tour operator or through Virunga National Park if you booked with them directly)

•

Your Virunga reservation summary detailing what you’ll be doing while you’re in the DRC

•

Proof of Yellow Fever vaccination (they won’t let you in without this); they’ll take you into a small room to document your Yellow Fever vaccination and will take your temperature to note.

From our experience, the process was fairly swift. We’d heard horror stories of the crossing taking hours, but it took us about 30 – 40 minutes in total to check out of Rwanda and check into the DRC. For those still in the planning phase, bear in mind that there are two different visas in the DRC: a Virunga-specific visa and a DRC general visa. The Virunga visa is valid for traveling to Virunga National Park only and is good for 14 days upon entry.

We booked with Inspired Journeys, a tour operator that works heavily in the Democratic Republic of Congo and understands the logistics of the region in-depth. Scott and I have never used a tour operator before in our lives but we found it helpful to have someone meet us at the border and scoot us through the process. We could have done it on our own, but being our first time in the area we felt an added sense of comfort. I would highly recommend that anyone traveling to this region (specifically to the DRC) use a local operator to assist with border crossings and other logistics, at least the first time. In an area where the security situation changes from day-to-day, there’s peace of mind in knowing that you’re working with a team on the ground that intimately understands the realities. If you choose to not going with a tour operator, you’ll find that Visit Virunga site is exceptionally well done.

You can book your lodging and activities directly through them and work with their team on logistics.

Bukima Tented Camp – Accommodations for Gorilla Trekking

Since our plans had changed after our issues crossing Lake Kivu, we spent our first day visiting Senkwekwe Gorilla Orphanage at Mikeno Lodge and having lunch there before moving on for the night to Bukima Ranger Post and Tented Camp.

Bukima is the starting point for gorilla treks in the region so overnighting at the camp makes it extra simple for a morning start. Before arriving we had met another couple on our chimp trek in Rwanda that had just come from the Congo. They mentioned that Mikeno was really nice, but that Bukima was nothing much to talk about. I’ll politely disagree with that statement.

No, Bukima is not a five-star resort but that’s not why we came to the DRC. When they reference this is a tented camp, it’s in fact a very nicely put together campsite. With six total tents, they can accommodate 12 guests at a time. During our visit to Bukima – two nights – we were the only two people at the property and had the campsite to ourselves. The tents are

large, equipped with a king-sized bed, a sink, a toilet and a shower (they can provide hot water with notice). Though there’s power for lights, there are no outlets in the rooms and it probably goes without saying: no wifi. We actually enjoyed the forced disconnect for a couple of days!

In addition to the six tents, there is a main tent with a lounge area, a charging station, and a dining table for what looks to be family style dining (there were only the two of us so it was just us at dinner). The camp provides breakfast, lunch and dinner, and all of our meals impressed us – good, locally sourced food with attention to dietary restrictions. The portions were large (too large for me in fact) and include three courses.

Our room at Bukima

We had mistakenly thought the Congo to be a hot destination but in fact it’s cool during the day and cold at night (like what?! This is Central Africa – isn’t it supposed to be hot?!). When we hopped into bed after dinner we were pleasantly surprised to have hot water bottles to

keep us warm during our sleep. After the week we’d had with traveling, trekking and some serious stressful situations, we had the best sleep we’d had in a while.

We found the service to be exceptional and were impressed with how much English was spoken by the staff. We had assumed that most Congolese would have French and local languages but most staff had conversational English skills or better which helped us with communication. With just the two of us at the camp, we were wowed when we walked to breakfast on our first morning at Bukima: a table for two set amidst the park with stunning views of Mt. Mikeno in the distance. There are some moments where you have to take serious mental snapshots and pinch yourself to make sure you’re actually seeing what you’re seeing.

This was one of those mornings.

Breakfast at Bukima – a major wow! ✨

The Congo utterly wowed me in so many ways. The landscape is Virunga National Park is so lush, so dense and so diverse it’s hard to not be utterly captivated at every turn. As a visitor to this area, you’re in the thick of verdant jungle surrounded by volcanoes, with the sounds of

birds, goats, cows and children in the distance. The main activities for those touring the park are concentrated within a relatively small part of Virunga and even here I’m amazed by how much there is for visitors to experience: gorilla trekking, chimp trekking, the hike to Mt. Nyiragongo, hikes to villages and caves, visiting the world’s only gorilla orphanage (Senkwekwe), visiting Virunga’s Congohounds, and visits to a coop for the wives of fallen rangers. The staff has been so warm and so welcoming, and driving through the DRC is a very raw experience.

This is Africa. I mean that in the sense that this isn’t Kigali or Nairobi, major African cities with huge expat communities, ever-present wifi and decent restaurants around every bend.

This isn’t a place with multi-story buildings and sparkling infrastructure. This isn’t a place with paved roads and with brick homes (we saw that often in Rwanda and were impressed).

It’s real and it’s raw, and for us it exceeded expectations from the get-go.

Visiting the Senkwekwe Gorilla Orphanage Led by Andre, the Senkwekwe Gorilla Orphanage is the world’s only gorilla orphanage and is currently home to four gorillas, ages 5 – 14. Two of the gorillas, both 9 years old, were orphaned during the gorilla massacre of 2007, the only surviving members of their family. At two months old and four months old, they were too young to survive independently so Virunga National Park took them in to help raise and protect them during a particularly harsh poaching period in Congolese history. They continue to live at Senkwekwe today. After crossing into the DRC, we spent our first day focused on activities offered near Mikeno Lodge.

Guests have an array of options, from touring the vegetable garden, visiting the Congohounds, stopping at a cooperative for the wives of fallen rangers, or doing nature walks nearby. Our primary focus was visiting Senkwekwe to see the gorilla orphans and to understand a bit more about the project.

We headed down to watch the gorillas eat and play for about 30 minutes. Our first gorilla experience of the trip, I was enamored immediately, especially watching them interact with humans (something you don’t get to see gorilla trekking). We chatted with Andre (you’ll recognize him from the Virunga documentary) about the gorillas, their life at the orphanage, and being released. I was curious to find out if orphans that are brought in can ever be released into the wild or if the orphanage is their permanent home. Gorilla orphans that are taken in stay at Senkwekwe for life, creating a little family unit of their own. Andre explained that they’re so used to being around humans, so used to being fed and to sleeping inside that surviving in the wild would be a tough prospect. Plus, during our brief time watching them interact, we noticed how social gorillas are and how tight the family units seem to be. Orphans without families would have a tough time reintegrating and finding a new group dynamic to take part in. With Andre at the helm and another ranger assisting with the feeding, it was amazing to see the gorillas play with each other and with the people who work at the orphanage.

For a period of time when Virunga National Park was very unstable, the gorillas had to be moved to Goma where they were cared for. After it became safe enough to return, they set up this orphanage and enclosure on the grounds of Mikeno Lodge (about a 10-minute walk from the lodge), where they live today. Andre mentioned that there’s hope of expanding the enclosure but as it stands it’s a pretty impressive facility, especially considering resource constraints, and it’s the closest thing the orphans could have to their natural habitat. Here they’re safe, they’re loved and they have a family: a peaceful coexistence of gorillas and humans living together.

Senkwekwe Gorilla Orphanage is located about a ten-minute walk from Mikeno Lodge on the property’s grounds. There is no fee to visit, but a Mikeno Lodge employee will escort you to the facility so you can see the orphans at play. The gorillas interact with rangers, but guests get to happily observe from afar.

Congo: Gorilla Trekking in the DRC – Gorilla Trek #1 Waking up at Bukima Tented Camp, we were at the starting point for gorilla trekking in the DRC. In fact, Bukima is in the thick of gorilla territory with some families even making their way into the campsite on the odd occasion. After an awe-inspiring breakfast set-up, we headed to the ranger meeting post in a building on site where we would meet other trekkers and be briefed on safety and gorillas by our ranger/guide. There were four of us on this particular day, Scott and I plus a father-daughter duo from the UK on an adventurous bonding trip.

A whiteboard hung on a blank white wall, next to a map of the park. On the board was information about a number of gorilla families in the area. Each family has its own name, a name that comes as homage to a fallen ranger, and the ranger jotted down details about how many individuals are in the family, the breakdown of family members (e.g. number of silverbacks, black backs, babies, females, etc.), where they’re located on a particular day along with rough trekking time to reach them (anywhere from 50 minutes to a couple of hours).

For our first experience gorilla trekking in Africa, we visited the Rugendo family, a gorilla family with nine individuals: 3 silverbacks, 1 black back male, 1 adult female, 2 silverback adult females and 2 babies. We were briefed on gorilla safety, about wearing masks in their presence so we don’t transfer any diseases to them, and about being quiet, staying in a group, not pointing at babies (or making sudden movements), not using flash, and about staying at least 7 meters, about 20 feet, away.

We set out on a trek that would take about 1 hour and 45 minutes each way, 6 miles roundtrip of trekking. On our first day of gorilla trekking, half of it was an easy to moderate walk through fields with stunning vistas of the park around us. With us was our ranger, Peter, and a tracker who set the pace and led us to the park boundary, which is marked by three wires to create a barricade. For the record, the top wire is electric. (Scott learned this the hard way on our way out of the jungle.)

We crossed through the wires into dense forest where our tracker used his machete to clear a path for us. About a half hour later, we had arrived at the family. Masks on and cameras at the ready, we were escorted into the gorillas’ lair.

I had expected to be twenty feet or more from the family, but this wasn’t the case. We were in the thick of it, a silverback within a few feet of us. We were already in awe to be so close, and a healthy respect set in. We continued on where the rest of the family was playing; a baby bounced around the trees and ran right up to us, ready to touch my leg out of curiosity. There were many times that we were within a few feet of the gorillas, but were sure to back up and stay out-of-the-way as to not startle them or the silverbacks.

We had an hour with the gorillas and we cherished every moment of that hour. Watching the family interact was absolutely one of the coolest wildlife experiences I could imagine. It felt different from our previous safari where we were observers in the distance. Here we felt like we were in it; like we were invisible onlookers watching intimate family interactions between the gorillas. The babies wrestled with the juveniles, the adult female watched as the younger gorillas played, the silverbacks alternated between relaxing and surveying their surroundings. Being so close and being able to watch them so intently really made us all realize how human-like these animals are. Their interactions, their faces, their expressions.

There were a number of times that the babies looked at us with the same curiosity and interest that we looked back at them.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then videos are absolutely priceless and in this instance that’s absolutely true. Go to www.thewanderlusteffect.com to see videos from our gorilla trekking experiences!

Gorilla Trekking in the Congo – Gorilla Trek #2 We woke up our second morning at Bukima Tented Camp more comfortable with the idea of gorilla trekking, knowing more or less what to expect, and especially excited for another day of gorilla trekking in the Congo and interacting with a gorilla family.

We headed to the briefing station where a two rangers joined us. There were six of us headed out to see the gorillas: Scott and I, another guy from California (via Germany), a Brit living abroad in Nairobi, and two Belgian hikers doing this before their Kilimanjaro trek. There’s a max of 6 – 8 that can go in a group for trekking, but In lieu of having us all go together they separated us into two groups of three to visit two different families. One of the highlights about our experiences in the DRC was the small sizes of our group experiences. The Congo is a less impacted destination for these types of experiences as compared with Rwanda and Uganda (largely due to stability issues in the DRC and ease of travel to Rwanda and Uganda) so we noticed much more flexibility than I think we would have experienced elsewhere.

For our second day we went with Peter, the same guide we had for our first experience gorilla trekking in Africa, to visit the Humba Family, a gorilla family of nine individuals: 2

silverbacks, 2 adult females, 1 silverback adult female, 2 juveniles and 2 babies. According to the whiteboard at the ranger station, the trek seemed to be shorter.

From the start our experience was totally different. On our first gorilla trek in the DRC we spent a good 45-plus minutes trekking through farm land that ran parallel to the borders of the actual park. Once we cut in, we moved delicately through dense jungle until we arrived at the Rugendo Family. On our second trek we headed out in a different direction and immediately were forcing our way through extremely thick jungle. There was a narrow pathway wide enough for us to walk through, but we were battling vines and trees and jumping over logs and ants for the entire journey. This trek – definitely described as a trek – was much shorter though. We arrived at the gorilla within about 40 minutes (compared with nearly two hours the day before) and were told to equip ourselves with masks to protect the gorillas from human disease.

We continued in through even denser terrain, standing precariously on mountains of loose twigs and leaves while we entered the gorillas’ domain. Immediately we saw a baby running around, curious as ever, standing at my feet (literally trying to touch me, but the rangers encouraged it to move away). 5 – 10 feet away was a silverback, basking in the sun, an absolutely peaceful sleeping giant. It was the biggest silverback we’d seen thus far but seemed to not at all be flustered by our presence which set me much more at ease.

We continued in to the brush a few feet until we were standing between the sleeping silverback and between a quad of playing babies and juveniles who were wrestling and playing tag in a dense bed of leaves. The babies in this group were even more active than what we saw in the Rugendo family the day before: they would run up a branch barely strong enough to hold them, and then thrust themselves off into a bed of leaves, using the branch like a diving board and slide. They’d run back through and do it again, occasionally stopping to play tag.

Other gorillas appeared around us and each time one would approach, I found myself tensing a bit and backing into the brush in attempt to camouflage myself. We were so close to the babies I kept fearing that they would see us as a threat but they seemed absolutely unfazed by us being in their territory. The silverback occasionally rustled until he finally got up and continued further into the jungle.

Once the rest of the family had followed we continued behind them, the trackers slowly hacking away at thick branches with their machetes to clear a path. We continued into a pocket with trees and vines that was the ultimate playground for the little ones. The silverback sat watching while one baby twirled endlessly from a vine that hung from the center of this patch of forest. We stood mesmerized watching him play: twirling, twirling, twirling on a single stretch of vine, occasionally testing its strength and climbing part way.

We continued like this: the silverback would lead, we’d stay a reasonable distance behind him and follow the family to its next playground. We watched them play, watched them groom each other, watched them cuddle, and watched them eat branches and leaves that covered the jungle floor. Check out this video of the Humba family during our second gorilla trek in the DRC: Takeaways from Gorilla Trekking in the Congo

We opted for two experiences gorilla trekking in the Congo at the recommendation of our tour operator and were both very glad we did. Firstly, if anything had gone awry we had comfort in knowing that we had two opportunities to see gorilla families. Secondly, when they say no

two treks are the same we found that to be true. The trekking itself was entirely different (one long and less dense; another shorter but extremely dense) and even the family dynamics were different. During our first gorilla trek in the Congo, the silverbacks seemed more watchful and protective (though I may have just felt like this since I was more intimidated by them during our first trek), while the silverbacks during our second gorilla trek were lounging and eating, less focused on us. The babies during our second trek played together a lot while we saw a baby playing with a juvenile more during the first trek.

Beyond there being differences in the experience and dynamic, I think opting for two treks is perhaps most important because you’ll see it differently the second time. The first time I had no idea what to expect and was so in awe that I couldn’t help but take a thousand photographs and video every single moment. To be honest, I was also intimidated. There were silverbacks around (400 – 500 pounds) who were observing us. Being so close to the babies concerned me: am I going to upset dad by being this close?! There’s certainly a healthy respect there, but I found that the fear dissipated during our second trek. I watched more intently and wasn’t as concerned about being close. During our second trek, I took photos and videos but also stopped and just watched and observed them. It was an opportunity to enjoy a really

special moment: just us and a gorilla family in the middle of Virunga National Park. In terms of magical wildlife experiences, this is hard to beat. I mentioned in the previous article from our first gorilla trekking experience how I felt this was more intense and real than what we experienced on a traditional safari. We weren’t just observing: we were surrounded by gorillas during both experiences in what felt like a special and intimate moment between us and them.

Needless to say, Virunga National Park exceeded expectations and I couldn’t have imagined a more exceptional gorilla trekking experience. The rangers continue to protect the gorillas of Virunga National Park against poachers, and their job is a risky but an extremely critical one.

If you haven’t seen the documentary Virunga, I encourage you to watch it to understand what’s happening in the park and what political forces are at play.

For those interested in gorilla trekking beyond the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda also offer gorilla trekking in Volcanoes National Park and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, respectively.

Permit prices vary by destination: $400 per permit in the DRC, $600 in Uganda and $750 in Rwanda.

Mount Nyiragongo Hike: A Trek to the World’s Largest Lava Lake As our final trekking hurrah of our time traveling in the Congo, we decided to embark on the Mt. Nyiragongo hike, a journey to the top of one of Virunga National Park’s volcanoes where visitors can find the world’s largest active lava lake. Despite the fact that we were both a bit anxious after hearing how strenuous this hike was, we felt more physically prepared after days of chimp and gorilla trekking.

Starting at 1994 meters (about 6’500 feet), we set off to gain another 5000 feet in altitude until we reached the summit at around 11’500 feet. The trek is roughly 8 kilometers, not terribly long, which gives some indication as to how steep the hike is to allow you to gain that type of altitude in a short distance.

The trek is essentially divided into four sections, each marked by a rest stop. For anyone who’s thinking about hiking it, here are some photos and recaps from each segment of the hike to give you an idea of what the trek entails. Keep in mind that weather plays a huge factor in your experience. During our hike in mid-September (the early part of the rainy season), we were hit with a rain and hail storm for about ¾ of our hike which made the experience a bit tougher than it would typically be. Our Congolese porters and rangers told us that we

weathered some of the worst hiking conditions possible during our trek so for those trekking on a good weather day, it’ll be a much more enjoyable hike!

Segment One (Base to Stop 1) // The Warm-up Trail

The first segment is a simple warm-up; essentially a long trail where you’ll gain about 250 meters in altitude. It’s very gradual and there’s not a great deal of climbing except for a couple of notable spots. This stretch is one of the longest for distance so by the time you reach rest stop 1 you’ve gone about 25 – 30% of distance but made very little in altitude gains.

My advice would be this: if you ever are thinking about turning back for a sense of not being able to physically undertake the hike at this point, know that this the first segment is exceptionally easy as compared with the remainder of the hike. If you need to go back for fear of genuinely not being able to make it, talk to your ranger guide about returning now. Don’t wait until you’ve gone further!

Segment Two (Stop 1 – Stop 2) // Lava Rock Road

The terrain changes dramatically in the second segment where a woodsy trail turns into loose lava rock. Essentially the entirety of the second segment is composed of this. The rocks are small and mostly loose so it’s more of a balancing game. There are some altitude gains towards the end of this segment but most of the gains are gradual at the beginning. Your biggest risk here is slipping on the lava rocks since they’ll be moving under your feet the entire stretch.

Segment Three (Stop 2 – Stop 3) // Some Lava Rock + Gaining Altitude

The terrain changes again during the third segment and the lava rock continues but in a different form. Instead of loose craggy rock pieces, there are longer stretches of smoother lava rock. There are still a number of loose stones so the biggest issue is discovering which rocks are loose under your feet and which are solid. I will say that the lava rocks look very smooth and slippery – we were especially concerned about this since we were hiking during a

torrential downpour with rain and hail – but the lava rocks actually have a decent grip so you won’t slip as much as you may think! Good hiking shoes are necessary to give you that grip though. Hiking boots aren’t necessary, but decent hiking shoes will help you scale the lava rock more easily. Also do note that your Gore-Tex, ‘waterproof’ hiking shoes won’t stand a chance if you’re trekking in the rain during your Mt. Nyiragongo hike. The rain, if there is any, streams down the center of the trail (it looks like a stream or waterfall coming from the top and making its way to the bottom) and for stability’s sake you’ll find yourself putting your foot right in the middle of a deep puddle. Altitude gains are much more noticeable during this stretch but if you’re moderately fit the pace should be fine. You’ll be trekking relatively slowly and the focus is more on stability and watching your footing than it is an actual cardio or leg workout.

Segment Four (Stop 3 – Stop 4) // Long, Steep Stretch

This is the longest, continuously steep segment of the trek (minus the fifth segment which is a relatively short climb to the top). You’ll be gaining significant altitude for the duration of this segment with large steps on lava rock as you continue towards the summit. The weather will continue to change fairly dramatically and get much colder as you continue upwards. Be prepared with layers, rain coats, etc. as you may need to pull them out at a moment’s notice!

At the end of this segment, you’ll reach the 4th rest stop; a little cabin that marks your last stop before you make the final climb to the top. If it’s not raining, they recommend that you change into dry clothes at this point to avoid hypothermia when you reach the top. If it is raining, like it was in our case, we found it better to continue with our wet clothing and to change when we reached the top since we only had one pair of dry clothing with us. This seemed to work well in our case.

Segment Five (Stop 4 to Cabins + Summit) // The Climb

The final segment is a short but extremely steep climb. If you haven’t already experienced any altitude issues in the third or fourth segments, you may find that you feel the thinning air more during this part of the trek. The cabins are within easy eyeshot (so close!) at this point and everyone can go at their own pace and continue towards the top for the most part. I personally had no issues with this segment in terms of it being strenuous or in dealing with altitude, but the rain was a challenge since I had to keep my head down the entire time. The guiding rule would probably be to go at your own pace for this section. I found it easier to continue using momentum, climbing as quickly as was reasonable considering the steep rock face. For others dealing with altitude-induced headaches and dizziness, a slow and steady pace proved better. Do what works for you and know that you are so close at this point!

The cabins are separated into a couple of rows with two cabins right at the top within a few feet of the volcano, and another set of cabins a few feet further down the mountain face.

Either way you’re not far from the top, but getting one of the two top cabins will allow you to

go in and out more easily when you want to glimpse the lava lake. It is quite literally freezing at the top. Between wearing wet clothes and dealing with 30 degree temps and extreme wind, it can feel absolutely brutal and cutting. Change into warm and dry clothes immediately and try to warm up. We had genuine concerns of hypothermia and frostbite with our deadly rain + wind + freezing temps concoction but after changing and warming up, we were fine.

Our total time to the top: 5 hours The Lava Lake

Once you’ve made it to the top, you’ll have to see the lava lake to remember why you trekked in the first place. It’s worth the steps – even in terrible weather! – to see the world’s largest active lava lake boiling and bubbling. You can hear it, you can smell it, and sitting at the top you’ll be able to watch the lava flow from a new fissure (the new fissure formed just last year) into the boiling cauldron of magma. It’s spectacular to see in real life and pictures don’t do it justice.

When we arrived to the top around 4PM there was still a bit of a mist hanging over the lake which obstructed the view slightly. By 7PM it was clear and the lake was vibrant neon orange, clearly visible from the bench viewing platform on the volcano’s edge. We popped into our cabin when it started raining and then popped back out around 9:45PM to witness it again and watch the orange lava continued to pop and bubble.

The Cabins, Dining + Bathroom Breaks

With our cook, Martin, who prepared tea, coffee, dinner and breakfast for our group.

The cabins at the top are within a few meters of the volcano so you’ll be able to watch the lava show at any point from when you arrive. The cabins are extremely basic with two mats and two pillows in each room, but they do the job. You will have brought up a sleeping bag and a fleece liner for your bag to sleep in which will add necessary warmth. If your trek is cold and wet like ours, change into dry clothes immediately and get into your fleece to warm your body up so you can better enjoy your time at the top.

When you book your Mt. Nyiragongo hike through Virunga National Park, a cook will join you at the top. Martin was our cook, and he prepared dinner and breakfast for us in the comfort of a warm hut that he turned into a kitchen and living space for us. There were five of us on the Nyiragongo hike and the warm-up was a highlight of the evening. Once Martin had started a fire in his hut, we all headed down to warm our bodies with tea or coffee and tried to dry our shoes and clothing by the fire (this actually worked pretty well!). We spent hours around the warmth, exchanging stories and marveling at the fact that we were hanging out on a volcano. For dinner, Martin had a vegetarian soup for us, followed by ratatouille, rice, and a meat dish for the guys.

Bathroom facilities – be prepared for a climb!

What about bathroom facilities, you’re wondering? There is an outhouse, and it’s precariously perched further down the mountain face. You’ll have to rappel about 40 feet down the lava rock before reaching a little hut with two toilets. By day, it’s totally fine and doable. By night, it’s not worth the risk. The night sky is pitch black and even with a head torch or flashlight there’s not enough light to sufficiently see. All things considered the bathrooms

are actually pretty nice. Bring your own toilet paper. There was a roll of toilet paper at the bathroom stall but it was soaked after all of the rain.

The Descent

People warned us that the hike down wasn’t any easier than the hike up. That’s putting it lightly. For me, the hike down was a much more frightening endeavor that the hike up.

Remember that whole part about the final stretch being super steep with craggily, sharp lava rock? Going up, those jagged edges act as a bit of a foot hold. Going down, you have to very slowly navigate to not take a tumble. I fell once (stumbled a number of times) and can attest to the fact that the rock can be extremely sharp.

The first section of the descent (summit down to stop 4) is the most precarious because of the footing and instability, but the second section of the descent (from the cabin at stop 4 down stop 3) is the longest continuously steep portion. You’ll be navigating those same lava rocks at

a heavy decline which is toughest on the joints. My legs and glutes didn’t hurt at all during this trek but my knees and ankles could really feel it on the way down.

The loose lava rocks for the second segment are a pain but no more of a pain than they were on the way up. In fact, you’ll be moving a bit more quickly since the angle isn’t so terrible after you’ve completed the first couple of segments. Once you reach the flat trail, it’s literally a walk in the park.

With Jean-Claude and Bernard, our ICCN rangers With stopping at each rest stop, we made it down in about 3 – 3 ½ hours. The trek down will likely be a lot faster than the hike up, but beware that it is tough on the joints!

Five Tips for Embarking on the Mt. Nyiragongo Hike Tip #1: Hire a Porter

Porters, trekking up to Nyiragongo

First and foremost, be prepared to hire a porter ($24 each round trip, plus extra for tip). Even if you’re a hiker, taking a 25 – 30 pound backpack up this incline is extremely difficult. If you have bad weather like we did, it’d be near impossible. It’s absolutely not worth it to find out half way through that you can’t continue with the heavy load. To be honest, I think the park should make it mandatory to pay for a porter for the hike considering how dangerous and difficult it would be.

If you’re like me, you’ll feel bad having someone carrying your heavy load for this steep journey, but these guys are absolutely physically capable of doing this. We had three porters for our three bags: two young guys (one who legitimately looked like he was 10), and an older

guy who was around 60. The older guy, dressed in a sweater and a sport coat, carried our backpack and carried a sack of food on his head during the climb. Our cook, many rangers and many porters make this hike as often as three times per week. One of our porters was carrying my load on the way down and still offered to take my hand to help guide me. They’re exceptionally strong and able-bodied, and hiring them (and tipping them!) is a great way to infuse money into the local economy.

Tip #2: Take a Hiking Stick I’ve often said how I thought hiking sticks were the domain of Austrian trekkers but to be honest: they’ve got it right! With the steep nature of this hike, a hiking stick is exceptionally handy to help with stability and momentum as you gain altitude. Going down it was absolutely necessary for me to steady myself and make it down the jagged steep terrain. If you’re staying at Mikeno Lodge beforehand, they’re provided.

Tip #3: Bring Warm Weather Gear I can’t emphasize this enough: it is freezing at the top. Literally freezing. We had pockets of frost at our feet when we made it to the lava lake. If you’ve gotten wet, you’ll risk hypothermia without the right gear. Over a sports bra and tank top I layered a zip up sweater and a thermal, plus put on a thick beanie and a scarf. I also had a few changes of dry socks and a change of dry pants. I was still freezing; often times too cold to go sit and just admire the lava lake. Take extra gear. I would advise a thermal top and long johns if you have them, plus dry pants, a thermal sweater plus at least one other long-sleeved top underneath. If you have a heavier down jacket, that may be useful, too. A beanie or something to cover your head and ears is essential. A scarf helped me a lot with covering more of my neck and face. I wish I would have thought of this before we left but it’s also worth bringing those little heat packs you can buy for snowboarding and skiing (the kind that you can use in your mittens and on your feet). They’ll help make it warm enough to bear the temps outside.

Tip #4: Acclimate to the Altitude Beforehand Including Scott and I, we were a group of five, all at about the same fitness level and comfortable with the same pace. Two of the guys in our group had come in straight from Goma (via Kigali) to begin this trek; straight from sea level, to 6500’, then hiking up to 11,500’.

That’s a huge altitude change and altitude sickness is no joke. One of the guys – clearly very

physically fit – had some issues during the last couple of segments purely because of the altitude making it difficult for him to continue. He had to stop regularly to collect himself and continue on.

We had already been at a fairly high altitude (about 6000’) for a week or so, so our bodies had time to acclimate to the elevation a bit more. While I did notice the altitude affecting me slightly at night (a touch of a headache but nothing major), it wasn’t an issue. My major piece of advice here would be to not get off a plane and head directly for this hike. Give yourself a few days at the higher altitude. Perhaps do a chimp or gorilla trek beforehand to get your blood pumping and heart moving at the higher altitude. We had done chimp trekking in Rwanda and two gorilla treks at altitude before setting out on our Mt. Nyiragongo hike, and I think that played a huge part in making the journey much easier on us that it could have been.

Tip #5: Know Your Personal Limits

Lastly, understand your limits and your body, and also understand this hike. If you’re moderately fit, you can do this hike. To be totally honest with you, I didn’t find it physically that difficult, though it clearly is categorized as a strenuous hike. I think the bigger issues at hand are: how are you with weather? How does your body react to the extreme cold?

How are your joints? The hike, especially the descent, will do a number on your knees and ankles. If you have issues with your knees, I would evaluate that element more critically than general physical fitness. I’ve never had issues with my knees before but did notice a bit of soreness in knees and ankles on the way down. There is a ton of pressure when you’re descending a mountain as steep as this and the pain that you’ll feel in general will be more joint related than it will be muscle related. Know that once you’ve made it to the third stop on your way up, turning around will be difficult if not impossible. You’re with a group so it’s not worth risking it for you or for your group if you don’t think your joints will allow you to make it to the top.

We made it! Despite the elements, we had a great group and make excellent time on the way

up and down. The lava lake is absolutely spectacular and if you’re visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo and are moderately fit, it’s worth the time, energy and money to embark on this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Saying goodbye to the DRC was terribly sad for me. Despite having nearly a week there, I could have spent many more days enjoying the Congo. It may seem counterintuitive, but

there’s this amazing sense of peace where we were: so much nature, such wonderful people, and such a tranquil essence.

What to Pack for Mt. Nyiragongo •

Good Walking Shoes – Hiking boots aren’t necessary but a good pair of hiking shoes are a

must! I opted for my pair of Adidas AX2, which were comfortable from the get-go though they didn’t do the greatest job at keeping water out.

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Warm Clothes: To layer and to sleep in when you reach the top. Pack warm clothes and then

pack EXTRA. You’re better off having extra layers and warmth so you can comfortably enjoy watching the lava lake boil and bubble at night.

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Rain Gear: A lightweight rain jacket with hood will help protect from potential downpours

during your hike; a rain poncho is provided in the Virunga-provided volcano pack if you’ve opted for it.

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Hat + Sunscreen: Sun protection – it’s the jungle! Lots of sun and heat at the bottom, mixed

with heavy showers for the ultimate packing conundrum.

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Headlamp/Light: There’s no light at the top as the camp is very basic – bring a headlamp or a

flashlight to help light the way from your camp to the cooking hut to the lava lake.

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Camera: A camera is a must for the journey and the lava lake though I found my iPhone did a

great job of capturing images. Something to record movies is great, too, to capture movement in the evening.

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Portable Chargers: There’s no electricity (you already knew this), so bring pre-charged

portable chargers to help boost the power of your mobile devices.

•

Change of Dry Clothes (In a Dry Bag): Between sweat and rain your hiking clothes will likely

be extremely dirty and wet by the time you get to the top! Bring a change of dry clothes – including socks! – to change into. If you can, bring a dry bag to protect from the elements.

If you’re traveling from Bukima Tented Camp or Mikeno Lodge, you’ll be provided with a ‘Volcano Pack’ which includes a rain poncho, warm long-sleeved sweater, thermal sleeping bag, fleece liner for your sleeping bag, drinking water and a packed lunch.

Safari in Uganda: Queen Elizabeth National Park We departed Mikeno Lodge in the Democratic Republic of Conogo at around 7AM, in time to make it to the Congolese-Ugandan border at Buanagana around two hours later. After dealing with immigrations and customs, we said our sad goodbyes to the Congo and entered into Uganda for our final portion of our East African adventure.

The road exiting the Congo and leading into Uganda is a sight. Congolese roads – at least the area we saw – are largely unpaved, marked by rugged terrain and potholes that the Virunga park vehicles take shockingly well. Uganda is more similar to Rwanda in terms of infrastructure, with paved roads that are largely well-kept. The dirt road ends at the border, and a paved road starts; a visible demarcation of Uganda vs. Congo.

Leaving the Congo and entering Uganda – Check out where the road ends in Congo and starts in Uganda

The only two mzungus anywhere in sight, we were easy to spot when our Ugandan guide came looking for us. Milton, our driver for the duration of our time in Uganda, loaded us into

his SUV and we hit the road, making our way to Queen Elizabeth National Park. The drive is long, about 5 hours from the Congo-Uganda border, but we split our time between taking in the stark new landscapes of Uganda and reading (note: bringing a book or a Kindle is key with the kind of transport time that there tends to be on an African adventure).

Game Drive #1: Sunset in Queen Elizabeth National Park

We had spent about 10 days in a cool jungle climate with lush, untamed surroundings. In Uganda, we began descending into more traditional African plains; fields of long dry grass with tiny puddles that were reflecting the sunlight.

To kick start our time in Uganda, we were heading to Kasenyi Safari Camp, our home for the next three nights. Situated right in the middle of Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park, the camp is strategically located for daily game drives for those on safari in Uganda. We had gained an hour when we moved into Uganda (the time zone goes from GMT +2 to GMT +3) and finally reached the park at around 6PM, greeted by a small herd of elephants crossing the road. With the sun beginning to set, we headed out for a small game drive to see what we could take in before heading to the lodge. Milton took us straight to an area that he had

traditionally seen lions in the past, though there are never guarantees. Going into the trip, we were most hopeful about seeing cats on safari and tried to temper our safari wish list with reality.

Within a couple of minutes of driving, we spotted two lions; a female and a juvenile male crossing the road and relaxing in the grass just a few feet away from us. During our safari in Kenya in 2014 we didn’t really see any lions – not close enough to actually observe, at least – so this was a highlight from the get-go.

After a few minutes of just taking it all in, we slowly headed towards Kasenyi, where we saw herds of kob, warthogs (including a couple of babies), and hippos during our drive. For such a quick initial game drive, we were absolutely wowed by the introduction to QENP. We overnighted at the camp and prepared for our 6AM wake up call to set out for our morning game drive. When it comes to wake-up calls, guides are quick to explain that early morning and evening game drives can be the most fruitful for wildlife spotting, and night drives are also key if you want to see predators that hunt in darkness. We were there to get the most out of our few days on safari in Uganda so we were excited for the sunrise wake-up call.

Game Drive #2: Morning Expedition for Big Cats

The staff at Kasenyi Safari Camp helped gently wake us up by bringing coffee to our room at 6AM as our wake-up call. Caffeinating for the morning, we headed out for an early game drive just before 6:30AM, when the night was fading into day.

We talked with Philip, the owner of the safari camp, about his daily morning game drives and what we were hoping to see during our time in Uganda. We were still on the big cat train and while we had accepted that we probably wouldn’t have the good fortune of seeing a leopard –

a rare sighting, extremely by day – we were hoping to see more lions, especially an adult male or lion cubs if there were any.

After our first quick game drive experience on our first evening, we were excited for what the second day may have in store for us. Armed with a zoom lens, binoculars and our phones for video footage, we headed out to explore Queen Elizabeth National Park.

The morning greeted us with herds and herds of kob, intermixed with a few domineering waterbucks and a lone hyena that limped across the savannah to sip from a puddle of water.

We met some ladies at our camp who had gone out the night before with the explicit intention of trying to glimpse hyenas and sadly had no success. We weren’t out particularly early so seeing a roving hyena was a promising way to start our drive.

Then our luck got even better. Milton received a phone call about lions nearby so we eagerly set off to see if we could glimpse a few more lions to add to the two we had seen the day before. The SUV navigated the dirt roads of Queen Elizabeth National Park, dodging the muddy terrain that was cropping up with the arrival of the rainy season.

Then we stopped abruptly.

Milton, our guide who had driven through the park countless times, halted with excitement and surprise and continued on slowly. He whispered in that loud yelling whisper that you use when you’re really awe-struck but also realize that you need to use an indoor voice.

“A leopard!”

We were stunned. A leopard? A leopard was what I was hoping to see above everything but I was managing my expectations. Everyone told us that the chances of seeing a leopard were extremely slim, especially during the day. It was about 8AM, the sun was up and it was just us surrounded by the open African plains.

We looked ahead in the distance, and sure enough, there was a leopard. It was moving gracefully around a cactus tree and through tall grass that surrounded the spiky oversized succulent. Its coat was golden-orange, so bright and vibrant that it forced us to stop to take it in. It locked eyes with us, golden leopard cat eyes, but didn’t run. We slowly moved toward it and it continued to move nearby. We were within feet of him, close enough to see the shape of every spot on his coat and to see the ombre coloring fade from white to golden wheat to a vibrant golden sunset hue.

Together we watched, we photographed and videotaped and slowly followed behind just feet away, and for a few minutes in time it was just us; just us and the leopard and the African plains that seem to go on for eternity. He walked away, into the grasslands and we all sat a bit stunned by the good fortune that we had. Another car pulled up a few moments later, and

then another one, and we couldn’t help but feel like the luckiest three people in the whole park for having had such a close encounter.

That moment and the excitement of seeing wildlife actually in the wild is what makes a safari so worth the investment. Pretty stunning, right?

Notes About Safaris in Uganda

All of that being said including the bit about our incredibly good fortune, it’s worth knowing what you’re hoping to get out of a game drive when you pick your destination. Queen

Elizabeth National Park is home to lions (including the tree-climbing variety), leopards, elephants, water buffalo, warthogs, hippos and smaller animals. What you won’t see in Queen Elizabeth National Park are giraffes, zebras or rhinos. We saw a number of giraffes during our safari in Kenya but in Uganda visitors are more apt to see giraffes at Murchison Falls or at Lake Mburo. Zebras are also found at Lake Mburo and in Kidepo Valley Park, though we did see two rogue zebras on an island in Lake Bunyonyi (more on Lake Bunyonyi to come). The rhino population has sadly been decimated in Uganda. Once home to 700 or so rhinos, there are now 13 in the country and they reside at a rhino sanctuary where they’re

monitored with hopes for future repopulation. For us, hoping to see big cats on this trip and not wanting to make the journey to Murchison Falls for the sake of time, Queen Elizabeth National Park was a great option.

Game drives vary in time but can take from 2 – 4 hours depending on how far afield you go

and if you have specific intentions highlighted during your excursion. We went out with an idea of what we hoped to see in the context of what we knew was possible, but were also flexible. We really just wanted to be out on a drive in nature and see what the world set before us (lions and a leopard were major icing). One common misconception is that you need to be physically fit to go on game drives (we heard this from senior travelers during our trip).

Unless you’re doing a strenuous walking safari, a traditional game drive doesn’t require any level of physical fitness. In fact, my 91-year-old grandmother could successfully enjoy a safari in Uganda. You’re in a car from start to finish so there’s no agility required. The only thing to be aware of is heat and sun exposure and staying hydrated on particularly hot days.

How many days should you allocate? I’ll use our case as an example: we carved out time for

two full days of game drives and ended up only going out for one morning and one afternoon.

After two incredibly successful drives we simply didn’t feel the need to continue with game drives. We would have liked to see an adult male lion, cubs or a tree-climbing lion but we were extremely happy with what we did see and opted to enjoy the serenity of the game lodge for an afternoon. We could have cut a day in Queen Elizabeth National Park and been absolutely fine. That being said, you never know how successful your game drive will be. We could have easily gone on those same two drives and seen no lions and no leopard, in which case we would have wanted an extra day to go out on additional drives to try to see as much as possible. Allocating a couple of days to game drives within a single area is probably safe; not too much time but long enough to go out on a few drives to see different areas of a park.

When we talked to our guide about the average amount of time typically allocated to game drives, he mentioned that most travelers set aside a day in each park destination to explore.

When dealing with conversations like this, my instinct is that if you are lucky enough to carve out any time to do this, you’re lucky! When you’re crafting your itinerary don’t be afraid to ask questions of your guides and/or tour operators beforehand so you’re embarking on an itinerary that best fits your needs.

Please visit www.thewanderlusteffect.com for more pictures from our safari experiences! There are far too many to include in this guide, but we were fortunate to have wonderful close-up encounters during our time in Queen Elizabeth NP.

Journey Into the Kalinzu Forest: Chimp Tracking in Uganda After our first fruitless attempt at chimp tracking in Rwanda, I honestly debated whether or not we should dedicate a morning to chimp tracking in Uganda. We had spent nine hours trekking deep into Rwanda’s Nyungwe Forest with no success but were fairly confident that Uganda would be better to us.

By comparison, Uganda deals with habituated chimp families vs. the unhabituated chimps that we were searching for in Rwanda, which means the gorilla families are far more familiar with human presence. While Kibale is the premier destination for those wanting to go chimp tracking in Uganda (there are many chimps and many habituated families there), the Kalinzu Forest is another popular destination and was our focus since we were based in Queen Elizabeth National Park. From Kasenyi Safari Camp, our drive was about an hour south towards the Kalinzu Forest where we would set out on our final chimp trek in Africa.

It was just us and one other trekker and we headed out with Debbie, a female guide who would lead us through the forest in search for chimps. We had heard from other guests about their magical chimp experience in Uganda, watching a family interact for upwards of 40 minutes while they looked on. I kept that in mind as we set out on our active morning.

From the get go, we were trekking, deep into the Kalinzu Forest through thick vegetation and dense jungle. Unlike our experience gorilla trekking in Rwanda, Debbie wasn’t clearing the path with a machete so we were dodging, ducking and pushing our way through thick branches, damp dirt and leaves. I had mentally anticipated this being easier.

They’re habituated here, they told us. You’ll definitely see chimps, they told us. It’s much easier in Uganda than in Rwanda. As our trek hit the one-hour mark, I was covered in burs and plant particles while trying to ascertain what Debbie was looking for as guidance. We could hear the chimps for a few moments and knew we were in the right vicinity but we still hadn’t spotted them. On we continued up steep terrain, grabbing on to tree branches and strong vines to help pull ourselves up, step by step.

Thick jungle terrain for the duration of our hike in the Kalinzu Forest.

Neither of us said anything, but I could tell both Scott and I were concerned that we were going to meet the same fate as our first chimp tracking experience.

Debbie explained that it’s normally much easier to see chimps but that the rain the night before had affected their behaviors a bit. I was frustrated. I just want to see a chimp, is that so much to ask?! I’ve been trekking for the equivalent of a day, have ants under my shirt crawling around and biting at will, and all I want is to see a chimp’s face, just for a few minutes so this entire day isn’t for not. That’s fair, right?

We continued on, with a total hiking time of about two hours before we spotted a chimp. The tracker had pointed us in the right direction and we finally saw one in a tree for a few moments, enough time for me to capture a photo and see his face with my zoom lens before he quickly scurried away (I couldn’t really see any details without a zoom). We saw another on the ground nearby shortly after. About a half hour later, we came across a mother and baby in a tree, which was a highlight even though they were tough to see. We watched the

mom clean the baby, a tiny chimp that couldn’t have been more than a month old. Despite only getting to see them for a few minutes (a few minutes of scurrying around to glimpse their faces), Debbie did mention that babies are a rarity to see so we were lucky for that brief encounter.

We tried to continue but collectively decided that we were happy with what we’d seen. To be totally honest, it wasn’t what I had expected from the encounter but there’s only so much you have control over where nature’s concerned. One of the realities with any wildlife experience is that there are no guarantees, which we found out first-hand during our chimp tracking on both accounts. While many people talked about how brilliant their experiences were, ours had us questioning whether we could have better used our time doing something else. That being said, I’m sure I’d be singing a different tune if we’d had one of those magical chimp family encounters. The best way to approach any trekking expedition is to go in hoping for the best but managing expectations. If you do have a great encounter, then you can count yourself amongst the lucky ones. If your encounter is less than perfect like ours was, we allowed ourselves to be a bit disappointed but also reminded ourselves of how grateful we were to be there in the first place. Not everyone has the opportunity to even attempt to trek in Africa so to have that ability in the first place is special. Plus, it counts towards your recommended 150 minutes per week of cardio, right?

We had the opportunity to go out for another afternoon adventure but after days of early morning wake up calls and scheduled activities we opted for an afternoon of relaxing at the lodge, unplugged from the internet and the world in a refreshing change of pace. You know what? It was a pretty ideal way to unwind for our final evening in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

If you’re in QENP looking for other activities during your stay, check out the hot air balloon safaris followed by bush breakfast on offer. If I had known more about this in advance, it’s something I may have booked (much to Scott’s chagrin). Also, if you’ve had your fill of successful game drives, you can also head out on a tour of the craters that dot Queen Elizabeth National Park for a unique experience in Western Uganda.

Uganda: Boat Tour of Lake Bunyonyi When we arrived at Lake Bunyonyi, a lake in southwestern Uganda near the border of Rwanda, I was expecting a quiet couple of days to cap off our time in Uganda. Lake Bunyonyi has been described by many who have visited as magical; relaxing; peaceful, and I can understand why. Dotted with a 29 islands – some inhabited, some uninhabited – and home to a Pygmy tribe, it’s undoubtedly a place of wonder and beauty where culture and tradition run thick. Lake Bunyonyi is a volcanic lake, about 25 kilometers long by 7 kilometers wide and is an ideal location in Uganda for an exploratory boat cruise.

Departing from the pier at Birdnest Resort, we headed out on a scheduled boat tour with Nicholas, a young local guide who himself grew up on Lake Bunyonyi and is integrally involved with social development in the area.

The highlights for many visitors are Punishment Island and Bwama Island, a former leper colony, but there are other key islets that have their own unique histories as well. A visit to the Pygmy tribe is on many people’s radar as it was ours. The Pygmy population is a small and declining one, and sadly one of the Pygmies had died the night before our boat tour which meant that the afternoon was set aside for a funeral. During our boat trip, we visited both key islands and what we took away from our tour was more than I could have ever expected.

Punishment Island: A Tiny Island with a Unique History

Punishment Island has an absolutely fascinating history. We had heard stories of Punishment Island from Milton, our guide in Uganda, but Nicholas refreshed our memories

with tales of the island’s somber history. As is still custom today, dowries are paid by men to women’s families in exchange for their hand in marriage. We spoke with our guide about this to learn more about the modern-day practice, and learned that it is very much still an active custom amongst Ugandans including educated city dwellers. The dowry typically takes the form of cows or livestock, and can amount to a pretty hefty sum (for example, a cow can cost several hundred dollars and a dowry of twenty cows or more is not unheard of).

The role of women in East Africa has changed (hugely in some instances) in recent history and while there’s still plenty of room for growth, there’s been a strong movement towards girls education. Through female education and new opportunities for women in the workforce, their value has changed in society. Historically (up to just decades ago), a woman’s financial value to her family essentially was the dowry received. Part of that value was (and perhaps still is) predicated on her virginity. If a woman were to get pregnant before marriage, her value was lost.

This brings me to Punishment Island.

Unmarried pregnant women were taken to Punishment Island. Now, keep in mind that when I heard this story, I thought Punishment Island was a thing of the distant past but this practice was very real until relatively recently. Here women were tied to a tree and abandoned. In some cases, these women perished on the island. In other cases, they would be saved by men – fishermen or boyfriends that impregnated them in the first place. The more we discussed this, the more I began to wonder about the role of boyfriends in this scenario: wouldn’t it behoove a poor man to impregnate his girlfriend before marriage so she could be left at Punishment Island where he could then save her and still marry her without paying a dowry? I mean, it has to have happened.

When we heard the stories of Punishment Island, I had envisioned a large island where a number of women were dropped off and tied to trees. Once we began our boat trip, we heard that Punishment Island was in fact the smallest of all of the islands in Lake Bunyonyi. When Nicholas pointed the island out during our trip, I initially overlooked it because it’s so

tiny. There’s one tree on the little island, presumably the same tree that women were tied to in the past. Certainly a pretty vibrant, if not morbid, history.

Bwama Island, Leper Colony Turned Isle of Education In contrast to tiny Punishment Island is Bwama Island, the largest island in Lake Bunyonyi.

Punishment Island was actually our final stop before heading back to shore. Our first stop, and our most impactful stop, was Bwama Island. If you visit Lake Bunyonyi you will undoubtedly hear the tale of Dr. Leonard Sharp, a Scottish missionary that came to Uganda in the 1920s to spread Christianity. After witnessing the huge impact of leprosy in the region, he ended up doing work within the leper community on Lake Bunyonyi (Sharp Island in Lake Bunyonyi is named in his honor). He established a treatment center on Bwama Island and then a primary school where children of leper parents could study. He facilitated the construction of homes on the island that were used for lepers; a number of these small homes still exist today.

While leprosy is no longer a threat in the region, Dr. Sharp’s goal of assisting disenfranchised communities lives on at Bwama Island. The island is now home to a secondary school, and the former leper homes are now used as dormitories for students. We had the good

fortune of visiting the school and meeting with the Andrew, the Director, and Kenneth, the IT Director, who gave us a comprehensive tour of the facilities so we could get a glimpse into the life of students on Bwama Island.

The school is unique not only in the region, but in the country. The focus is on girl child education, along with science education, and access for vulnerable populations including orphans, a bit of a legacy from the leper orphans that were educated on the island in the past. The school is composed of around 60% girls, one of only two schools in Uganda with a majority female population. As soon as we stepped foot on the school grounds I was inspired.

I focused heavily on HIV/AIDS and access to education in sub-Saharan Africa during graduate school and this was the perfect example of my studies and interests right before me.

We walked the school grounds where talking points are set throughout the property to incite dialogue amongst the students (e.g. ‘have self esteem’, and ‘menstruation is good and it is normal’). Since the school focuses on girl child education, part of their mission is to dialogue about the issues that girls face across Uganda, including the issues that cause girls to drop out of school (yes, the monthly visitor is one of those reasons, as awkward as it is to talk about). In our conversations the director told us that they don’t guide these conversations; they simply allow the children to sit outside and share their thoughts on a topic in a peer-to-peer format.

We visited a couple of classrooms including the science lab where we saw the learning environment for the children. As you may imagine, there are some resource limitations but I was amazed at what this group has been able to do with the resources that they do have. One of the most impactful stops for me? The computer lab.

At the computer lab with Nicholas, Kenneth and Andrew (from left to right)

Above you can see a snapshot of the computer lab, set up with a range of desktop computers for student use. I chatted with Kenneth about the program and he shared that students are taught the full Microsoft suite, including Office, Power Point, Excel, Publisher and Access, plus they’re adding web design in the future.

To be honest, I was shocked to meet an ‘IT Director’ when I stepped foot on the island initially.

How does an island in the middle of a lake in Uganda power a facility for information technology? The answer: solar power. Impressed yet?

I left the island brainstorming how to make impactful contributions in the future; to me, visiting this school inspired many ideas of how individuals and organizations can have a huge impact on a single program. It may just be me, but I think people generally get a bit overwhelmed when trying to give philanthropically. Who do we donate to? Do we know where our money is really going? What kind of impact does it really have? When I see projects like this, it seems to me that in-kind donations that can actually make it to the school grounds can be hugely impactful. There’s a great opportunity in instances like this to donate in a really meaningful way: computers to add to their computer lab; new technology that leaders can learn and sustain to educate the next generation of change agents in Lake Bunyonyi; or science supplies that will help impact children interested in the sciences.

Nicholas grew up on Lake Bunyonyi and began his education here. After graduating, he moved back and taught at the school and created his own way of giving back to the community that raised him. Nicholas is one of the founders of the Kacwamba Orphanage, an NGO focused on serving orphans and disenfranchised populations. I encourage all of you to click on that link and take a peek at the project he’s working on in the Lake Bunyonyi community. Seeing the work done by a young man in a resource poor area is definitely inspiration for me to look at how we are currently contributing and how we can be contributing in impactful ways in the community that we’re in.

If you visit the school, be aware that there will be an opportunity for you to contribute financially. After walking the grounds and seeing the work being done, we felt inclined to leave a donation so bringing some cash may be wise (you can do this in Ugandan shillings or in US dollars). Donations seemed to vary hugely, from $20 – $200+. As a point of reference, educating a child costs roughly 250,000 Ugandan shillings per term, about $75. As you can imagine, financial contributions go far.

Lake Bunyonyi wasn’t what I expected. It was far more, and for anyone interested in projects like this, I think a boat tour of Lake Bunyonyi and a visit to Bwama Island is a must for some serious heart-warming inspiration. It makes me wonder: what can we do to be bettering the world?

For more stories, photos and inspiration on East Africa, please visit www.thewanderlusteffect.com for more! If you have any specific questions on the trip or itinerary, please feel email Shannon Kircher at shannon@thewanderlusteffect.com.