After a very good breakfast, Ronald picked us up from the resort – he slept outside himself – and we started our 7-hour drive to Kigali to the airport. The drive was quite pleasant, went without any major problems and was only interrupted by a lunch break.

During the ride we noticed how many bicyclists were on the road in Rwanda. In Uganda, the motorcycle was the number 1 means of transportation – here in Rwanda we also saw many motorcyclists, but already during the last days we clearly noticed that there were more bicycles on the roads. And on the bikes everything was transported: People, logs, steel bars, cement bags and so on. It also seemed to be very popular to cling by hand to a truck ahead and be pulled for miles. A little tired of life, but ok. The day before we had seen a truck sliding down a steep slope. Closely followed by a 7-ton truck that had lost its entire front axle 50m down the road and crashed into the rock face. Also we noticed on the way to the airport the strong military patrols to provide here in the border area for security. This matched the statement of a Belgian with whom we had talked briefly when checking out at Hotel Hell – he has already lived in Rwanda for 7 years and said that this is one of the safest countries in the world.

From Kigali we took the plane to Nairobi, Kenya. Again with the already known “quality” of Rwanda Air. Mel’s attempt to smuggle 2 nail scissors in the hand luggage on board did not work this time – the scissors were rigorously confiscated. In Nairobi we were supposed to be picked up by our car rental company. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be seen of him far and wide. A cab driver jumped in immediately and wanted to take us to our hotel for cash. He only said: this is Kenya and it is Christmas – our driver has forgotten us and is already drunk in bed. Some phone calls didn’t bring anything either – we had got a wrong number. After about an hour of tough waiting, everything cleared up – we found out the correct number online and reached the car rental company – he had been expecting us at the wrong terminal. The cab driver turned out to be a helper, because he phoned around for us free of charge and smilingly said that sometimes patience does pay off. After a short drive we reached our hotel in the city center – it should be sufficient for just a short sleep.

We wish all friends, relatives and acquaintances a happy new year for all of us. You all feel warmly hugged.