Volcanoes National Park – the search for “gold”

Thus began our trip through Rwanda, which was short in time but long in distance, on 23.12.2020. We spent the night in a guesthouse in the middle of the grounds of St. Etienne Church in Kigali. Bibles and other relics were discreetly distributed everywhere – a miracle that we could even set foot over the threshold without crumbling to dust.

We were picked up by our guide Ronald shortly after half past four in the morning with a slight delay. Our first destination for this day was the Volcanoes National Park, where several primate species live. Among others the “Golden Monkeys”, on whose trail we went directly after arrival, temperature measurement, registration, a quick coffee and a short briefing. This time we were even equipped with walking sticks made of eucalyptus wood. Compared to our last tours, this hike was actually a rather easy hike. So we could see the locals harvesting and had beautiful views of the volcanoes. After about 30min we already spotted a large group of the monkeys that wanted to make it even easier for us today – they had decided to leave the park a bit to plunder the adjacent potato fields. While the rangers told us a lot about the land and nature, we were directly used as auxiliary rangers and formed a human chain to shield the fields from the monkeys. At the end of each day, the farmer whose fields have been plundered can claim compensation from the national park.

Again, our visit time with the monkeys was limited to 1 hour. Shortly before starting the way back, whoever wanted could still enter the park and a dense bamboo forest behind it with the rangers through an adventurous, about 40cm wide, winding path. Andreas did not miss this opportunity and climbed through this gap. Fortunately with waterproof hiking boots. In the gap the water was above ankle height and in the forest itself it was no better. With every step one sank with the shoes and stuck in the mud.

Then it was back to the car to start the journey to the next stop in Rwanda – Lake Kivu, right on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. But on the way to the lake, another Covid test for the exit from Rwanda was on the agenda. This test or the whole thing around it cost again a lot of nerves. We could only pay cash, but we had no cash, because we had to go directly from the plane into quarantine. So we spent 2 hours trying to find a working ATM (the 5th one finally worked) only to deposit some of the withdrawn cash 10m away at the bank, where we received a piece of paper as a deposit slip, which we had to show at the hospital to be tested (we’ll spare further details here). While Mel bought a SIM card (which was not so easy as a foreigner – Ronald thankfully provided his ID card), Andreas had a little chat with a very nice security of the bank. Again, heavily armed men and women stood in front of every bank and liquor store to provide security. Finally, after another 6 hours of driving, we arrived at the Emeraude Kivu Resort on Lake Kivu.