boat trip on Lake Kivu

Mat and I stayed Friday night at La Bella.  Paradis Malahide, near Gisenyi, was full but that might have been a result of misinformation by a disgruntled former employee.  We had some delicious grilled tilapia from Lake Kivu.

Morning in La Bella

Mat, Tom and Patty on the boat

My good friend Tom, who runs Rwandan Cycle Adventures, arranged a boat trip skirting the shores of Lake Kivu to visit some land he has recently bought.  Over time, Tom plans to build a house and maybe accommodation for guests.  He's does a great job working with the locals to build truly sustainable tourism that is routed in the local culture.  Tom starts his employees out with a low base salary that quickly increases for hard work.  He pays health insurance for all employees and their families.  Tom has been in Africa since the 1990s and speaks Kinyarwanda.  His business is mostly about cycling but he is branching out to create package adventures that include cycling, gorilla trips, cultural visits and so on.  Emmy and Tom are partners for a big 2 week cycle tour with 10 clients coming up in February.

Traditional fishing boats, Lake Kivu

The fishermen head out at night in their wooden boats to fish.  They sing on the way out and when coming back in the next morning.  It is beautiful to hear their song carrying over the water.

We stopped at a local thermal pool being enjoyed by semi-naked children, a man washing his motor cycle and a 94 year old man sweeping up fallen twigs.  Old but incredibly strong!

Emmy makes friends with children everywhere

Enjoying the warm water

Tom told us that the natural thermal pools will soon be taken over by a five star hotel with a luxury spa.  It seems so sad for the local people who have enjoyed that quiet spot for years...

Tom is very keen on birds and had is birding guide and binoculars for the boat trip.  He kept excitedly pointing out birds.  "That's a red breasted golden spectacled worm eater, known in Kinyarwanda as [insert something semi-unpronounceable here].  We did see some very beautiful and colourful birds.

Tom, the proud owner, shows his new land

View from Tom's land

Unripe passion fruit.  Tom also has mangos, papaya, coffee, tomatoes, avocados...

Traditional fishing boats as seen from Tom's land

our friend Emmy

Most of the way back from Tom's land it was pouring rain, so we got pretty wet.

View of Lake Kivu from Tom's current house

We  travelled back to Kigali with  Emmy.  Sadly my stomach took a turn for the worse and I have  some GI troubles.  Today is a day of R and R at the Serena and preparing for our busy week.