Strange Daze Indeed
So I leave a little hideout on the north point of Zanzibar called Ras Nungwi Beach Hotel and fly to Nairobi. I was disappointed about leaving paradise and the chance to swim with more dolphins, but the most anticipated days of the Africa adventure are coming up in Rwanda and Uganda visiting with the highland gorillas so the disappointment wasn’t too long-lasting. I fly Precision Air which is a subsidiary of Kenya Airways. My bag doesn’t arrive in Nairobi. “Please call Zanzibar and just confirm that it is on the delayed flight” which went from earlier than my flight to much later, I requested. “Person that can call is not here”, they reply. “You’ll deliver it to my hotel when it arrives?”, I ask yet assume to be true. “Security risks prevent that”, the reply. “We will call you this evening and here are three numbers you can reach us” including their mobile. “And you WILL deliver it first thing in the morning – I fly to Kigali leaving the hotel at 7 AM and then I go into the Rwanda mountains on safari Tuesday AM.” “We will call.” I tried to forget the enormity and timing of my lost backpack. I had to cancel my dinner at Carnivore because I hakuna matata’d (no problemo) it by flying in flip-flops, shorts and t-shirt. It’s just a 75 minute flight. As the night went on all I could think about was that Zanzibar Airport is chaos with lacking security and one can imagine many opportunities for a stolen bag once you start dwelling on it. At 9:30 PM, no call has come through meaning to me that it did not make the following flight. I call mobile… mailbox full! No answer at other two numbers. Of course! So by time I realize that I have no anti-malarial pills, clothes, chargers, extra memory and batteries for cameras, there is no sleep to be had. I will have time in Kigali on Monday, but I was just told that Kigali is about 20 years behind Kampala and I know Kampala would be an absolute struggle to recover the must-haves like clothes, shoes and anti-malarial. Plus they speak French and Kinyarwandan. I of course fall asleep around 5 AM only to have the hotel forget the wakeup at 6 AM. Since I have no clothes, toiletries or other stuff, waking at 6:20 is OK. Right as I am walking out the door, the phone rings. “We have found your bag and it will be at your hotel in 20 minutes.” “It came in last night and you forgot to call”, I testily replied even though I was totally elated to get this call. No reply…
In the airport I bought “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda” by Philip Gourevitch. The American I met in Zanzibar who was able to compare Kigali and Kampala recommended this book. So I am reading about the horror as I fly to it albeit twelve years later. I’m tired. I’m concerned. I’m flying over the most densely-populated country in Africa. STOP! “Most densely-populated”… Tell me the image in your mind right now isn’t one of shanty-towns, tent cities and/or high-rises. Wrong! The landscape over eastern Rwanda (and I believe is representative of most of the country) is hilly with almost the whole thing covered with small terraced farms. Red clay roads wind around. It isn’t that it is anywhere near as dense as LA Basin or other US cities, it’s just that almost every acre in the country is being used. Most of Africa that I have seen is like America – huge wide open I see very few wild areas although the country has some excellent small national parks. I am on my own for 24 hours in Kigali and I am hoping I can get money easily and get a taxi. We land on the runway, go past the small facility and then make a u-turn and drive up the runway we just used. I have never seen that. Beats Chicago or Atlanta.
Although I believe my schedule says “on your own” a company is there to pick me up. They take me to a bank and the hotel. I’m with an intelligent Rwandan whose family left for Burundi in 1959 when the kings were ousted. He would be thought of as a Tutsi although his father is Hutu. (we’ll talk a bit more about this after I finish the book and visit the genocide memorial and maybe some other sites outside of Kigali) The country is doing very well now with everyone being a Rwandan rather than “tutsi” (minority that was slaughtered) and “hutu”. I am encouraged. Things are looking up. The city is smaller than Kampala and it does have a feel like it is 20 years behind. The African French is nice on the ear, but it is foreign! Many people speak English and that means they probably know four languages – Kinyarwanda, French, Swahili and English. The bank was a joke. I had to wait in one line to get totally raked over the coals using my ATM (not automatic, though!) card to get Rwanda Francs. They convert to Euros and then US$. Plus a big fee. After twenty minutes of electronic communication issues and a ream of paper and ink from a pen, I took a receipt to another teller. More minutes and voila I get my moola.
The Hotel de Mille Collines is “Hotel Rwanda” and the place I am staying. Great room, good food and it seems pretty decent with a African twist on the service. All friendly, though. I noticed from the air that the country has a lot fewer motor vehicles on the roads than Uganda. I see the same in Kigali as compared to Kampala. Much less crazed here. Everyone seems very polite in a French way. And I have seen no one carrying a machete yet! Actually, I will see someone because it is a normal sight in Africa around the farms – a bit disconcerting at first, but as soon as you get past the image of the man walking towards you with a lethal weapon, you get a little used to it. Lights… lots of stop lights. More by tenfold than in Dar, Arusha, Nairobi and Kampala combined! NONE OF THEM WORKING!!!! Lots of street lights, too. I see most of them if not all have the bottom plate missing and it appears all of the copper wiring is missing. Of course! I wonder which western government or group funded both advancements. I once again picture a great photo op when they were both turned on. Lots of patting on the back between politicians and muckety-mucks.
Speaking of corruption!!! I got to see my first live act today back in Nairobi. We get pulled over at one of the police stops near the airport. The cop goes to my side and we exhcange pleasantries. He goes to the driver side and the driver hands him his license and there was definitely something paper passed through both of their hands and into his pocket with beautiful precision. The taxi driver told me that the new government is accounting for 600 billion Kenyan Shilling per year in income yet they are doing that with no new taxes three years after the previous long-lived government had reported 120 billion. Even at 70 per US$, that’s a lot of corruption. I asked what getting pulled over (just a backwards lottery) cost and he swerved the subject towards “I have all the licenses now and a few years ago I had none and had to pay a lot to the police in bribes.” So, less corruption, but not yet eradicated in Kenya. All the police do look mighty sharp…
So I sit here this evening very excited about my next week. It’s weird to be in Rwanda, but things seem OK here. The country has made peace, has not pretended it didn’t happen and the worst perpetrators are on trial or have been indicted and are hiding in countries like DRC. Speaking of DRC, I will be on the border this week and a new friend, Alex Fiorillo, has provided through example enough gumption for me to go over the border to Goma. I’ll see what the situation is like when I get to Lake Kivu. I’ll have an even crazier, but probably less-likely opportunity in August to go to Kinshasa by crossing the old “Stanley Pool” portion of the Congo River from Brazzaville. Their vote took place today so let’s see how it pans out…
Tags: Travel
vagabondrick
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