Day 9 - Sunday 29th June

A fairly early wake up this morning, as we had to organise breakfast and a packed lunch for the day ahead.

After a week and half, 3 full meals a day is just becoming a bit much, so I stick to corn flakes and wrap up some rice cakes and a banana for lunch (I just cannot face another sandwich).

An hour outside of Kabale, and we reach the border post. We complete our paperwork and stamp out of Uganda, walk 800 meters and stamp ourselves into Rwanda! Security check the truck, and we are told to conceal all plastic bags prior, as they are illegal in Rwanda. The process was pretty seamless, although one of the girls had to go back to the immigration office as they date stamped her Visa for yesterday's date.

To our surprise, Rwanda is much more developed than Uganda. It has brand new roads, and the infrastructure seems a lot more westernized, or at the risk of generalizing, less poverty stricken. It's actually believed to have the best economy in Eastern Africa, making it one of the most desired places to live by fellow Africans.

A few minor changes also, we of course now have yet another money exchange, as we change to Rwandan Francs, but we also set our watches back an hour, and are now driving on the right hand side of the road (in a right hand drive truck).

After a brief but informative Rwandan History lesson from Jakob, we reach the capital city of Kigali, which is fairly westernized and very clean.

We arrive at the Kigali Genocide Memorial just in time for opening. The Memorial is split into 2 exhibitions, one inside and one outside in the gardens - with one of the Mass Graves located here, holding up to a quarter of a million bodies, found in Kigali itself. The Audio Guide walked you through the history of the 2 tribes, Hutus and Tootsies, and how past events and European colonization played a large factor in developing the divide. A large part focused on the excessive and raw brutality used by the Hutus in their unfortunate success for mass extermination, and there were some pretty alarming and confronting images and footage. I didn't really head into the Memorial with any expectations, but it was well done, and I certainly learned a lot more about the propaganda previous to April 1994, which I was unaware of.

Rwanda is known as 'The Land Of Many Hills', which is exactly how I would describe our outlook, as we drive about 80kms from Kigali towards Ruhengeri, along a drive similar to the winding of the Great Ocean Road (minus said ocean).

After a dizzy 2hrs on the edge of the mountains, we arrive in Ruhengeri, a township at the base of the Parc National Des Volcans (Volcanoes National Park). We are staying at a Catholic Missionary for 2 nights, and Jade and I have decided to pay US$30 each and get a private room opposed to a 16 person dorm (no thanks).

We had a group meeting this afternoon and found out who is trekking tomorrow .... Jade and I are first cab off the rank to see the Gorillas!!!

Most of us went into the Ruhengeri township just to go for a wander and to find an atm. We got so many stares, you would think they never have tourists around here!

Early night now - big day tomorrow, very excited.