Rwanda 2025, Week One
Another Biking Birder adventure, number eight . . .
VIII.
Aim is to support PLANET BIRDSONG, wonderful charity
that engages young Rwandan people in the fascinating science of birdsong.
Also to support ACORNS CHILDREN’S HOSPICE in the West
Midlands, United Kingdom, I am once more dedicating my Biking Birder VIII adventure to my
little brother Chris who so sadly died fifty years ago, October 31st.
There are links on the right hand side of this page, right underneath the amazing Patch Adams, for you please to give a donation to these two vital charities.
or maybe you prefer here so . . .
Thanks to everybody who gives a donation.
Every donation makes a difference. Thanks.
Tuesday 28th November
Arriving in Kigali at 7:00am, and after being kept at
Visa/Passport Control for some time because I didn’t have Mugisha’s phone
number. Mugisha is the CEO of an exemplary Wildlife Tour company that gives
visitors amazing wildlife encounter opportunities, including seeing Gorillas,
whilst engaging in community projects.
Check out Wildlife Tours – Rwanda via their website.
The videos and texts on their website are both fascinating and inspiring. A
superb wildlife tour company.
I had had no chance for a wash and shave. I had very little
sleep on the plane from Heathrow; my head rest on the screen on the seat in
front of me, whilst propped up on my hands.
The TV company crew were waiting for us as Mugisha drove up
onto the office’s courtyard!
Bike box found, safely stored in Mugisha’s office having arrived
over two weeks ago, I removed the bike and started to reassemble it. The TV
crew filmed me as I did so and then interviewed Mugisha.
Into the offices to meet the staff and for a conversation
over itinerary, aims and general questions.
The staff were fantastically friendly . . . thanks Kamikaze,
Stella, Jeremy, Jame and Ferdinan! . . . something I would get see from nearly
every Rwandan met, whether that be on the streets whilst walking safely around
all parts of Kigali, or when cycling along the intensely busy streets and
roads, or when at nature reserves and in villages. Rwandan people are the most
friendly, conversational, quick to smile and laugh people I have ever met!
Mugisha couldn’t have been more helpful. SIM card for
Rwanda, sorted. Cash from ATM, sported. Meal, a superb fish, chips, rice and
some sort of sauce, sorted.
We had driven to do these essentials into the heart of
Kigali, even driving past the famous Rwanda Hotel . . .
The roads were busy but wide and very well kept with
immaculate tarmac – NO POTHOLES. Hundreds of motorcycle taxis, masses of them. Cars
as well, of course and all seemed to be new.
In the road where we first parked up, at a small bank, there
were dozens of Rwandans who bustled amongst the cars and motorbikes.
Horrific to see but in a way so inspiring, a young woman walking,
well getting around speedily and with amazing skill, on her all fours. A
beautiful young woman with such a disability but with the will or the need to
conquer the obstacles. No one took any notice of her.
To a modern looking shopping mall for the meal, I wanted to
do some shopping myself but was aware that Mugisha would have other business
commitments. What a wonderful man to give his time to an almost complete
stranger. Thanks, Mugisha.
An apartment above the offices of WILDLIFE TOURS – RWANDA was
to be tonight’s accommodation for me, a superb large apartment with two
double-bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom and large lounge. Cost for the night was
60,000 Rwandan Francs. Might sound a lot, it converts to $40, around £34.
Brilliant.
Unpacking my two huge suitcases, both had carried around twenty-three
kilograms of stuff, and my eight kilogram rucksack, whilst adding it all to the
dozens of cuddly toys that had protected my bike when on transit in the bike
box, I eventually got down the steep hill down a narrow ginnel, to an area of
tall bamboo beside a reed-filled stream.
A team of yellow Hi-Viz jacketed workers were smashing rocks
and creating a pathway. Most of them were young women who worked with laughter,
especially when they gestured to me as I sat on a rock watching a pair of the
exquisite White-browed Robin Chats displaying to each other.
“Take our photograph,” the gestures suggested. I gestured
back No. I don’t photograph people but they seemed to insist and got together
in a group.
I lifted my camera and immediately it was like the Monty
Python sketch, the Olympic two hundred metre dash for people with no sense of
direction.
The ladies scattered, well, all except for one who stood and
smiled.
Into the bamboo and birds were everywhere . . .
Back to the apartment, eBird checklist to start my Rwandan adventure, Three Lifers!
https://ebird.org/checklist/S281842102
Rwanda is going to be the fabulous adventure.
Thanks Mugisha!
Tickle My Feathers
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