The Rwandan Tourism Board has developed a series of connecting trails that travel all along the East side of Lake Kivu, one of Africa’s great lakes that separates Rwanda from the DRC. All of these different roads, trails, and paths connect to form the Congo Nile Trail. As a celebration of completing our first year of teaching in Rwanda, Anna, Sophie and I decided to walk to Congo Nile Trail from the very north end of the lake in Gisenyi, to the South end of the lake at Kamembe. The walking took us a total of eight days all together. Along the way we learned all about each other from our personal beliefs, our deepest fears, and our biggest dreams.
Day One: Gisenyi to Cymbiri (13 miles)
We woke up early, and after packing up our tent and eating our packed breakfasts we took off toward the trailhead. The morning was beautiful still crisp and clear the sunshine glinting off lake Kivu. We passed the Bralirwa beer factory before arriving at the trailhead .
The road was wide starting off so we walked three span most of the morning. The rain started to fall as we entered a larger village along the path. A mob of children then began following us asking form money and saying “abazungu!” We walked all the way through the village when we realized we were walking out onto a peninsula and we had missed our turn. Then we had to back track through the children and found a lesser-used path toward Cymbiri.
Once outside of the village the children dissipated and soon we were following a beautiful path. Then in a grove of coffee trees we came toward a raging stream with only two logs. Anna tried to go across first by sliding on her butt. Then Sophie crossed by holding onto the opposite log. By the time it got to me the guy on the other side of the bridge took my backpack so I could just follow across. Sophie dropped her water bottle but luckily a kid went and picked it up.
We had a group of children show us the way to Cymbiri. The Cymbiri Base Camp is located at a coffee washing station that is sponsored by an American group. The Camp was right on the lake and there was a nice cabin there that they allowed us to use. We took a quick dip when we got there, set up our tent, and ate some tuna sandwiches for dinner.
Day Two: Cymbiri to Musasa (16 miles)
We walked up the path to the road and started our second day of walking. We stopped in an industrious fishing village along the way for some breakfast. Outside of town there was a small hydropower plant with an overflowing water chute on one side. After that the road wound its way up through a lush forest with lots of waterfalls.
Around noon we passed through Kinunu. Kinunu also has a base camp, but we just passed through. After going through Kinunu the road turned into a trail that followed along the lake. We wound along the shore stopping for snacks and photos. When we went around one point and could see the bank tower in Kibuye on a far shore.
When we finally came across the Musasa Base Camp sign we were a bit confused. We asked around if there was a lodging or a camp nearby. No one seemed to have any idea of what we were talking about. There were some security guards working at the coffee washing station. We asked if we could sleep there, and tried to explain that we had a tent. There was no restaurant available, so one of the workers took us into a small village to buy some fried bread, which we ate with peanut butter and jelly in our tent for dinner.
That night you could see lights floating out on the water as the fishermen went out to the lake. We snuggled in our tent and fell asleep early.
Day Three: Musasa to Bumba (10 miles)
We had to walk for two miles up hill before finally finding a spot in the sector center to get some tea and bread for breakfast. We dipped down into a valley full of rice fields and other produce. Then we walked up and up to Bumba. Exhausted and hot we finally arrived at Sophie’s house around 1pm. After pasta and showers we cuddled up for a Disney movie and a nap.
For dinner that night Sophie had arranged for us to eat at the Bumba community center, the normal Base Camp for people hiking the Congo Nile. It was our first hot meal in days, and we devoured it while sitting around a small bonfire. We chatted about the trail, tourism, and Rwanda in general with the caretaker, who is from Uganda. We slept well that night in a real bed.
Day Four: Bumba to Rubengera (7 miles) Kibuye to Mugonero (10 miles)
We got a late start in the morning, which wasn’t the best because it was our longest day. The hike out of Sophie’s site to Rubengera was pretty easy, mostly down hill. We ran into some of Sophie’s students who had finished their exams and were going home for the holiday vacation.
When we arrived in Rubengera a couple of crazy guys started following us around and almost harassing us. We tried to ignore them but they got really close to Sophie at one point. I was disappointed that after asking people to help no Rwandans tried to help deter them from us. Luckily we weren’t in Rubengera too long before we caught our bus to Kibuye.
In Kibuye we restocked on snacks and had lunch. That was our halfway point of the trip. Then we started on Kibuye to Rusizi path number two. The path number two at this point is under construction and mostly paved road actually. It is quite a different experience than the “off the beaten trail” path number one. We walked for several hours before realizing that we still had a long way to go before reaching our base camp of Mugonero.
At this point, we started looking for people to hitchhike with. Soon after a Chinese man who seemed to be a supervisor pulled over. Anna ran over to the side door to ask for a ride. He said, “Kinyarwanda ni sawa?” (Kinyarwanda is okay?) She said yes. He let us put our bags in the back and then insisted we sit in the front cab of the truck. We were all laughing so hard. Here we were in the middle of Rwanda with a Chinese man not speaking Chinese or English but speaking Kinyarwanda. He didn’t know a lot of Kinyarwanda either, but he gave us a ride for about two miles. We kept asking his name and all we could hear was “Witwa nde” which means what is your name, so we decided his nickname would be Witwande.
We continued walking after Witwande dropped us off at his destination. Then we made our second road friend, Firestone. Well we think that’s his name. He started walking with us and speaking English. He was one of the happiest people we met along the trip. Soph and him really bonded.
As the sun set we finally arrived at the Orphanage La Bonne Esperance at Mugonero where Victor greeted us. Victor is a middle aged Guatemalan man who used to run the orphanage. At the beginning of this year the government of Rwanda shut down all orphanages in the country. The children were placed in extended families, many of which are poor and some who didn’t want the children. The empty orphanage with its beautiful murals and well taken care of grounds was heartbreaking. You could easily tell a lot of love and care was put into the place, and now it wasn’t allow to provide the services it was designed for.
We stayed at a guest room in Victors house. He fed us dinner and shared with us all about his experience in Rwanda and in other international locations. Talking to him really gave us all some food for thought. As we sat eating dinner, I watched the sun setting over the massive lake with lighting flashing in a distant cloud, and listened to Victor whose experiences and years enchanted me.
(For future hikers if you are doing the Congo Nile trail from Kibuye to Mugonero is at least 12 miles. I would recommend staying Day Four in Kibuye and then doing Mugonero a separate day).
Day Five: Mugonero to Karengera (13 miles)
We walked along the paved road for about nine miles before a Red Cross pick-up truck stopped and offered us a ride in the back. We accepted keen for the adventure and tired of walking for hours on a black road. We arrived early then at Jame’s, another volunteer, site. He was still finishing some things at school so the three of us found a bar to have some beers. We talked about the future plans, about finding love, and designed some great romper outfits while waiting for James. James joined us and showed us to his house. There we made some delicious beef fajitas.
Day Six: Karengera to Nyamsheke (10+ miles)
The paved road continued Day Six. After walking about ten miles we stopped for lunch at a strange transit town. We filled our plates with beans, rice, and fries. Then it started pouring rain. Not just a lite drizzle but pouring, so we ran to the nearest mini-bus and caught a ride the rest of the way to Nyamsheke.
When the bus dropped us off at Nyamsheke we all looked around a bit disoriented. There were not many people outside because of the rain. We started walking toward the Catholic Church, where we found a small hotel. The hotelkeeper showed us a nice room but wanted to charge us for having three people in the room, so we were downgraded to a sketchy room with a shared toilet facility. We were tired and happy to be dry though. We spent the evening in the room chatting. They even brought us some cokes and fries to have in the room. We snuggled all three of us in one full size bed.
Day Seven: Nyamsheke to Shangi (~10 miles)
The morning started with a nice cup of tea and bread at a small restaurant. The restaurant workers then explained where we could get a boat to cross the lake to the Peninsula where Shangi is located. Rusty, another Peace Corps Volunteer, was planning on meeting us on the other side. He gave us directions to go north of the telephone tower. Once we arrived at the boat, we agreed to pay extra to go to the place we speculated Rusty was waiting for us at. The boat dropped us off there, but Rusty was nowhere to be seen. We decided we would start walking north along the shore to try and find Rusty. We walked through a raining, lightning, thunderstorm. We all got soaked, but the hike itself was beautiful. It was a nice change after spending the last three days hiking on a paved road.
The sun came out around noon and began to dry us off. We continued to hike north before finally coming to the realization that somehow we had missed Rusty. We called him and told him we would find his house by walking up to the main road. He agreed, obviously tired himself. So we started hiking up into the hills following a happy man with a big bundle of grass on his head. He showed us the main road, and we started in the direction toward Shangi.
As we walked we approached a group of older people holding some kind of meeting along the road. They saw us and immediately started clapping and singing a song. They dragged us in for a dance. We danced along and clapped with them. It was a moment of joy and sharing. As the song finished we continued walking thanking them, as we walked away.
A schoolteacher saw us walking and offered to help us. He explained that Shangi was a long walk still and it was already late in the afternoon. Graciously he called several motorcycle taxis for us. As the warm glow of the afternoon consumed us we rode off on the motorcycles watching as the sun sparkled off the lake.
We met Rusty at his house and had some tea. Then we walked to another volunteer, Sarah’s, house where we slept that night.
Day Eight: Shangi to Kamembe (14 miles)
Our final day of walking and the three of us felt closer than ever. We sang our trail songs and laughed at all of our inside jokes as we began our final stretch. Rusty joined us after a while on his bicycle as we hike up to Mario’s site. We passed more rice fields and chatted with some Mama’s.
We had lunch of delicious veggie sandwiches with toasted bread provided by Mario. Then the two of them joined us for the last four miles into town. We took photos overlooking the city of Kamembe, the most southern city on Lake Kivu. We bought some fabric for all of us to make matching romper outfits at the market. Then we drank our celebratory beers. Finally, the last of our energies left our bodies, and our muscles started to feel sore. We were happy to take the motorcycles back to Mario’s site at the end of the evening.
Eight Days. 100 miles. 3 girls. Countless memories.