Rik: Kenya, Uganda & Rwanda part 1

Jambo and happy new year

Kenya part 1: Moyale to Nairobi via Uganda and Rwanda

Our first week in Kenya is done and we visited Nairobi for the first time we will be going back here after the gorilla loop and once more after that when we visited the Maasai Mara.

After a western border crossing, compared to Sudan and Ethiopia that is, we arrived in our campsite in Moyale. From there we went to Samburu village, where we set camp in the village amount the wooden and tin shets. The people were really nice and very different than to what we've seen so far. They looked more tribal and African.

In the Samburu national park we went on our first safari, and for a few of us this was the first one ever. It was an amazing one that will be hard to beat. We saw on our first safari elephants, lions, zebras, giraffes, oryxes, impalas, gazelle and a leopard. Amazingly we were be able to get within a few meters of all the animals, so close that we could hear a leopard eating and it snapping the skull of a monitar lizzard. We were very lucky to see all this on our first safari.

After the Samburu we spend our days slowly making towards Nairobi for new year. For Christmas we stayed in Nakamuru just a few hours above Nairobi. In Nakamuru we saw our first western supermarket since months. And it being Christmas we all went crazy. Lots of booze, new clothing, ice cream and lots more. It was a real treat to be in a western styled supermarket for a chance.

After stocking up we went to Nanyuki where we encountered our first heavy thunderstorm since our storm in Egypt. The water was pouring down and people who spent there Christmas afternoon in our campsite were waiting to get home.

Near Nankuru we did our second safari around the lake in search for the black and white rhinos. And were able to see the white rhino and a hyena feeding on a corpse. Definitely the highlight for the safari and good photo opportunities.

Near lake Navashia we went on a walk among the zebras and giraffes. Which was a nice experience, mainly because you could hear the animals when they ran away. Especially the thundering sound of the buffalo.

And then it was our first stop in Nairobi and I could finally buy myself a new camera and give Stuart his backup camera back. Nairobi would also be a relax day where we could sober up from the New Year's Eve the night before. And because all the museums were closed :-)

We behaved ourselves more our less, no people were hurt in the process. Only some animals like the warthog and wildebeest were being ridden and a warthog ended up at Maddy's tent as a go away present.

After meeting our new fellow travelers (Sara and Andrew) (Sarah and Theresa) we said goodbye to Maddy and Veerle. And on we went to lake Nakuru again.

The following day we did the same safari as we did a few days ago before and all animals were more or less in the same spot as they were then. They moved the rhinos to another spot and added a black rhino but for the rest everything was the same. This was kind of funny to see and we joked that we got back to soon for the rangers to move the animals.

After Nakuru we travelled on a few long drive days through Uganda towards Rwanda where we would see the mountain gorillas.
We had a small stopover at lake Bunyonyi in Uganda where Lotte and myself got on our first canoe ride around the lake. Uganda notorious for it's strict anti gay regime would probably be not the best setting for the birthday party we had in the evening. There was a lot of 70 disco music, male dancing and a butterfly suit, need I say more. The locals behind the bar of our campground looked astonished at our group that's for sure.

After a few hour driving and a quick border-crossing we were in Kigali, Rwanda. This is where more than 20 years ago the terrible genocide against the Tutis took place and 1.000.000 were slaughtered. We went to the Rwanda Genocide Memorial, where we spent a few hour reading, listening and viewing the cruel things that happened in 1994.
It started years before 1994 already that the mayor tribes the Huti and Tuti fought for there independence from the Germans and Belgians. Eventually they gained it but the situation was still unstable because not all tribes were equal, and things stayed tense between the tribes. Negotiating was planned between the president and his opposers but on his flight to Kigali the airplane holding the key members for the negotiation was shot.

This was the first warning that things were going to happen, as was also predicted and told to a UN general. Which in his turn told the chiefs of the UN but was told to hold thight until he got the heads up from HQ. So the UN stationed in Rwanda were tied to a mandate and were not able to do anything. After the militia killed 10 Belgian UN soldiers Belgium decided to retreat all Belgium forces, as predicted by the head of the militia. This was the cue for the militia to block all roads from Kigali for all Tutis and start the massacre.

The militia were trained already in 1990 to kill 1000 people every 20 minutes. And killing almost day and night the were able to do great harm among the Tutis and some Hutis. The militia consisted of Hutis who were trained in killing from 1990 and the ordinary Hutu people who became blind in rage. In this it happened that kids saw their siblings being murdered by their neighbors, mothers and sisters being raped, tortured and murdered by friends. And a father or brother who tried to protect them was brutally slaughtered after seeing this all happening before there eyes.

The museum tells the stories of the survivors and what they witnessed during those hours. And the disbelieve that friends were able to do this to them. In one section some kids there final hours were displayed, from what there favorite food or game was to there last words or sights and finally the brutally way of being murdered.

After months the UN finally was able to come to action but it was to late because the Rwandese were able to fight the militia and defeat them. In the end of it all if at the first warning action was taken by the UN with the forces already in Rwanda they were able to stop the genocide. Instead the UN troops had to hold on their mandate and watched how a million people got slaughtered. Too much to late was one of the sentences I remember from the museum and true that is.

This visit was for all of us a hard impact and we were all quite for a while. And some of us realized that even though governments say never again, especially the western countries, it happening again in Syria with the IS. Where millions get killed and the country is almost left to fend for themselves while the whole world watches, again.

After Kigali we got to the Volcanoes National Park where we got to see the gorillas. More of this in my next dairy.