Climbing Bisoke Volcano After a weekend in the Serena hotel in Gisenyi, enjoying the morning sun above lake Kivu; my holiday journey through Rwanda was starting. I had invited my mom to come along on this trip. The first day I had planned to climb the Bisoke volcano while mom would be boarding her plane to Kigali. At 5 AM I head out for National Volcanoes Parc. The view of the 5 volcanoes is magnificent. I have never experienced such beauty in Africa. We arrive at the volcanoes national Parc and Western tourists are swarming the place. All of them were planning to do the Gorilla Trekking, I was the only one planned to climb the Bisoke Volcano today. I receive a park guide, who was rather obese and we were going to climb Bisoke together. I was told that climbing Bisoke would take about 7 hours. The park guide looks at me and told me that the trek would depend on my speed. He was basically insinuating that I would take forever. I thought to myself; ‘please go ahead underestimate me’… We’ll see who will lag behind. The game was on for me. My competitive spirit always troubles me. I receive 5 military men, 1 porter and the park guide. The military comes along as in the volcano rainforest, there are wild animals. Buffalo’s, gorillas, etc.., according to the park guide also elephants. I didn’t believe this. The trails are tiny, close to impossible I can not imagine for an elephant to climb so steep towards the volcano top. I later checked with and indeed there are elephants up there… So we began the hike, my porter was named Augustin and had chosen to accompany me. Porters stand in line near the volcanoes and then they choose which tourist they’d like to accompany. Augustin fluent in French and an amazing smile was my porter man. He must have been in his fifties but the man was strong as steel. I followed the pace of the military men which was incredibly fast but I wasn’t going to give up. We had lost our park guide due to our high speed hiking. We waited for him at the first peak. He tells me that he has allergies caused by the rain season. Bullsh*t I thought; you can’t keep the pace. The joke is on you now. He told me that because of his allergies, he will climb alone and I was now part of the military team together with my porter. Ohhhh goshhhh, what did I get myself into? The pace went faster and faster because the military said a storm was coming. It started to rain and the trail became muddy and almost impossible. The porter began to help me, drag me up and I started seeing stars. I had eaten a lot in the morning and all of a sudden I was hungry. My stomach was growling. The blackouts became more frequent but my body supported by the porter continued the pace. I grabbed my packed lunch by Inzu Lodge and ate 2 bananas. This wasn’t enough, I needed a quick boost of energy. The porter told me while holding my hand firmly that we were 30 minutes away from the volcano top. My lips were blue, I was freezing. I couldn’t believe Africa would be this cold! The last 30 minutes climbing the mountain felt like hours, I wasn’t going to make it. I was too courageous and now I was going to embarrass the military by fainting. Luckily, I had an orange. I bit with my teeth the orange in two and started sucking on it, till nothing was left. Slowly I felt better. 10 minutes the porter said, only 10. At this point I wasn’t sure whether this was a tactic or it was the truth. Augustin, the old porter throws his arms around me lifts up my upper body. I close my eyes and let him lift me; we have finally arrived on the volcano top. I, we made it!!! I look into the crater lake of the volcano but I can’t see anything. The mist is impossible, the same setting as Gorilla in the mist by Diane Fossey. This was beautiful! While climbing up the mountain, I saw the beauty of the rainforest, the faeces of wild animals without seeing the animals. While walking up the volcano, many feelings went through my body. Love, hate, pain, persistence, gratefulness … You name it; but one thing went through my head again. This place was blessed; it’s unbelievable. I quickly search in my bag for another sweater in order to put it on, I had to remove some other layers. There I was -5 degrees in a t-shirt. I was shaking, my fingers frozen trying to put on these clothes. I unwrapped my chicken sandwich and ate quickly like an animal. I needed energy fast to make it back down again. I show my hands to the porter, he said my god and he gave me his 2 pair of gloves. We needed to get out of there. My body temperate was dropping too fast. Who do we see? The park guide! He had made it up the volcano. He tells me now it is too cold we have to go. The running down the volcano starts. I slip, slide, fall at least fifty times. My legs were like spaghetti and the heavy rain flooded the trails. I was surprised to notice that my Timberland boots were impeccably waterproof. Nice buy Francine, nice buy :) Augustin supported me. Many times I thought I was sleep walking or dreaming because I have no idea how I descended through the second peak. The speed was just too fast. I didn’t want to rest or drink anymore. All I could think of was reaching down and seeing my mom. She was now flying. The faster I would be down, the faster I could leave for Kigali. Half way we stop and the park guide tells me no stopping because the sun is shining so the thunder will come. What? I know rain season, again he was just making up things. He wanted to go home. I check my packed lunch again and there are fresh carrots in it. Little did I know that these were going to be life saviours. I felt better, I began chewing on the carrots while running down. The second part was dryer. The heavy rains were on the highest peak. I could do this. I want to arrive before 2 PM. The carrots distracted me from my exhaustion and I just rolled down. The second descent was long, I didn’t remember it being so long when walking up but the carrots had me on a roll. At exactly 2pm I had made it back. This fast? This is not possible. Yes it is! The park guide tells me I am a great hiker. Aha, you shall never underestimate anyone but my competitiveness had killed me. I still had a 4,5 hour drive to Kigali after this. I was hungry and stopped to eat at Diane Fossey favourite place Muhabara Hotel. My body was shaking and I suffered a severe headache. Silly me I can’t lose. Later the park guide was reported for not staying with me and letting the military take the responsibility. The military is for safety but not for guiding me on the volcano. Off to Kigali to see my mom.

I am so happy I don’t have to work this weekend. Numerien told me to rest as we have a big week ahead. I said sure with a big wink. My ecotourism guide arrived at the hotel this morning with the mountain bikes as promised. I had negotiated in my touring package that I would get the Nile Congo Trail ride for free. Today was the day! It was a bit chilly outside but as soon as we hit those hills I had the feeling it was 40 degrees outside. Those steep hills are tough, never ending and a real killer. The guide asked me if I was in shape. I told him that I was a Belgian Rowing Champion with the juniors and had a track & cross country scholarship NCAA div 1 in the USA but I hadn’t worked out in about 10 years. I didn’t want to bring shame on myself so I told him not to go easy on me. Why oh why am I so competitive ? The guide has completed the 91km Congo Nile Trail over 200 times in 1 day and has seen 5 tourist finish it in 2 days. This trail is no joke! I understood online that I would be riding next to the Nile Congo river but that is not true. It is called Nile Congo because the river at the end of Lake Kivu ends in Victoria lake in Congo. The mountains in Rwanda on Congo border are called Congo Crescent and the other side it mouths somehow in the Nile but there is no such thing as the actual Congo Nile river. The information online is incorrect. The Congo Nile Trail takes you to Kibuye. I had half a bottle of water with me and drank little by little because I saw there were no stores in this mountain area. People have to walk miles to the town. Half way I asked the guide why he wasn’t drinking. He said he forgot his bottle. Oh nooo ! I decided to take one for the team and gave him the rest of all my water. Now we were half way both without water. This was going to be one hell of a ride. The thought crossed my mind many times to drink from the well or from the Lake. Lake Kivu looks like an ocean and many new hotels are under construction. The hilly dirt roads are so steep that if you don’t watch and ride over a rock, the entire bike flips backwards. Going downhill isn’t a joke either you have to keep your eyes closely on the road and make sure you aren’t going to fast. On this trail you barely get a break. At one point we had gone up a few steep hills but were send down because there was a marine training. The special trainings aren’t allowed to be seen; which makes sense. On the trail we passed by an old German man who had been walking next to his bike for three days already. He asked me where I was going. I said nowhere just relaxing on the trail. He said relaxing ? You are drenched in sweat that’s not relaxing! I said I just passed some steep hills. He said oh the worst part is coming now. I got scared! Out of breath I stopped at a water well to rinse my arms and legs. My entire body was itching, red bumps everywhere. I think the repellent was giving me an allergic reaction. The silver lining was that I got to pump from a local well, which was very entertaining. The children chanted muzungu and screamed good morning all the time. Besides trying to focus on the road, I had to constantly give hi5 and yell hello or good morning back. Sometimes children would scream but they were hidden in the banana bushes so I wouldn’t even know where the noise was coming from. Occasionally goats ran on the road and the guide kept on saying look brochettes. So the brochettes I have been eating is goat meat? I didn’t know. The taste is very good though. I saw children swimming in Lake Kivu and decided to jump in with my clothes on. I was already wet from sweat anyway. It was so much fun. The water was clean and I thought the children how to float. I swam for a good hour trying not to think about the way back on the trail. The kids were joyful and some of them spoke English very well. One of the kids, named Eric wanted to become a professional swimmer. He swims in Lake Kivu about 5 hours a day. I hope he will become an Olympian one day.

Around 15:00 I was hungry but I was scared to eat. If I ate heavy I would not be able to reach back to the hotel. So we stopped at Inzu lounge. I had read about it online but decided not to stay there as you can only sleep in tents. When we got there I realised it is actually a beautiful place and this is where all the foreigners stay. The area on the shores of Lake Kivu is the muzungu zone. I have been wondering were the tourists were. They had yoga and a lot of alcohol was being consumed my mostly women only. I bet in the night there is a lot of noise of drunk women. It reminded me of a scene of the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love women in search for themselves but the place is nice. The food is great and the service is excellent. The Canadian owner is a darling as well. We are now almost 6 hours into biking and it’s becoming tough luckily we found bottled water. We had to stop more frequent but made it home before the nightfall and rain. When I arrived at the hotel I was craving fast food and ordered a burger with fries. I urgently needed carbs. The bike ride was fantastic ! The blackouts were worth every second. This day belongs to one of the best days of my life!

Night night for now - tomorrow I will be up at 6 AM for another adventure! I forgot to mention today is National Clean up day! Every last Saturday of the month everyone between age 18 and 55 has to help clean the streets. Bravo Kagame !