You say Huye, I say Butare

On Saturday we took a trip south (I drove!) to Butare the city that is home to the National University of Rwanda(NUR) and the National Museum.  The government has renamed some of the larger cities in Rwanda so Butare is supposed to be called Huye (and Ruhingere is supposed to be called Musanze) but I have yet find anyone other than tourists who call the renamed cities by their new names.  The new names are supposed to help with differentiating province names from city names so I guess government officials probably are among the only Rwandan users of the name Huye.  Butare is about 2.5 hours south of Kigali, once it was the capital and center of culture in Rwanda.  Now, it is a city with a very busy but short main street and lots of residential areas. Our goal was to visit the area, see the museums and visit with Kate and her husband Okan.  Kate is also here on a Fulbright, she is a professor of environmental biology at Columbia University and she studies mammals (Kate's CU website) while here she is teaching at NUR and supposedly setting up a research station in Nyungwe Forest.  In typical fashion her research is being held up by an incredibly difficult and tiresome beuracracy that will not issue her a permit (with each inquiry into the permit process she gets a slightly different story from the Rwandan Development Board/RDB). 

Our first stop on the road was at Gatagara Pottery cooperative.  The Twa are a pygmy people who live in Rwanda.  One of the crafts at which they excel is pottery and in Gatagara there is a cooperative at which a number of people work and sell their crafts.  Unfortunately, Saturday was not a work day but the manager came and showed us around the work area and we bought some pottery while we were there.  I really wanted to bring home this very ingenious hand washing pot they had that had a spigot operated by foot but we could never get it on the plane back home.

After Gatagara we drove on to Nyanza to visit the old royal palace museum.  The first part of the visit is to the "modern" palace which was built in the 1930's by the Beligans.  The building itself was unimpressive and the exhibits had posters that were way too wordy and difficult to read.  However, the photos of the king (mwami) and the old newsreel was pretty fascinating and fun to watch.  We learned about  the kings who ruled from 1853 - 1961:  Kigeli IV (Rwabugiri), Mibambwe IV, Yuhi IV, Mutara III and Kigeli V.  Kigeli is now living in the U.S. and has a website which really details the history of the monarchy (HM King Kigeli V).
Near the modern palace and has part of the museum is a reconstructed King's hut which we got to go into and learn about courtesy of an excellent guide from the museum.  I didn't pay the extra fees to take photos but here is a smaller reconstruction from the museum we went to in Butare.



King's Hut reproduction at the National Museum

 The King's hut is marked by three large poles sticking out of the roof and its immense size (not as obvious in this photo).  Since there are no doors on the huts there is an entry way or foyer area marked off by some concrete or stones.  The entry way was guarded but if a prisoner sentenced to die managed to touch this pole he could have his sentence cancelled and be set free.  As you see below, Nava got there.

Behind the King's hut were two smaller huts, one for milk making and the other for beer making.  Behind that were the King's cows, a true sign of wealth.  The king sat on a special chair while everyone else sat on the floor.  Here King Saadya demonstrates

I found it hard to imagine how these 6 foot and taller kings managed this teeny but obviously very special stool.  The King and Queen slept together in the King's bed surrounded by the baskets that contained their jewels and wardrobe.

The basketry you see here is one of the amazing handcrafts that is still done in Rwanda today.  Baskets range in size from very small to bigger than Nava

On the way to Butare we passed and stopped off at some of the basket weaver's stands and made a couple of purchases.

In Butare we lunched with Kate and Okan at what they claim is one of the only places to eat.  We wandered down the street to Inzozi Nziza for ice cream.  Inzozi Nziza was founded by the owners of Blue Marble Dreams Ice Cream in Brooklyn.  The ice cream was OK (Nava and Saadya both say Bourbon in Kigali is better) and the shop was notably empty.  Kate says she doesn't think many Rwandese actually eat there.  After ice cream we walked back to our cars and drove down to the National Museum.  The museum was excellent, a well curated set of exhibits that depicted the history and culture of the country.  We got to see displays of the money used here over the years, the clothing worn, basketry, dance garb and drums among other things.  It was hard to leave the museum for all of us but ultimately we had to return to Kigali and I ended up managing my first foray into night driving in Rwanda (OK so my traps are still not recovered from my death grip on the steering wheel).

Sunday was Purim and we had promised Saadya and Nava that we would not be on the road.  In an effort to get us all in the mood I got all dressed up, made some bad Hamentaschen and we made some noise whenever anyone mentioned Haman.  Yeah, you say Haman and I say Huye!

Purim in Kigali...all dressed up with nowhere to go

Bon Appetit!

Today I did not go to my office and instead worked from home and ran a few errands (quick trip to the Tanzanian High Commission to get our tourist visas for...Zanzibar!).  The best of these errands was a trip to Kimironko market with Patricia.  Kimironko is a huge and very busy market area with sections for fabric (waxes), clothing, shoes, household goods, baskets and food. We bought a few more hand-woven baskets and some fabric but I was excited to get to the food.  The food section is amazing, baskets full of beans/Ibihyimbo of all different colors, piles of vegetables and fruits and pyramids of flour. 

Some weeks back I wrote about our food difficulties but today I'm going to quickly write about some of the foods I'm really enjoying here.  First of all, if you like avocadoes then this is the place for you - avocadoes are large, plentiful and delicious.  I've made a guacamole (OK, so there are no tortilla chips worth eating here) and at least once a week we have bean and rice burritos stuffed with avocado.  Other vegetables that we can buy fresh and eat include aubergine, cabbage, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and lettuce.  Now you may have heard the warning for travellers to Africa - if you can't peel it or cook it, you can't eat it; and while that is true, our housekeeper learned many years ago from some previous employers a method of washing our vegetables in "medicine" so that our stomachs can handle them.  I think the medicine is some type of low intensity chlorine and it seems to work.

Fruits make me very very happy here - we get fresh pineapple, bananas, papaya, mango, passion fruit and maracuja.  I'm mad about maracuja and passionate about passion fruit.  Maracuja is a golden passion fruit that is incredibly tasty, sweet and juicy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiflora_edulis.  Patricia even made a maracuja mousse one night that was really delicious.  The bananas are a different variety from what we are used to, smaller and less sweet but still lovely.  Bananas grow all over this country and there are larger ones (more expensive) and then green ones that can be cooked into Matoke which is a delicious cooked banana mash with vegetables.  The first time I ate Matoke I thought it was some type of potato. 

Today's big (and I mean big) find was a jackfruit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit).  This thing weighed about 6 pounds and Patricia carried it home from the market like a little baby which prompted much laughing and stares from the Rwandans who would never carry anything without a bag of some sort much less treat it like a little  baby.  We ate it at lunch and it was pretty good, a bit like a less sweet banana with these huge pits that I want to make into beads.  Patricia mixed the jackfruit, banana and maracuja into a vanilla yogurt and declared it delicious.  We also bought part of a cane sugar stalk and all of us are sucking and snacking on the sweet juice this afternoon.

I looked all over the market today for tree tomatoes and while I did not find them, I  usually enjoy a daily dose of tree tomato juice after my workout.  As a substitute, today I made some tea from moringa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa) and leaves lemongrass.  I like it, but Chantal, our housekeeper, says that moringa is not good tasting and is only a medicine.  Its true, moringa is an amazing leaf loaded with vitamins, amino acids and protein.

Rwandan cuisine in general is nothing to write home or even blog home about.  Saadya and Nava in particular have had a hard time finding food they like because the western look alikes (eggs, milk products, pizza, french fries, etc.) taste nothing like what they are used to.  We have found a couple of bakeries that make breads that we all like and for unbelievable prices have been able to buy some jams and canned foods imported from Europe.  If only Saadya ate more fruits and vegetables he would be much better off but he is a meat and potato boy from way back and Rwanda will not convert him.  Nava enjoys the fruits, eats some vegetables and has become a big fan of our weekly burrito night.

As for me, I could be satisfied with my avoka, matoke, inkinyomoro, moringa tea, marakuja and invanje.

Camping à Kagera

We took a three day weekend, hired Jacques (our amazing naturalist, driver, cultural translator, camping equipment supplier, and guide) and went to Akagera National Park.  Jacques actually told us that in Kinyarwanda the park is named Kagera but with all the French speakers over many years saying "nous allons à Kagera" the name was joined with its preposition to become Akagera.  Let me start with the list we made last night of all the wildlife interactions we had and then I'll describe the trip, the park and all of our experiences.

1. Animals we saw:  Impala, Topi, Vervet monkeys, Baboon, Mongoose, Zebra, Buffalo, Girafe, Warthogs, Hippopotamus, Reedbucks, Waterbucks, Crocodile, Leopard
2. Bird sightings:  Marabou stork, Weavers, Eagle, Kingfisher, Grey Crowned Crane, Goliath Heron, Cormorant, African Jacana, Francolin
3. Animal signs and tracks:  Python track, Elephant scat, Aardvark holes
4. Animal sounds at night:  Baboon, Leopard, Impala, Hippopotamus, Hyena

Are you impressed?  Did you feel like saying "oh my"?  I can't even find the adjectives to describe our awe and wonder at the beauty of this park.  Here then, is our camping story complete with a few photos.

We drove off to Akagera on Saturday morning.  The terrain on this trip is quite different from that of North Rwanda, flatter with many more areas for larger herds of cattle.  Most Akagera trips are to the south entrance of the park but Jacques took us north because he feels it is more beautiful, less traveled and there are more animals.  We arrived at the north park entrance around 1:00, even before the entrance we spotted Impala wandering among the cattle.  Jacques told us about the reduction of the park's lands after the genocide to provide places for the returning exiled Rwandans to live.  The park is now 1/2 of its size before 1994 and though many animal populations have returned, there are no lions because they were killed to protect the cattle.

At the entrance to the park, I found a weaver nest.  Later we saw a tree that was filled with  the nests of a whole colony of yellow weavers.  Seeing the nest up close helped us to appreciate the intricacy of creating these structures for the birds.

The entry way to the park is a woodland and immediately we spotted baboons and vervet monkeys (Nava: "what is the blue thing on those monkeys?" Me:  "Um, uh, its their private parts" - seriously the male vervet monkeys have, well, sort of a torquoise coloring).

Vervet Monkey

The woodland soon opens up into a plain that was full of birds, buffalo, antelope of various types (topi, etc.) and zebra

Topi

Buffalo and Egrets

Zebra

The park's buffalo are dangerous and mean.  When they are in herds they will not attack but a lone buffalo will attack a human who is not safely ensconced in a car.  For that reason, as tempting as it would have been to hike everywhere, Jacques insisted that we stay close to our car, or at our campsite, close to our campsite. 

Oh, did I say birds on the planes?  Many small birds flew around our car and then we spotted some large Marabou Storks wandering around.  Although they look awkward when walking up in the sky they are amazing flyers.  We drove toward some vultures who were enjoying someone else's kill (a topi).  I couldn't help but start to quote from Jungle Book when I saw the vultures..."whachyouwannado?" but they didn't look as if they wanted to start a conversation.

Marabou Storks

Vultures

Up the hill from the planes area we drove into a grove of trees and were greeted by some taller friends snacking on the tree tops

At about this moment it really all felt surreal, we cautiously got out of the car and found ourselves hanging out with a family of giraffes. 

After this amazing first experience with game viewing Jacques drove us deeper into the park to seek out our campsite for the night and to see more of the terrain.  Akagera has a beautiful landscape variation from plain Savannah to bush and woodland Savannah all surrounded by mountains and filled with lakes.  I think as Jacques drove our mouths were always open in wonder and each time we spotted an animal, flower or bird we had to hold ouselves back from shouting.  To his credit, Jacques was patient and always willing to stop to let us view most anything.

Here is where we ended up camping

Our campsite had a view of two lakes and was up on a hill.  We set out to put up the tents, two of which were easy and one of which was confusing to say the least.  It took some time and after getting the tents pitched we gathered firewood and made a campfire to cook our meat (no, not our kill, poaching, thank goodness, is illegal).  Nava delighted in gathering rocks to build the firering and by the time we left the campsite two nights later she had constructed the perfect stone wall.

Two nights of hard Rwandan ground may have been tough on our aging backs (Saadya and Nava never complained) but completely worthwhile for the experience of being out of a car in the park, hearing or viewing our night visitors and seeing the night sky that was full of stars and distant lightening.  On the first night the loud noises we heard were hyenas and hippos.  In the morning I asked Jacques what that barking dog sound was, turns out it was the baboons.  On the second night Patricia and I were awoken  at 2am by a very loud sound that we could not identify.  We heard Jacques get up to get the fire stoked up and then he called us and asked if we wanted to see a LEOPARD!!  Yes, we saw a leopard out hunting at night, a very rare sight.  Jacques stayed up for a few hours to follow his movements and it turns out there was not one but two leopards around our campsite.

In the morning it rained and we drove to the lakeside to see some of the water animals

In the photo above you can probably spot the Hippos, but can you find the crocodile?  Hippos are noisy noisy guys in the water; constantly huffing and puffing and blowing out water.

We spent most of the morning driving around the park, returned to our campsite for a brief respite and then went out again in the late afternoon for more viewing.  The next day we asked for one more visit to the Savannah plain area and to the giraffes and we made our way out of the park. 

In total, I probably took well over 200 photos (most of which came out fuzzy and hard to see) and we had well over 200 different things happen that I could have written about, maybe you can still get a feel for it all from this posting; I hope so!