-
Day 6 – Gisenyi to Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda
Today was a driving day since we had to get from Gisenyi, Rwanda, to Lake Albert in Uganda, where we’d be spending two nights at the Mweya Safari Lodge. The drive took 10 hours and ate up the entire day, not including an hour stop for lunch and the border crossing (45 minutes).
-
Day 5 – Ruhengeri to Gisenyi
Day 5 started when we drove from the Mountain Gorilla View Lodge to the lake resort town of Gisenyi – right on the Rwanda-Congo border.
-
Day 4 – Visiting the Gorillas
Today was a big day. We got up at 0600 for a quick breakfast and then a drive to the Gorilla meeting place to receive a briefing and get paired off with other travelers for the trek. Robert explained to us that typically there is a slow, medium, and fast group – we urged him…
-
Day 3 – Butare to Kigali to Rehengeri
We started out on the road early, around 0800 since we had a big driving day ahead of us (about 5 hours) to transit the entire South-North expanse of Rwanda, through winding, mountain roads, not to mention several stops along the way. Today was the big day to really explore Rwanda’s history – from pre-colonial,…
-
Day 2 in Africa – Bujumbura to Butare
On our second full day, we spent most of the time in the car on winding mountain roads, crossing from Bujumbura (Buja), Burundi into Butare, Rwanda. The road was very good, but we didn’t top 35 mph because of the steepness and the switchbacks. We also got a later start than we wanted, leaving Buja…
-
Arriving in Bujumbura
It was a 30 hour journey from LAX to BJM (Bujumbura, Burundi) that started at 2230 Dec 26 and ended at 1500 Dec 28. Somehow we lost a day in there due to the time change and the 13 hour flight from IAD – ADD (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia). All told we have 4 flights: LAX…
-
Preparing for Africa
It’s the night before my trip and I am psyched, but also a little anxious. I notoriously over-packed, but in my defense, one whole bag is dedicated to photography equipment (on the right) and of course I have to bring my laptop also for blogging and post-processing. I’ll be taking my Canon Rebel T3i and…