Bats, boats, and hiking

We’ve just arrived back at our home away from home, Azizi Life, and are spending our last night here. It is bittersweet. The past two days were spent in the city of Kibuye, in Rwanda’s Western Province. We stayed on Lake Kivu, a large lake that shares a border with Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The first day at Lake Kivu, we went boating. We visited an island in Lake Kivu called “Bat Island”, home to thousands of fruit bats. After returning to our boat, we got caught in a lighting storm and got absolutely drenched with rain. The boat moved at a snail’s pace, but we stayed calm and made it back to shore. As we arrived at shore, the boat ran out of fuel.  

After that, we celebrated our safe return with lunch, and then returned to our hotel where we spent quality time together and getting to know our translator for Kibuye and new friend, Joseph. Then today we hiked around the Lake Kivu area.

We met some locals and eventually found our way to the Cormoran Lodge where we sat by the water, ate lunch, and went swimming. Then we hiked back through the forest and found our van and drove back to Gitarama, in the Southern Province, from Kibuye. Tomorrow we are returning to the capital city of Kigali to visit Hope Shines and the Rwandan Genocide Memorial.

-Zane Rerek