Rwanda, Burundi and Western Tanzania

Rwanda and Burundi were a back-up plan at first and in case we didn’t have enough time, we’d skip it. Obviously there is never enough time when travelling the African continent, but the idea of driving through a country not that many people do/dare go was thrilling, so we decided to go for it.

We were not being let down; what a difference this is from the other Eastern African countries we’ve visited so far. Rwanda is a very neat, tiny country, with perfect (mostly German-built) tarmac roads. We entered Rwanda from Kisoro and spent a night in Ruhengeri where we did not visit the gorillas for $ 600,- each. We first planned on driving south along Lake Kivu, but since the left lower leaf tie plate was still broken, we were forced to go to Kigali, where an authorized Toyota dealer sells spare parts. Maybe Rwanda is not the right place to find parts for a 30-years old 60-series Land Cruiser, because the newest vintage parts sold are for the 70-series vehicles. It probably explains why the oldest car we’ve seen driving around here is at max 15 years old. Luckily the Africans are very inventive, so after demounting the whole left rear suspension system and concluding the 70’s-series-tie-plate really didn’t fit, they pulled out some left-over materials and welded together a new part from the old one. Up until today it is still in one piece.

In Kigali we camped at a charity kind of guesthouse ‘One Love Club’. They had a huge playground where they kept on building stuff, probably to provide work. From there we drove to Kibuye, where we spent a stormy night at Lake Kivu. The dirt track along Lake Kivu was beautiful, but very muddy. It is one of the last main off-road tracks in Rwanda, which they are now turning into Chinese tarmac.

Rwanda and Burundi are similar in size and population density, and taking history into account, both suffered a similar fate. Armed clashes between Hutu’s and Tutsi’s have flared up and down since the 1960’s, but culminated (following the death of the Hutu presidents of both countries when their plane was shot down) in the 1994 genocide. In Rwanda the genocide lasted for about 3 months during which an estimated 800.000 people were killed. After that the fighting continued in the neighboring DRC, but Rwanda itself remained relatively quiet. In Burundi however, the killing continued with less intensity but over a longer period, with 300.000 dead by 2004, and the last rebel groups only being disarmed recently in 2009.This means that Rwanda has had much more time to rebuild the country and benefit from international aid projects. The resulting differences are very well visible. While Rwanda has a flourishing agriculture, farming in Burundi is still very basic. More children can be seen going to school and the roads are undeniably better in Rwanda. Tourists are also more common, while in Burundi we were often looked at like we were ghosts. For some people it seemed time stood still for a moment, there was no waving or yelling, just big eyes like they had never seen a white person before.

We spent the first night in Burundi in the capital, Bujumbura. We went out for dinner and were planning on a beer or two at the Havana Club, the most popular pub in town. We arrived around 10, it was still very calm, but people started to show up. We weren’t the only white people in the bar, but as far as we could guess, we were the only tourists. We just sat at the bar, observing, when a local overheard our talk and started a conversation in Dutch. We were flabbergasted, not expecting anybody to speak our language, but he did. The guy had studied and worked in Leiden and Brugge for a couple of years, learning some Dutch. Three years ago he went back to Burundi where he now has a good job in the city. He asked us what we were doing here and when we told him we were visiting Burundi he coud not believe his eyes. Why on earth would somebody want to visit his country? We explained that we were driving around Africa and since everybody in the west always has an opinion about Africa we wanted to see it for ourselves, including Burundi. After he left, people started showing up, shaking our hands and saying we were welcome (our friend had spread the word, the tourists are in town!). They offered us free beers, all because we were in all likelihood probably the only tourists in the country.

From Bujumbura we headed south along Lake Tanyanika to Nyanza Lac, where we stayed at a really nice, relaxed place (Nyanza Lac Saga Residency). The owner started this business during the war, which, he said, ‘wasn’t easy, but it starts paying off’. More and more tourists discover Burundi, which is stable for the moment. It's like a rising star, climbing up the ladder, but it will take some time and money before it will be in the same state Rwanda is. Anyhow, we are happy we did spend a couple of days in this tiny country.

From Burundi we entered Tanzania via the Kalinzi border crossing, which immediately wiped the smile that Burundi gave us straight from our face; it was back to corruption again. After spending four hours trying to convince them our Tanzanian visa was still valid (which it was) we were left with no other option than to pay again. After this we took the westernmost route from Kigoma to the Malawi border via Uvinza, Mpanda and Sumbawanga, 500 km off-road;, the longest stretch without tarmac we have done so far. We did do our homework and were told the road was horrible. Well, it wasn’t the best road we have driven, but it was definitely not the worse road either. There was a stretch of 5 km mud-driving, besides that, gravel dominated and we arrived on the tarmac safely without any problems. We ended our Tanzanian experience with a visit to the Mboze meteorite. It measures 1 by 3 m and is considered to be the 7th largest meteorite found on earth.

Our plans for the near future are still subject of change, as usual, but we can hear the clock ticking. We are now safe and sound in Malawi where the rainy season is at its best (as far as we have seen it). Our tent is leaking and gasoil is expensive, but besides that, we are happy heading deeper into Southern Africa.