Day 57 (Saturday)

We are up just after 4.00 a.m. to breakfast before our 4x4 arrives at 5.00a.m. to take us to the park by 6.00.  We arrive as dawn breaks and the gloom lifts over the park.  We see a zebra before we are in the park proper.  We go in at the north entrance and the farm land outside is transformed to scrub with small herds of  zebras, impala and topi around every corner of the trail. We wind our way down to the plain where there is a long straggling herd of cape buffalo.  They watch us carefully as we park about 40m away and take pictures.  Later we see giraffe, elephants, crocodiles, hippos (largely submerged) warthogs, vervet monkeys, waterbuck, bush bucks and baboons.  Our drive through the park takes 11 hours and I have taken over 500 photos.  I need some time for editing. 

Day 58 (Sunday)

Disaster strikes again.  A power cut at 9.00 a.m. lasts all day and into the night.  No power for the laptop so no blog entries.  No power to cook and no lights in the evening.  My mobile phone needs recharging and so does my ipod.  The power cut lasts for six days; hence I am behind with my blog.  The power comes back on just as I leave for Nyungwe National Park on Friday afternoon.  So no time to make up my blog entries until the middle of next week.

Day 59 (Monday)

I am busy preparing for the Head Teacher training that I am delivering with David and Sarah.  The lack of power is a real nuisance.  Lots of charts, activity cards, document templates have to be done by hand and then copied by hand again.  Unfortunately none of us brought a ruler with us that was  longer than six inches, so long straight lines are a problem.  After a candle lit dinner cooked on a kerosene stove, there is not much more to do than go to bed.  Reading by candlelight is a strain on my eyes.

Day 60 (Tuesday)

More preparation work and I practise my “good” maths lesson on Sarah and David.  It involves two practical of activities one of which is a plenary.  It is meant to last about 20 minutes and demonstrate a lot of areas of good practice.  The maths is not too challenging, but I am not sure of the starting point of my students (the headteachers) so I want to be flexible and differentiate the level of difficulty, so all learn something new.  Not easy.  I think the sun should be directly overhead today in Kabarore, just a few minutes after midday.  I forget and go out to see at about 12.10 p.m.  The shadow of my approximately vertical stick is as small as it has ever been.  I take a picture of it!

Day 61 (Wednesday)

Kelti comes over to complete the team working on the Head Teacher training.  There could be more trainers than Heads!  We are resigned to the lack of power, but it is now back on the other side of the main road.  At least we can get some photocopying done.  It is cloudy today at midday, so I cannot check the position of the sun in the sky.   In the early evening I go for a walk at the back of the house (the safer part- I hope).  To my surprise I hear a commotion and there I see a pair of Ross’s Turacot in plain sight feeding on avocados in a tree. They are more spectacular in flight and luckily they oblige by flying to a nearby tree.

Day 62 (Thursday)

A frustrating start.  Whilst we are waiting for the Head Teachers to arrive for their training we hear that they have all been called to a meeting at the District Office.  Maybe the meeting will be finished in a couple of hours so we wait hoping they will arrive.  At 1.30 p.m. we get a telephone call saying the meeting is likely to go on until at least 3.30 p.m. so we give up. Well actually we try to make sure everyone is committed to coming tomorrow instead. 

Day 63 (Friday)

We deliver the training to about half the Head Teachers we were hoping would come.  It seems to go down well and the messages are well-received.  At least it is something we have achieved.  The training covered aspects of lesson observation to improve teaching; schemes of work and touched on strategic  planning.  We delivered most of, but not all of, the original 7 hours of training material in 4 ½ hours.  I dash back to the house to pick up my rucksack and a bite of lunch.  At the bus station there is no 1.50 bus and I have to wait for the 2.20 bus which is late!  I arrive in Kigali with a few minutes to spare.  I need to get to the VSO safe to get some $ for the Nyungwe National Park.

Day 64 (Saturday)

Another early start to get the bus to Cyangugu.  The journey takes 5 hours and we find out this is the only bus journey in Rwanda where you buy a booked seat.  There are no seats on the first bus so we buy seats on the 8.00 a.m. bus and have to sit and wait.  The bus is full with every fold down aisle seat occupied. My rucksack is on my lap and it is difficult to move, but at least I have a seat.  When we get to the national park the road is very potholed and swings round hairpin bends every few seconds.  The driver keeps up a good pace and people are sick out of the windows.  The forest is very atmospheric.  The peaks up to 3000m are completely covered in trees; below there is mist and cloud. Steep walls of rock rise up above and fall away below the road.  It gets cooler as we get to the top of the pass and the climate and vegetation is reminiscent of England’s wettest places.

Day 65 (Sunday)

The Giskura Guest House is very comfortable.  They provide a packed breakfast so one can get an early start in the forest.  We cadge a lift and are at the park office (Uwinka) in the heart of the forest by 6.00 a.m.  You are not free to walk on the trails in the park.  You have to buy a “licence” and a guide.  Prices are not cheap.  We pay $45 to see Colobus Monkeys.  The trek there takes only 30 minutes, but we are able to stay and watch for almost 2 hours.  There are probably more than 200 of the monkeys in the group.  Some are high up in the canopy; others are lower down feeding.  We move off the trail and climb a slope through thick vegetation to get closer.  One monkey gets in a squabble with another, loses its grip and falls 35m to the ground.  The guide says it will be ok.  After a couple of minutes we see it rise out of the vegetation and slowly it climbs a tree.  When it is about 5m up, another monkeys antics break a large branch off a tree above and the shaken monkey has to jump to safety.  It is a dangerous life being a colobus monkey.

Day 66 (Monday)

We decide to take a proper breakfast at 7.00 a.m. and risk a later journey to the park.  The breakfast is coffee, omelette, bread, honey and bananas.  The journey to Uwinka (the centre of the park) is about 18 km and takes about 40 minutes.  There is no organised transport except for a bus every hour and a half, which is usually full. We are in luck and get a lift after just a few minutes. I have decided to do the red trail, which is the hardest in the park and ascends over 700m and covers 10 km.  It is supposed to take 6 hours and passes spectacular viewing points and waterfalls.  It is great to be 4 km into the rain forest.  There are huge mahogany trees, ferns, and creepers growing everywhere and covered in moss and lichens.  Disappointingly there are almost no animals or birds to be seen.  You can hear them in the canopy, but they are too well hidden. Apart from the lack of wildlife the walk is as you would imagine.  Dark tunnels through the vegetation take you to high points where there are views over the canopy and out towards the distant mountain tops swathed in cloud and mist.  There is not a patch of bare soil anywhere.  We manage to catch a bus back to the guest house after only a few minutes wait.  It has been much easier to get to and from Uwinka (from the guest house) than we thought, but the trails are much more expensive.  The red trail cost $40 (both prices quoted are for foreign residents; tourists pay more).

Day 67 (Tuesday)

Another early start to get the bus back to Kigali.  The park guides have rung and booked us seats on the bus, so we know it will stop and pick us up.  In Kigali I take a small bus out to the VSO office and start to catch up with emails and my blog. I have been out of touch for ten days firstly because of the power cut and then because of my travels.  I am staying the night with friends and setting of on the remainder of the journey to Kabarore tomorrow after a bit of food shopping.

Day 68 (Wednesday)

Back to Kabarore where I have loads of work to do.  I have less than eight days left to finish all my work (science scheme of work, training of science teachers, reports and an action plan for one of my schools).  I have brought my flight home forward by five days (so it is now 85 days in Rwanda).  I feel this is the best thing to do given that my last 5 days were in Genocide Memorial week and by then I will have done the gorillas, so I would just be stuck in Kigali with not much to do.  Head down and back to work.  Probably short reports from now on.