First Day in Rwanda!

It is now Monday morning, and our internal clocks are still a little off. Then add in the fact that the sun rose at 5:42am in Kigali this morning. What does that equal? It means we have been getting up early and going to bed even earlier. I think we were in bed and asleep by 8pm last night. We'll adjust in time I am sure.

Yesterday, we woke up earlier in Nairobi and opened our window curtains to discover a landscape that was wildly unfamiliar to us. We landed at night so we saw none of this. It was flat and looked very dry and resembled the idea of Africa I always had in my head. It was spectacular. We got ready and went downstairs for a delicious breakfast buffet. The meal was enjoyed in the early morning Kenyan sun on the elegant patio. Beautiful blue birds flew all around us and dazzled us. I took a photo of one and did a reverse Google Image search to discover that they were Superb Starlings. Absolutely stunning. We said "asante sana" to our dining staff and checked out the small gift shop nearby. We headed back to the room and packed our things and met our safari director Peter in the lobby who took us to the airport for our flight. We got checked in and went to the airport lounge for breakfast, coffee, and water until our flight boarded. It also occurred to us that flights are slightly different in Africa. We went to the gate at the specified boarding time and were turned away. We were told to go back to the lounge and someone would get us when it was time to board. Bizarre!

Once on our flight, it became evident that we were among important members of parliament from their respective countries. Abi sat next to an Australian member of government while the Swiss representatives were in front of us. Turns out that there's a massive assembly of various government officials in Kigali this week. The Australian man remarked that we couldn't be on a safer flight because "there are multiple bodyguards on this flight".

We were driven to our hotel by the wonderful "Mr Afrika" whose first name actually is Afrika. The origin of his name is a hilarious one - you'll have to message us privately to get that story. It's better than you think. He taught us that Rwanda has four official languages: Kinyarwanda, English, French, and Swahili. Abi went on to entertain him thoroughly with her Swahili! She would read words from the handy Swahili pamphlet we were given, and they both laughed heartily. The people here have been absolutely incredible.

We settled into our room at the Kigali Serena Hotel, a beautiful resort with amazing decor and a top-notch pool that feels like a brilliant slice of tropical paradise. It was about 3:30pm at this point, and we headed out onto the streets to see the city. There was a memorial to the Belgian soldiers that lost their lives in the fight during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. These brave 10 men did their best to protect peace in Kigali during the awful fighting that saw nearly 1,000,000 Rwandans killed in the streets. The memorial was actually the building that they were holed up in during their last stand. It was riddled with bullet holes which showed all they were up against. 10 stone slabs were erected in their memory. A very poignant sight to behold, but it was a memory I won't forget. From there, we walked just under a mile up the road to the Hotel Milles des Collines which was the hotel made famous in 2004's Hotel Rwanda. It was at the Milles des Collines that hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina sheltered and protected about 1300 Tutsi refugees from the Hutu militia during the Rwandan Genocide. Not a single person that he sheltered died under his watch.

I don't think the native Rwandans are used to seeing people with blonde hair because I don't think Abi's ever had as much attention as she had walking through the city center. It was as if she was a celebrity! All eyes on her. We headed back to our hotel in a light drizzle of rain and noticed upon arrival that my team West Ham United was on TV in the poolside bar area. We decided to have a drink and watch the match. West Ham won 3-1 against Fulham, and we had a lovely time just relaxing in our amazing hotel. We grabbed dinner in the hotel restaurant and began feeling very tired. It was 7:30 by this time, and we were off to bed! Heads were on pillows by 8pm and fast asleep.

This morning, we had breakfast by the pool, sang Stu's song from The Hangover for some reason, and are now getting packed up. We are heading on a city tour and then being transported to the mountains (about 3 hours away) to begin our gorilla trekking adventure. Stay tuned for much more!