Zanzibar

Well, I was really skeptical whether I would like Zanzibar or not. I think it is wonderful. For sure, it is quite touristy with all the things coming with it like fake guides, underemployed taxi drivers, impertinent suitcase porters, irritating shop owners and children who are accustomed to candy distributing tourists. Apart from that, it is simply great to walk around in the old small lanes, to get lost there, to land in a point which one knows again and so slowly discover the old town. As there was Ramadan (the fasting month of the Muslims), many stores were closed during daytime, and unfortunately, also many of the restaurants and cafes. This affects for sure also tourists, who are mostly not Muslim. However, it also has quite some advantages. According to the locals it was rather quiet at that time in Stonetown, because many tourists avoid the time of Ramadan. I would not necessarily want to know how busy Zanzibaris, if there is even more tourists than now…. On the whole trip I did not see as many (package) tourists as here. Another thing is that locals have to be very economical with her energy in Ramadan. So tourists can stroll through the old town without getting too much unwanted attention.

Stonetown

However, there are great museums here, the houses in the old town are mostly really nice and I live in Stonetown at a hotel which is accommodated in one several hundred year-old house. Quite traditionally with a so-called Pilipilibed, a gigantic bed which is very high, it has got a frame and carvings. Super comfy!
Of course there are also great beaches in Zanzibar. In the northern part there are very nice, almost white sandy beaches, which are nearly not influenced by the tides, so one can swim there the whole day. For sure, you are not here by yourself, but anyone expecting this, should better not come to Zanzibar anyway. Here the lodgings are expensive with starting at the budget edge with around 30 dollars for a single, but as it is very quiet at the moment, it is very easy to get the price down to less than half. Yes, am already very native….

Stonetown

Some days in the northern part of Zanzibar I spent with Paul from UK, who lives always half a year in Tanzania, the other half in the UK. He is living in southern Tanzania in a small village, giving people there a lot f support and leading a project there. Especially, he is into education, no wonder, as he used to be a teacher himself. Also, he is into tourism, guiding once a while clients through his second home country. However, I had a beautiful time with Paul exploring northern Zanzibar and I really hope to met again anywhere in the world. Possibly in Tanzania as his project sounds very interesting. Thanks a lot for everything, Paul!

In Zanzibar I have also spent more time than initially intended, because I wanted to experience the end of Ramadan, Eid al Fitr, and here. The Zanzibaris are known for the fact that they celebrate religious parties especially intensely, colorfully and loudly, and this I did not want to miss! Well, it was definitely worth staying the extra days.

In and around Stonetown there was on four days 2 parties in the evening. One party was directly by the sea where there is every evening a night market with great food. On these days after the end of the Ramadan it was much bigger, more authentic, more colorful, a lot more people and of course also much more interesting food. Above all of course sea food, but also chicken, pizza, soup, fruit and this very tasty sugarcane juice with lemon and ginger and ice cubes guaranteed made of tap water. I have missed this sugarcane juice since my departure from Mombasa painfully and my sugar cane seller here with the best juice because particularly a lot of ginger and lime, was glad every evening about my visit. No wonder, as I was one of his best customers with at least two gigantic mugs in the evening (1 liter of juice)….
The other party was exactly on the other side of the town and was much more of an authentic local party. Here, they had stalls with loads of plastic toys, photo studios, plenty of food stalls and an even disco with a DJ. This one was extremely loud. Though there was light, it was still very dark just a few meters from the stalls, so people constantly fell over other people sitting
on the ground consuming here their fish kebab, soup or chicken. A unique mess, simply fantastic!

After a few other days on the beach to chill out from all these festivities I continued travelling towards Malawi. Because there were so many interesting things to see and to do in between Kenya and here, I was rather delayed. So I decided to skip Mozambique  on this trip and travel directly to Malawi.

Banana beer or sugarcane beer?

After the safari I spent another night in Arusha, before I went to Moshi. Moshi is a little bit sleepy provincial town at the foot of the Kilimanjaro. The town and her inhabitants live above all on trekking tourism. There are various streets which are nearly as bad as the part of town in Arusha with the safari enterprises. The only difference is, that here it is all about trekking or souvenirs instead of safaris.

Benson

On the roof of my hotel in Moshi I got to know a man from Holland, who runs a travel agency in Moshi together with his wife. Due to the economic crisis many porters and guides who have worked earlier at Mt Kilimanjaro have apparently lost their work. This year 60 percent less tourists are about to climb the biggest mountain of Africa than normal. Logically, less tourists means, they need fewer porters and fewer guides. Poverty and desperation rise and with it also the risk to be attacked somewhere as a tourist. However, they advised me to take a guide for my trip to Marangu to avoid the risk of being mugged on the road. So I got to know Benson, a guide which comes from a village close to Marangu. These 15 dollars per day were well invested money, as I had a great time and I felt in very good hands.

Marangu

Unfortunately, the Kilimanjaro did not show up these 2 days, but the area around Marangu is very beautiful by itself, very green and there are some waterfalls to see and hills to climb. I also tried one of the local specialties – banana beer. I do know quite a few people, who would get an immediate outbreak of herpes already at the sight of the mug…. Not to speak from the contents inside the mug! The taste of that one, well, I would say, it is a quite nasty mixture of old banana and fermented chopped up muesli… Sounds about as fantastic as it was! However, once a while you come across things you just have to try, and I know, that my stomach was never weak with things like that!
As Mt Kilimanjaro did not want to appear at all, I just took the advice of Benson and added one more day in Moshi. This day was quite rainy in the morning, and then we had a nice walk in the forest close Moshi and tasty lunch with the aunt. But still no mountain.

Irente View Point, Lushoto

I had already given up, when the following day a phone call from Yusuf at the early hour of 6.30 got me out of bed (in Ramadan watches and timings go somewhat different). In a kind of reflex, I was peering out of the window and there was the mountain! Mt Kilimanjaro was complete and was visible without clouds! Only for one hour, but this was enough. This was the cooperation of a good advice of Benson and the early phone call of Yusuf! Thanks a lot to both of you making me see Kili!!!

Lushoto

From Moshi, I travelled to Lushoto, which is in the Usambara Mountains. Lushoto is a rather small place with a few thousand habitants and is situated at about 1200 metres altitude. Here, I found the ultimate guesthouse. More an oasis of quietness and peace, the hostel more like a home stay, a charming owner and very good food. All that in the middle of a nice mountain world with a lot of banana plantations, fruit trees, cabbage patches and other vegetables. At this point thanks to Julius, the owner of Karibuni Lodge. I had a great time in Lushoto! The walk to Irente Viewpoint was especially great. Here, you are really in the first row, without any fence you can see very far and 1200 metres down! Exactly that day, there were final school exams, so many students showed up at the view point as well to celebrate themselves and their 4-week vacation time starting now. For sure, they wanted the Mzungu (the white tourist) to be in the mid of things!
On this tour we came once more across a bar with local specialties. This time sugarcane beer. Well, why not. One thing is for sure – that stuff was definitely better than the banana one. A bottle is 200 Tanzanian shillings, which is about 0,18 Dollar. On the 500 shilling note, the bar owner could not give change, so the rest of the money went to a local round for the other two customers. For sure, they were rather happy about this idea.

Lushoto

Now, I am in Dar es Salaam, the biggest town of Tanzania with approx. 4 million people. As it is week-end and, besides, Ramadan, it is rather quiet in spite of the size of the town. Today, I went by bus for a day trip to Bagamoyo. In the past, this was one of the most important harbors of the African coast and the terminus of the trading route from Lake Tanganyika to the sea. Mostly, slaves and ivory was traded here and many of the European Africa travellers of the 18th and 19th century began and ended their trips here, e.g. Livingston, Burton and Stanley. At the end of the 19th century Bagamoyo was for a short time the capital of Deutschostafrika. Therefore, there are many German colonial buildings, most in an advanced stage of decay, but the government now puts in some money for restoration. The town itself has a sleepy charm. About 5 kilometers from town, there are the ruins of Kaole, which date from 13th to 15th century. This was an absolutely nice and relaxed daytrip with only friendly people round me.
Tomorrow, I  will leave for Zanzibar. Apparently, there are only two possibilities, either you like Zanzibar a lot or you hate it, there is nothing in between. Am already curious, what my feelings will be. It is definitely very touristy, with a lot of touts, fake guides, and other dubious characters, but it must be very beautiful also. We will see! This is going to be part of a new story.

Safaris in Tanzania

From Mwanza it is not really far to Arusha. The problem is that on the short route, one would have to cross two national parks, Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. This means for tourists, that one must pay the national park fee of 50 dollars per park whether you spot animals from the bus or not… This makes little sense! So, I decided to take a bus around all these parks and go south of them towards Arusha.

Road to Arusha

Well, I spent 14 hours in the coach, 5 of it on a very bad piste. When we reached Arusha finally in the evening, we were completely covered by fine reddish dust, even inside the backpack, which was stored in the belly of the coach, the dust had spread…. Well, the next day, I had to give a big laundry to the backpack from in- and outside.
In Arusha I was lucky once more in finding a group of 4 people, who were about to go on safari and had one more seat in their jeep available! We went to Lake Manyara, to Ngorongoro Crater and to Tarangire National Park. Our team was international: a young woman from Finland, a couple from France and one Japanese. Besides, there was a local driver-guide and a cook. We spent the two nights near the Manyara National Parks on a rim overlooking the park.

The first day we drove to Manyara National Park. The specific features here are the lions climbing trees. Unfortunately, we did not see one of them, climbing or not. But there were a lot of antelopes, monkeys, giraffes, elephants and hippos. Beside the salt lake there are some freshwater lakes, which the animals share for drinking. The water comes from the slopes of Ngorongoro Crater.
In the evening our cook presented really great food and from the close village an acrobat's group came for a visit. Quite a bit touristy, but that’s what the villagers are living on.

The following day, we visited the highlight of the area, Ngorongoro Crater. Millions of years ago, this must have been a gigantic volcano, which broke down sometime. Today there is only the edge of the volcano which is 2200 metres high. The crater is 600 metres down! Also the weather is different every kilometer. While driving up it becomes colder and colder and above all foggy! As foggy as Regensburg on a really bad november day…. Also as cold!
However, once you enter the crater, the wind almost stops. The fog disappears and makes room for the sun with a few clouds.

As there is water the whole year around in the crater, the animals stay here in contrast to Masai Mara / Serengeti. There is a lot of zebras, gnus, buffalo, various antelopes, cheetahs, lions, flamingos….. And all that in a spectacular, very dry scenery, salt lakes, freshwater pools with hippos, marshlands and brush land. Magnificent scenery and a really great day!

Baobab

The last day of our safari we spent in Tarangire National Park. It is above all known for its big elephant herds. However, besides there are also zebras, gnus, giraffes, antelopes, lions and cheetahs. This national park is well known for its many baobab trees. These trees look really funny, because they have a very big trunk and extremely lots of branches. There is a legend in Africa, after which of the baobab wanted to look absolutely different from the other trees. So he complained after his creation with God because looked quite just as all the other trees. As a result God was furious, tore out the baobab and put him back to front in the earth…..

Nafisa from Mwanza

Well, I already spent quite some time in Tanzania. According to Lonely Planet guide book, the road from the border with Rwanda towards Kahama was in very bad shape. Actually, it was a lot better than the guide meant. Well, things like these happen, when traveling with a 3 years old guide book. In the late afternoon I arrived in Kahama, the coach to Mwanza coming from somewhere else was delayed and it was not foreseeable, when this one would arrive. So I decided to spend the night in Kahama. I had a very charming coach driver who drove me by big bus to the hotel (a private transfer in the gigantic coach). Presumably I was in Kahama the only Mzungu, so in the hotel the receptionist and the guests were astonished about the new entry. Then the coach driver drove off again to organize my bus ticket for the next day, saying, the bus station is no place for an unaccompanied woman… Tanzania seems to be a very pleasant country, at least for single women…

Then a young man walked me to the Internet cafe, which was at least 30 minutes of a walk – once there, I found out, that he did not have anything to do there himself. Well, it was already dark, so this poor fellow even waited for me and brought me back to the hotel an hour later. The next morning he took me very early to the bus station, as this is no place for a single woman… Well, in any case, a great start for Tanzania!
On the next day I went by a very slow but safe bus to Mwanza. Mwanza is situated south of Lake Victoria and is the biggest town in this area. Here I visited Nafisa, a sister of Yusuf from Mombasa. She is married in Mwanza and lives here with husband Murtaza and granddaughter Khadija. In spite of the restrictions at the moment of the holy month of Ramadan they decided, that I should stay with them in their house. This must have been rather difficult time for them, as religious Muslims do not eat or drink at Ramadan during daytime. Besides, there are many restrictions on travelling and there are many set times for prayers in the mosque. Usually, there is dinner in the mosque and at 4.00 o'clock in the morning people get up for having breakfast to make it through the day. After that, most people go to bed again and follow, nevertheless, during the day their normal business. Nafisa insisted on preparing breakfast and lunch for me. I can imagine, it is not really funny to cook for other people great Indian dishes, if you are not allowed to eat yourself…
As the granddaughter Khadija is only 3 years old, she is also not feasting for sure, but it is somewhat different, whether one does some food for the granddaughter, or for a guest. Anyway, I felt like at home with the three of them and would like to thank her over again for the hospitality, their help and their friendship towards me!

In Mwanza I also met Jose again on the street. I got to know Jose about 2 months ago in Nairobi in the hostel I was staying. He comes from South America and is travelling in East Africa for 3 months. For the next day we agreed to visit an island. As it turned out, that this would cost us 52 dollars per person, we changed our plans and went by normal ferry to the next town and spent some time and then went back again. Thus we also got to journey on the lake for about a dollar for going and coming back…

Rwanda - memorials and the present

After four weeks in Uganda I crossed the border to Rwanda. The border procedure was absolutely unproblematic. Germans even do not have to pay for a visa for Rwanda. Stamp in the passport and ready! Astonishing!
After well one hour I reached by bus the capital of Kigali. Here there was even more astonishing: the motorcycle taxi drivers do not try to get a higher price from tourists, the motorcycle passenger gets a helmet, and all drivers have a uniform and are registered by number!
Moreover, it is very quiet on the streets, only little horning, there is zebra crossing and the motorized road users stop for pedestrians! This is new! There is a ban on plastic bags; all people carry their buys in paper bags. The western world can learn quite a bit here!
And the best, there is French tick – as a former Belgian they speak not only French, but also food has a french air! Very pleasant after all these mostly untoasted toast breads of the last nearly 3 months…
At my hotel in Kigali I got to know Hans from Switzerland. An interesting type. Comes from the construction branch and has sold everything at home after an illness and travels the world for 6 or 7 or more years by motorcycle. The good thing is, that he covered the African countries I am going to and he is going towards Uganda and Kenya…. One can imagine, that our conversation material did not find an end!

Ntarama Church Memorial

With Rwanda everybody has certainly still the genocide in memory, which has taken place here in 1994. Within 100 days about 1 million people were killed here. It was a conflict, steered by the government to which mainly the minority of the Tutsi, but also moderate Hutus fell victim. UN has failed then pitifully, particularly as the whole has happened with announcement, and the commander wanted to extend the mandate, but unfortunately, received no approval for it.
The Rwandese are considerable quite far in the processing of their past, there is in Kigali a big memorial with many photos, films, exhibition pieces and a garden with common graves in which 250 000 dead people lie. An urgent monument, particularly as it reminds not only of the genocide here in Rwanda, but also of Nazi Germany, former Yugoslavia, Armenia, Namibia and the Hereros and Cambodia under the red Khmer.

Naymata - clothes of the murdered people

Here I have also met Audrey from Canada again. I met her first in Murchison National Park in Uganda. She works for two months in the commemorative site and could give me of course a good insight into the history, but also in her work.
On one day I have visited with Hans the commemorative sites outside from Kampala. This was quite a kind of travelling – well, I sat on top of a 300-kilogramm-motorcycle…. However, climbing this high motorcycle is another issue. Thankfully enough, there are many little walls, high stones and the like in Rwanda, which I could use to climb this huge bike….
The memorials of Ntarama and Nyamata are very distressing. Basically, these are 2 churches in which 6,000 and 10,000 people were killed. The skulls and bones of the victims are accommodated in the churches in shelves, the clothes lie on the benches. It is not easy to visit these places, but on the other side it is important to see them.

Murambi genocide memorial

It is astonishing how many monuments of the Genozids there are here in the country, above all if one thinks of the discussions with us in Germany. It took us a lot longer than 15 years for our memorials. Here, there are already many of them. Besides, there is a trial for the really big guys during the genocide in Arusha, other have to go to court in the country and there are village trials for the ones, who took part but are seeking for forgiveness. Besides, people try to create school programmers to show of the today's ones and the following generations how all that happened and how one can hopefully avoid a repetition.

Lake Kivu

One afternoon I visited Pierre. He works for the organization mission de la Criox Glorieuse. This organization looks after orphan's children, HIV infected people and others in need. It is important to note, that this organization distributes not simply money to the poorest, but tries to give work to the people or to train them on jobs, so that they can search a work for themselves. The orphan's children live in groups per 6 or 8 children with a so-called mother together. The groups exist either of boys or girls of different age, so that the whole reminds of a family. The separation after gender is a must be, because the children of a group sleep in the same room. The system reminds a little bit of the children's villages SOS where also a woman is responsible for a group of children. More than 80 orphan's children live here and are supported by different organizations. There is a school for children from 3 years and one elementary school.
A fantastically controlled and well functioning organization with own cows, pigs and chickens as well as workshops to the education of carpenters and tailors.

A couple of days I was traveling together with Hans in Rwanda, actually, he was travelling on the motorcycle, I by bus. We agreed always the next hotel to meet again and went from there to day trips by motorcycle. First we went from Kigali to Butare. This is close to the border with Burundi. Some 25 kilometers away, there is the school of Murambi. Here many thousand Tutsi and Hutus fled, but the militia found them and killed everybody. The corpses lie even today in the former classrooms and have been preserved with pulverized lime. It is a memorial hardly to be endured. The bad one is that here also very small children and babies were killed brutally, and one sees all that already very exact. I was glad that I was not here by myself and could discuss the seen with Hans.

On the next day we drove further on to Kibuye, a wonderful place directly at Lake Kivu. This was a real holiday feeling here. A mountain lake at an altitude of 1500 meters, surrounded by mountains, in the lake many small islands, clear water, a good hotel and a restaurant with very good food with view of the lake – what else one needs?
By bus it is easier to come from Butare on the inland route to Kibuye, however, is not so exciting and does not have the nice views like the route along the lake, which Hans did by the motorcycle.

So, the next day, Hans put me on his big motorbike again to take me parts of the way he just came from the other day. It was simply great. Not the road, for sure, as this one was very bad, but the views were just spectacular!
Here at this point again thank you very much to Hans, who drove part of this track even three times just to make me see all these beautiful things as well!
From Kibuye we went to Gisenyi, which is also at Lake Kivu. This road was in bad condition as well, as it took me 5 hours for 115 kilometers by bus. Gisenyi faces a lot of dust at the moment, as all streets are torn open just at the same time and renewed. Because here also the border traffic with Congo goes through, the whole place is dusty, dusty, dusty – so at the moment this one does not win the price as a pearl of Lake Kivu, rather a gigantic dust flag! From there we went to Ruhengeni, where then our ways separated. Hans went further to Uganda, I back to Kigali. These were very nice travel days with an uncomplicated travel partner. I hope very much that he can realize his travel book project and that he will find his dream place for a hostel somewhere in the world. Also, the world is a village and another meeting somewhere in the world is not unlikely.
My last day in Rwanda I spent with Tobi and Barbara from Austria. Barbara is working in Kigali for Unifem, her boyfriend was visiting her for 2 weeks. They offered me a seat in their 4 wheel drive just for the share of gas for a daytrip to Akagera National Park. There is not an abundance of wildlife as in Masai Mara, but it was very nice to see giraffes, antelopes, zebras and hippos. Besides, I had a beautiful day in nice company out in the bush. The landscape is very dry here, so it is an interesting contrast to the rest of Rwanda, I have seen so far.
The evening I spent with Uwe and Andrea from Switzerland. They adopted a little boy from Rwanda and this was the first night he spent with them in the hotel. So, there was something to celebrate, even more, after he fell finally asleep. I am pretty sure to meet them somewhere again, no matter, whether Switzerland, Germany or anywhere in the world.
So, tomorrow, I will leave for Tanzania. But this is another story for another time. Thanks god the world is still big enough for many more adventures.. Let’s go and see them!

Crater Lakes and more crater lakes

So, it was very easy to reach Lake Nkubura, as I needed only 30 minutes more with a motorcycle taxi. It is not really easy to sit with full luggage (big tour backpack and small day backpack) on the back of a motorcycle…. It is not comfortable, in any case.
At Lake NkurubaI did a tour to some of the crater lakes in the area. It is a beautiful landscape of bananas and tea plantations with the crater lakes in between. The lakes are more than 60 meters deep, and they are considered to be free of bilharzias (this is these small worms that bore by the skin and attack the internal organs). But, as said, that disease is not common here. Apart from that, it was too cold to take a swim here, as the lakes are at nearly 1800-metre altitude!

The next highlight of Uganda was half an hour of motorcycle taxi, 5 hours of minibus and then on the next day over again 3 hours of minibus and 45 minutes of motorcycle taxi journey away – Lake Bunyoni. This lake lies away at 2000 meters altitude and is only few kilometers from the border with Rwanda. The lake is wonderful and surrounded by terraced mountains. One knows such terrace fields rather from Nepal than from Africa…
In this area there are due to HIV a lot of orphan´s children. Immediately behind my hotel there was one of the orphanages.                                 Here live 59 children in some small houses, who are looked after by several adults. Well, accommodation is very tight, as there is not enough room to accommodate these children in a proper way, e.g. the 5 smallest children divide a bed. They sleep crosswise, and then five of them fit. Others sleep on the ground. The shell of an additional building stands, however, is still far away from his completion, particularly as currently there is no money to continue.
The children are enthusiastically, when there is a visitor, and then they sing and dance.   
                                                 
Two boys from the orphanage took me against a small donation for the orphanage on a boat tour to some of the islands. This was a good opportunity to get into conversation with the both. Their parents have passed away due to HIV, leaving behind a total of nine brothers and sisters, everybody in the orphanage. Both latest brother and sister have by the birth also HIV. There a reasonable answer is already difficult for one….

Then one of the older brothers has brought me by the motorcycle to the border. Thanks a lot to Gordon; this saved me definitely a lot of waiting. I hope to find a solution to some of the problems they have there in the orphanage.

Tinka from Bigodi - a homestay

My next destination was Fort Portal. This is relatively high altitude and thereby it feels quite chilly. From Fort Portal, I took a shared car to the small village of Bigodi. On a map, one probably will not find this village, as there are just a few hundred people living there.
However, nearby there is Kibale National Forest and there I absolutely wanted to go.
But first, however, to Bigodi and my lodging there: I lived there with the family of John Tinka. Tinka has done a lot for his village which was as poor as most Ugandan villages till 10 years back. However, things changed, when Tinka had the idea about taking advantage out of a swamp just next to the village.

Tinkas homestay, Bigodi

The villagers converted the swamp into a small park with footbridges for visitors, they qualified guides who know a lot about fauna and flora and it worked. Today, there are quite a few tourists visiting the area and pay entry for it. The calculation rose – since some years income comes regularly by the visitors to the local community. Besides, in the meantime, a women's co-operative has formed which pursue a small store with art craft beside the park entrance, a peanut butter factory was founded, a secondary school was built and various home stays accommodate visitors now. The latter means, that tourist can directly live with families and pay for it.

Tinkas homestay, Bigodi

Swamp, Bigodi

I stayed with Tinka, the co-founder of the project. This was definitive with family connection, because here live beside him and his wife still the granny and 9 children between 8 months and 22 years….
During daytime, usually everybody was occupied with various works like laundry washing and ironing, washing dishes, preparing and cooking food or Tinka working in the office…
When it comes to food, because this is asked quite often: In Uganda people eat mainly banana. These can be the sweet bananas as we know them from home, or, however, cooking bananas. They come to almost every food as an addition; the whole is called Matoke and tastes a little like mashed potatoes with light banana mark. Otherwise there is often Posho, maize mash, and beans or cooked beef or chicken.
However, with Tinka and his family I had a lot of fun. In the evening there was singing, dancing or stories were told.
I was very lucky to get a permit for the national park on the spot. Thus I could visit the chimpanzees in the Kibale National Park. Normally one must walk about 1 or 1.5 hours, until the guide can localize the chimps in the park. Also there we had luck. We have found the first chimpanzee's family after 10 minutes. The chimpanzees sit normally high in the trees and are very difficult to take photos. One can hear them, however, far away, because they communicate a lot with each other. The hour with the Chimps passed too fast. It ware simply fantastic!

Kibale National Forest

Presumably it is even more impressive with the gorillas, but to get a permit in short notice is almost impossible, moreover, the permit costs a whooping 500 dollars. However, this is quite too much money….. At that time I thought it might be cheaper in Rwanda, but I learned later that it is the same price.
The next day, I visited the marsh in which also many monkeys live, indeed, no chimpanzees. In addition there come many birds and rare plants. Here I had once again luck, and have got to know 2 ladies from Netherlands, who took me after the tour in their car 20 kilometers towards my next destination.