DRC - Nyiragongo - July 2012

Day 1:  I was not very happy with the "bubble-wrappers" attitude towards me at the airport – they told me I was a rich lady – and once in Rwanda, I felt extremely guilty since the bubble wrapping of my luggage was something I have never done before.  Plastic bags are banned in Rwanda and everything is pristine.  Even the leaves in the streets are being swept and you won’t find a pothole on the roads.

Taxi Rank in Kigali

After a short taxi ride from the airport to the local taxi rank, I paid $3 for a ride all the way to the border of DRC.  I even received an official receipt.  It was hot, but I suffered from a ‘StuckInaTaxiWithaFullBladder” fear - so I did not even bother to buy water along the way.  After an hour, there was an official stop.  But I have been in countries before where the bus/taxi just left passengers behind, so I was not moving from my seat.  Much to my shock the passenger in front of me just threw out his plastic bottle.

In Gyasina, I followed an Ugandian to the border but he told me to rather follow the locals, which I did.  It was not long before I heard “Musungu, Musungu!”.  They were obviously not use to tourists. The Rwanda officials explained to me that they do not have a problem letting me through that specific border post but that I would encounter problems on the DRC side. 

I followed the locals to the wrong border post

It was no problem jumping on a motorbike for a ride to the other border post but my helmet’s visor was cracked and it was only after a while that I realised that the driver was taking me to a guesthouse instead.

My motorbike ride to the right border post

When I saw the huge new building I presumed there would be a huge influx of tourists but I was mistaken and was shown to a dilapidated building.  I was asked for my letter of invitation by the grumpy official and it took me at least 45 minutes to explain to him that I have a visa and therefore don’t need a letter of invitation. I was starting to regret leaving my calming tablets at home but luckily I had proof of payment of my trip to see the volcano with me and he reluctantly stamped my passport.

My 'fancy' shower/bath with 3 taps - and little water

I can’t say the locals were over friendly and I took another motorbike to the hotel and yes, my driver got us lost. A lack of sleep, dehydration and a full bladder made me cranky and my 1^st impression of the hotel was not great.

There was one lonely desk at the reception and no one knew about my reservation but they rushed to clean out a room.  Everything in the room was huge.  The tv screen, the bed, the tiles in the bathroom and there were even 3 different taps in the shower. I was finally able to empty my bladder and drank lots of water.  I was also looking forward to wash 16-hour old sweat off me. And then I discovered that there were only 10 drops of water in the tap and it took me 10 minutes to rinse my hair.  But luckily I had 40 000 seconds to kill!

I went to the local shop next to the hotel to get some water and was quite surprised to see three guys making toasted sandwiches using snackwich machines that was placed on the floor.

There was no fan, a lot of light fittings with very little bulbs in the huge room but luckily it was not hot.  I drifted in and out of sleep.

Day 2:  The touring company ‘forgot’ to pick me up and I spend another day relaxing in Goma. When I asked for a cheaper room, I was shown to a small dingy room which costed $80.  I have paid $30 via booking.com for the huge room so decided to stick to my room with all the fancy taps.

Some of the porters

Day 3:  This time there was no misunderstanding and my driver dropped me at the Kibati station (trailhead for Nyiragongo) by 9:00.  It was quite a big group of people and thank goodness I asked for a porter because it turned out to be quite steep and it was very humid.  I hiked most of the way with a group of elderly men from Singapore. 

At one stage, a tourist was really struggling and my porter offered to carry his backpack as well. 

Once on top, I was shown to a shelter where I quickly changed into warm clothes.  The wind was howling and it was freezing. Luckily I had enough warm clothes to hand out to some girls who were freezing.  

Shelters on top of the volcano

Booze for sale at start of hike

Someone played Lucky Dube’s music and we all started dancing to keep warm.  Back in my shelter which I shared with one of the guides, I could not miss the smell of something rotting.  It turned out to be my backpack that was full of my porter’s sweat.

Dancing to get warm

On top of Nyiragongo

The active volcano - breathtaking

Day 4: After coffee, we started descending.  I could feel my legs and once down, I repacked everything.  The sweat smell was overwhelming.  I was driven to the border and took a bus back to Kigali where I spend one night before flying back to sunny South Africa.