Rwanda - July 2012

Karisimbi, the highest mountain in Rwanda:  I can’t keep up with the different time zones – this morning I was an hour early.  

I had Mr Day - the movie star - as my guide, Emmanuel, a feisty Italian who demanded to either have his own guide or a $100 discount as fellow hiker. John (my poor porter that had to carry my smelly backpack and then Claude - Mr Day’s porter. 

The feisty Italian

Mr Day

20 wood carriers and … 20 soldiers.  I was expecting 2 rangers with weapons to scare buffaloes away.  I am dying to take pics but was explicitly told that it was forbidden. One carried a bazooka that I was sure would blow 10 elephants up in 1 go.  I huffed and puffed for 6 hours before I pitched my tent at 3500 m. 

Our campsite

Mr Day and 2 porters slept in a contraption that looks like a manger. Except for 2 soldiers, the rest are inconspicuous.  

At 16:00, whilst I was sitting around a fire, they appeared out of nowhere before they disappeared again in different directions, carrying some wood. They were still grumpy – or  maybe they were instructed not to smile and mix with tourists?  It seemed as if Mr Day had  flu.  I crawled into my tent to read at 18:00.

I was halfway dressed before I realised it was only 04:00 and not 5:00 so I tried to be quiet till the Italian’s alarm went off.  I love hiking in the dark, so without consulting the Italian, I woke Mr Day at 5:10 and advised him to stay in his manger and sleep off his flu. 

Hiking through some bushes

I knew we had John, Claude and an undisclosed number of soldiers to prevent me from getting lost. 3 hours of huffing and puffing followed and because of the altitude, I had to rest often. I also took some pictures of the soldiers whenever I thought I could get away with it.

The last bit to the top was quite slippery, but luckily they had some fixed ropes to hold on to.  I was disappointed with all the steel and other building material lying on top – but I trust Mr Day will make sure that the Parks board remove it. 

The last stretch to the top

I hauled out the South African flag and several pictures were taken BEFORE I was approached by 3 soldiers who asked me if they could take a picture with me.  I was flabbergasted. A photo shoot on top of Karisimbi with the 3 soldiers followed.  Two of them still refused to smile and unfortunately, the one put down his gun to take selfies so I still don’t have any good pictures of the weapons.

On top of Karisimbi

I took my time going down the steep volcano (5 hours).  I knew I was going to miss being called “Missis’ by the Italian guy, “Madam” by Mr Day, “Mam” by the porters and … well, being ignored by the soldiers.

On top of the clouds