3 Hour Tour to Peace Island

Kibuye, Rwanda-

Lake Kivu runs the entire west coast of Rwanda and creates the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The shortest route to Lake Kivu from Kigali takes you straight west to the small town of Kibuye. The trip there was on a tightly packed minibus. Taylor and I left Friday night. He's about 6'3" and just doesn't fit well into a minibus. I'm 5'8" (and a quarter...) and I don't fit well into a minibus. That night we made it though and arrived at Hotel Bethanie. The next day two coworkers (Ty and Sabriya) met us along with Thomas (a friend from Kigali).


Hotel Bethanie from our cruise boat/canoe.

Saturday morning we rented a canoe but it was big enough to fit six so that might make it a boat. Not sure. Or do boats have engines? This boat didn't. So six of us took off on lake kivu. We couldn't convince Ty, she's considerably smarter than us, but we picked up two Canadien travellers. They added some unwelcome weight (they weren't huge but the boat wasn't either). Taylor and I paddled 2 km looking for Peace Island. To get there we had to maneuver by a few other islands and we arrived pretty exhausted. Then we found that all of the boats dock on the other side of the island so we paddled some more. We wanted to make a point that there weren't any other boats but paddled to the other side instead.



Our boat, parked correctly. Notice that it doesn't seem like 6 people could fit and maybe they shouldn't.

The island has its own restaurant, bar, and monkey. I don't think the monkey has a name but he is the self-proclaimed tour guide of the Island. We walked the perimeter of the island which only took 10 minutes and the monkey showed us the way the entire time. Monkeys are strange. You want to be friendly with them...then they yawn or somehow show you their big monkey teeth. I start thinking about what we would do if the monkey bit someone. I say that if it bites me, I turn around and bite anyone that doesn't do their part in getting me some medical attention. Anyway. The monkey was pretty fun. He had something tied around his waist which made me worry about how he's treated. People also say he likes beer which also seems strange.




Sabriya being a little nervous. I kept my distance. I'm telling you the guy had fangs.



...and a slight itch.



Me touring the island. Notice all of the hills in the background. They never end.






We ordered some drinks and shish-ka-bobs (brochettes). The brochettes were exremely fresh. Shortly after placing our order we see the waiter walk by with a goat. Strange and a little sad but honestly pretty good in the end. (Sorry Kasi)



That night we sat at the hotel restaurant. As we looked out over the lake you could see the glow of volcanoes off in the distance. It wasn't that they were erupting but the magma (I'm glad this blog site finally contains some magma) was making the hill side glow. Pictures didn't do it justice and maybe my description doesn't either but trust that it was one of the more impressive things that I have seen.