Rwanda's Resort Town

Gisenyi is billed in Lonely Planet East Africa as a kind of Riviera of Rwanda, and while I definitely wouldn’t go that far, it ended up being a great place to spend a couple days. We woke up on Saturday morning and went for a walk all along the length of the road that runs along the lakeshore. It was quite strange the two very different faces of the town—one, your standard small East African town with a market, dirt roads, and small shops; the other, a very resort kind of place, with a grand palm-lined street, and even a very upscale Serena Lake Kivu hotel, with a gorgeous pool right on the white sand beach. The other thing about Gisenyi is that it’s right on the Rwanda/Democratic Republic of Congo border.

We walked down the lovely lakeshore road and ended up face to face with the DRC. So naturally we decided we must cross into it—for that all important stamp in the passport of course! (I’m not going to deny it!) So we made plans to go back to the church, pack our bags, and maybe stay in the DRC that night. But actually I was also interested in seeing Goma, the small town just on the DRC side of the border, which lies at the base of a huge volcano that erupted in 2002. Not many people were killed because there was adequate warning, but the town itself was devastated and it’s still extremely evident today. We went to the immigration office at the border, bought our $35 visa and crossed into the DRC. We walked along a dusty road wondering where the town actually began. Also, all the hotels were booked because there was a big peace conference going on that weekend and so we agreed to return to our church in Rwanda after seeing the city.

Well, easier said than done. We were walking and walking and there wasn’t much to see. Where’s the lava I kept asking? We found ourselves on a street with some shops and went in to buy a croissant, and as luck would have it, that’s where our day took a positive turn. The person who helped us ended up being the owner of the shop and he gave us the croissant for free (love it!) but even better, he lent us his driver for the day to take us around and see the sights of Goma. Not that there’s all that much per se, but the city is actually very big and spreadout and would have taken us ages to walk around. And the lave and view of the volcano was on the other side of town. Willy our driver was so kind and pleasant and even escorted us into the large market (not sure how many muzungus ever make it there!) and helped us buy some Congolese fabric.
The black dried lava was a striking sight and piled very deep. People were using it to build fences around their small houses and plots. We passed some UN peace-keepers, saw some of the universities in town, and some of the upscale hotels on the lake. Then Willy dropped us back at the border and we went for a quick Primus before rushing back to make the 6pm border closing. That night was another quiet one in Gisenyi, but the next morning we got up and made our way back to the beautiful beach at the Serena hotel. After some DRC imported croissants on the beach and coffee, we took a drive along the coast to the Primus brewery which is located there. Unfortunately it was closed to visits on weekends, but we saw it from the outside, and then stopped in at a beautiful, peaceful little resort with a private beach and had some beers and a swim. We went back to the Serena for some more beach time and then headed back to town to catch our bus to Ruhengeri, the base town for the gorilla trekking.

So tomorrow’s the big day and an early wake up call. Can’t wait!