Gisenyi and Lake Kivu, Rwanda

With less than one week left in Rwanda, I decided to take the chance to travel again. This time to Rwanda’s western province – a town called Gisenyi and a lake called Kivu, and also Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (a separate blog entry to come).

There were seven of us this time – James, Jackie & Liam, Sylvan, Delfina, myself and James’ friend Patient. James and Patient grew up together for a few years in Gisenyi and Patient knows the area very well. He has also been to DRC many times so we were blessed to have him along. Sylvan had stayed home to watch the house when we all went to Mutara so I was SO excited to bring him along this time. He had talked to me about Lake Kivu months ago, how he dreamed of being able to go there. The look on his face when I told him was incredible!! And Delfina came to care for Liam, but also because she hasn’t had opportunities like this in her life. It was my absolute pleasure to bring her along as well!

We departed early in the morning and this drive was more stunning than the last, if that’s even possible. Again, gorgeous Rwandan hills cultivated and brilliantly green, kids waving and people working, fresh air and complete joy in my heart. After a couple hours, James pointed out the volcanoes where the gorillas live – the Volcano National Park. Maybe next time! We continued driving after a pit stop there and made it to Gisenyi in good time.

After dropping our things off at the guesthouse, we headed straight for the water. Lake Kivu is massive, and quite an interesting lake to learn about. Located almost half and half in Rwanda and DRC, it’s classified as one of three known ‘exploding lakes’ in the world - potentially very dangerous if the large amounts of dissolved gases contained within should ‘erupt'. It has also seen heavy conflict on its shores in the past two decades (both the Rwandan genocide and the recent wars in Congo, of which some conflict is still ongoing).

We caught a glimpse of Kivu on the road coming into Gisenyi, but stepping onto the beach gave a magnificent view! The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, and I squished my toes in the warm golden sand. I noticed that both Sylvan and Delfina had their sandals still on, so I encouraged them to try going barefoot. They had never been to a lake or a beach before so I was sort of teaching them what to do. Amazing what we take for granted isn’t it? I coaxed them into the lake as well, if only up to their calves, and had all of us building castles and things in the sand too. What fun!

Liam had also never been to a beach before and he really wasn’t sure what to think of it. He cried if we put him near or into the water and didn’t like the sand at first either. We kept putting him in the sand and once he got used to that he really enjoyed it. He was picking it up in his hands and feeling it on his toes. Giggles and smiles galore, he ended up covered in it! We had a blast playing with him, what a cutie pie!

By mid afternoon our stomachs could no longer be ignored and we left the lake to grab some buffet lunch. We spent the late afternoon at the posh Lake Kivu Serena hotel back on the the lake shores. We were able to just walk in (very abnormal for them), find a table near the beach and have some drinks. The perfect way to watch the sun fall into the vast lake; a fitting end to a memory filled day for all.