After breakfast today, some of the group went on a hike to a local volcano with a crater lake, and another group went to see the mountain gorillas. One person went birding.
A rare bifid banana.
We dropped off our laundry with the washer women at the cycling center. We are told that this is the only washing machine we will have easy access to on our entire Africa route.
We have an appointment to see the gorillas in the national park tomorrow, so we took an 8.5 km bike ride up the hill to a center sponsored by Ellen DeGeneres to support the mountain gorillas. This piggybacked on all the pioneering work by Dian Fossey, who was brutally murdered in 1985. The visitor center was very informative. Two other buildings were only open to staff; one for research, the other for education.
A screenshot of Ellen's welcome video.
Supposedly, the last time my clothes will be machine-washed until May.
Like clockwork, there was a torrential downpour at 2 PM, which lasted for about 45 minutes.
Cycling center dogs. They are well fed. In comparison to Egypt, there are very few strays, and I have only seen one cat. We have been told that immediately after the genocide, dogs were routinely shot because they were feeding on the human corpses. However, that was 30 years and many dog generations ago. I have a suspicion that any Rwandan stray dogs and cats that aren't adopted are euthanized.
A rare bifid banana.
We dropped off our laundry with the washer women at the cycling center. We are told that this is the only washing machine we will have easy access to on our entire Africa route.
We have an appointment to see the gorillas in the national park tomorrow, so we took an 8.5 km bike ride up the hill to a center sponsored by Ellen DeGeneres to support the mountain gorillas. This piggybacked on all the pioneering work by Dian Fossey, who was brutally murdered in 1985. The visitor center was very informative. Two other buildings were only open to staff; one for research, the other for education.
A screenshot of Ellen's welcome video.
Supposedly, the last time my clothes will be machine-washed until May.
Like clockwork, there was a torrential downpour at 2 PM, which lasted for about 45 minutes.
Cycling center dogs. They are well fed. In comparison to Egypt, there are very few strays, and I have only seen one cat. We have been told that immediately after the genocide, dogs were routinely shot because they were feeding on the human corpses. However, that was 30 years and many dog generations ago. I have a suspicion that any Rwandan stray dogs and cats that aren't adopted are euthanized.
We had a relaxing afternoon, feasted on an excellent dinner prepared by the bike center staff, then retired early to be ready for our morning departure to see the gorillas.
