Archive | Africa

Tough touchdown in Paradise

By Heidi Sequenz on 9. August 2011 in Rwanda

small beach on Lake Kivu, guesthouse Malahide Paradis in Gisenye

The name says it all! A gorgeous garden full of exotic plants and flowers, a few tables and wicker chairs tugged in, nicely furnished bungalows, right on the shores of Lake Kivu. It even has a little sandy beach… The staff, the owner Odette and her son bent over backwards to make me feel comfortable.

But all this could not lift my mood. I realized that I felt lonely, me! I was shocked… Last time I was hit by such a crisis was back in 1995, during a blackout in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, when I was rained in and tied to a dark hotel room. But here in the midst of this heavenly place?

Busted flat in Ngororero

By Heidi Sequenz on 9. August 2011 in Rwanda

The hardest thing for me was being stared at and drawing so much attention, as a European woman traveling by herself.

eatery in the village of Ngororero

A three hour wait in the village of Ngororero remains engrained in my memory! After Paul had dropped me off at the bus station in Gitarama, half way between Lake Kivu and
Kigali, I squeezed into a minibus to Gisenye. At the busy bus station, the usual commotion started over the bike, but afterwards the focus was entirely on me. Everybody on the cramped minibus knew where I was going. The driver had instructions to look after me and eventually to drop me in the village of Ngaruroro.

Congo – too close to be true

By Heidi Sequenz on 9. August 2011 in Rwanda

Lake Kivu, looking toward the Congo

Going to Goma was high up on my agenda. I had set my mind to see what the Congolese side of the lake looked like and maybe even trek the Gorillas from this side of the Virungas Mountains. So what a shock when I came across a blog informing that officials now charge a scandalous 275 USD for a visa issued at the border.

What first seemed like a hoax was later confirmed by John, the hotel manager of the Step Down Hotel, in Kigali. He recommended trying the Congolese Embassy in Kigali. By the time my moto driver found it, it had closed for the weekend. I could not spend three more days in Kigali and simply gave up on the idea…

Royal Nwamza

By Heidi Sequenz on 9. August 2011 in Rwanda

King Musinga

Very handsome they were, the kings of Rwanda: tall, lean, fine facial features and self-assured. The numerous photos of the royal family dating back to the 19^th century are the most interesting displays in the new palace built in 1932. It is now part of the Rukali Royal Museum high up on Nyanza Hill.

The real attraction, however, is the reconstructed Ancient Royal Palace. It immediately reminded me of the Dorzi beehive dwellings in southern Ethiopia. What today looks like a gigantic hut was then the centerpiece of the pompous court that even impressed the German colonizers.

Until 1899, a permanent royal palace was unknown. That very year, the king decided it was high time to break with the traditions of moving from residence to residence. Thus he had one built a few kilometers from Nyanza. And travelling they liked, the Rwandan kings. Photos show them visiting European monarchs, quite at ease in tiny airplanes.

Butare – It’s the journey that matters

By Heidi Sequenz on 8. August 2011 in Rwanda

The motto - urban transport in Rwanda

A devoted Christian started preaching, singing and swinging a bible as soon as the bus pulled out of Kigali. His shouting was nerve wrecking. Soon the cramped bus was divided into two camps: those who appreciated the spectacle and others who did not. For a good reason - Mr. Preacher was disrupting a Rwandan passion: shouting into a mobile. I hoped my taking photos would irritate him enough to stop, but eventually it was sheer exhaustion, unfortunately only shortly before Butare.

Kibuye on divided Lake Kivu

By Heidi Sequenz on 7. August 2011 in Rwanda

Heidi loves Kibuye on the shores of Lake Kivu

My favorite place at Lake Kivu? Kibuye! There, the lake meanders deep into the green shoreline, creating narrow inlets. These are lined by green hills thick with eucalyptus and pine trees.

The trip from Kigali to Kibyue was my ultimate Rwandan experience. Paul, an Australian I had met in Kigali, invited me to join him motor-biking across the country. I did not think twice. Every village we passed, everywhere we stopped, locals surrounded us and marveled at Paul’s cool bike. He always allowed kids to climb on the seat, start and turn up the engine. It was so funny to watch their faces when the engine roared! Some smiled, others got really scared…

When churches became deathtraps

By Heidi Sequenz on 7. August 2011 in Rwanda

the Church of Nyamata - the piles of clothes remind of the thousands of Tutsis murdered there

The iron door was forced open by grenades. Then the killing started. The bloodstains can still be seen on the bullet-ridden ceiling. Thousands of Tutsis, who had sought refuge in the Church of Nyamata, hoped to escape the slaughter.

They actually had good reasons to believe so. In 1992, hundreds of Tutsis hid in this church and remained unharmed. Could they possible assume that a fellow Christian would kill them in the House of God? Today, piles and piles of blood-soaked clothes, taken off the corpses, remind of the massacre.

The Rwandan Genocide

By Heidi Sequenz on 6. August 2011 in Rwanda

Foto of the victim of the genocide taken inside the Genocide Memorial in Kigali

Between April and July 1994, within 100 days, approximately 1.000.000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed, while the world stood by and watched - hacked to death with machetes or other farm tools, strangled, drowned in septic tanks, palled, shot, buried alive or killed by methods beyond imagination. The Hutu militia was openly supported by the Rwandan army. The few UN soldiers there were forced to watch and the international community was busy defining if the mass killings were “acts of genocide” or indeed “genocide”.

Those three months of killing and murder were actually only the ultimate climax in a long lasting conflict that roots in colonial times. In pre-colonial times, the terms Hutus and Tutsis were used to describe social classes: the pastoralist Tutsis on the one hand and the Hutu peasants on the other.

Déjà vu at the Hotel des Mille Collines (Hotel Rwanda)

By Heidi Sequenz on 5. August 2011 in Rwanda

Hotel Mille Collines in Kigali, the setting of the famous film "Hotel Rwanda"

Nobody who has watched “Hotel Rwanda” can leave Kigali without a visit to “Hotel des Mille Collines”, where the manager Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu, sheltered and saved 1.250 Tutsis. In 2009, I had the privilege to meet and talk to Mr. Rusesabagina in Vienna. One sentence remains ingrained in my memory, because it summarized the horror: “In 1994 in Rwanda, people sat on a pile of corpses and smoked a cigarette”.

Rwanda – “The Switzerland of Africa”

By Heidi Sequenz on 4. August 2011 in Rwanda

Motos - Rwanda's urban transport, always carrying a helmet for their passengers

Clean, punctual, law abiding, orderly, expensive… Are you thinking of Switzerland? A few hours in Rwanda and these attributes are all around you!

Squeaky clean: in Kigali, in the most remote village, simply everywhere! None of the usual plastic litter - Rwanda banned plastic bags in 2008. Bus schedules are taken seriously: if your transport is scheduled to leave at 10:30, it does so. Never ever will you see a Moto-driver or his passenger without a helmet.

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Archive | Africa

Tough touchdown in Paradise

Busted flat in Ngororero

Congo – too close to be true

Royal Nwamza

Butare – It’s the journey that matters

Kibuye on divided Lake Kivu

When churches became deathtraps

The Rwandan Genocide

Déjà vu at the Hotel des Mille Collines (Hotel Rwanda)

Rwanda – “The Switzerland of Africa”