Biking the Congo-Nile Trail

Tea Estates on the way to Gisenyi

Lake Kivu

After seeing the gorillas and descending Mount Karisimbi we got back in our 4WD in our drenched condition and drove back to the main road from the base of the mountain. Once on the main highway, the driver flagged down a taxi and helped us get on our way to Gisenyi which was the next destination on my short journey through this small East African country. The ride to Gisenyi passed through lush tea estates and the verdant scenery was made even more dramatic by that afternoon’s downpour.

The Nyiragongo volcano 

Gisenyi, a town of about a hundred thousand people sits prettily on the north-eastern rim of Lake Kivu and is the resort destination for Rwandans. It’s contagious to the city of Goma which is a mirror image of Gisenyi’s location on Lake Kivu but on the other side of the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The city of Goma might sound familiar to my well informed readers since it was ravaged by volcanic eruptions from the Nyiragongo volcano as recently as 2002. I faintly remember seeing flashing images of the devastation it caused on one of the new channels more than a decade ago…not knowing that one day I would be laying my bare eyes on its imposing silhouette.

View of Lake Kivu from the porch

Fishermen heading to the lake to catch sambaza

The hotel that was booked in Gisenyi had a fantastic location right by the lake with a small sandy beach included. It was a welcome change to get a nice hotel on my travels rather than the more humble comforts of the tent and sleeping bag.

Balance

View of Gisenyi from the top of the hill

It felt good to not having to put on my flashlight in the twilight hours each night and set up the tent and then wake up early the next morning and repeat the task to pack things. I guess sometimes it’s nice to take in the common comfort of life while traveling but I hope I don't get too used to it :)

Getting a ride...helmet provided by the driver

Sunset across Lake Kivu

Lake Kivu is actually a ticking time bomb because the lake has a huge amount of dissolved methane and carbon dioxide deep in its waters making it a potential exploding lake similar to Lake Nyos in Cameroon. If the lava flow from Nyiragongo ever reaches the lake it could instantly decimate millions of humans and animals in and around the lake. You can read more about exploding lakes here.

Fishermen getting ready for the night. The lantern is used
to attract the fish before they are scooped up

At twilight...the lantern can be seen as distant lights

The following day in Gisenyi it rained the whole day and I ended up spending most of the morning waiting out the downpour; it was a good thing that it was a gap day on the itinerary. Although I was in the comfort of my hotel room while it poured outside, the view from the porch was spectacular. Unlike me, the local fishermen did not have an off day in the rains and all through the morning their unique fishing boats which are essentially three boats joined together like a catamaran boat returned back to shore after a night of fishing sambaza - a type of freshwater sardine; from the depths of the lake.

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Intore dancing troupe

Intore dance

Breakfast with a view

As afternoon rolled by the rains relented providing a window of opportunity to get around the pretty town on Rwanda’s ubiquitous moto-taxis. These taxis on motorcycle are common is several African countries including Liberia where there are call as pem-pem and are dreaded even by Liberians. Rwanda however, seems to have done a good job of regulating them.

It felt perfectly safe to ride on one of these moto-taxis with the driver diligently following all traffic signals. Wearing the helmet was also mandatory for both the driver and the passenger which was further reassuring.

Across the town there were some very good views but the best was from the hotel I was staying at and no wonder we returned back to it for dinner. Coincidentally the owner had arranged for traditional Intore dancing that night and it made for a very pleasant accompaniment to the battered and fried sambaza I had for dinner.

Starting point

What is that?

Typical view of hamlets and lake from the mountains

Locally made bike?

Lady selling sambaze

Sambaza..fresh water sardines

Although Gisenyi was a pleasant little town it was always meant to be a stopover between the adventures of the mountain gorillas and biking the Congo Nile trail. The idea of biking was solely Silvia’s…I just tagged along. She did all the research and arranged the logistics. While she is an avid biker it’s more a leisure activity for me but I was keen to see what Rwanda had in store especially since I had a couple days to spare before I headed to India.

We picked up our bikes from Rwandan Adventures, a company run by a Brit expat living in Rwanda and it came included with helmets and gloves. Not wanting to carry our luggage we even got a porter to ride with us hoping that he would also act as a guide but it didn't quite work out as we had thought since he couldn't speak any English or French. He could only speak Rwanda’s national language…Kinyarwanda which we had no clue about.

On the first day we had a ride of 50 odd kilometers from Gisenyi to Kinunu passing numerous hills, hamlets and coffee plantations as we made our way south along the eastern edge of Lake Kivu. The scenery was spectacular and the people friendly. As we passed through the small mountain villages the kids came out waving and shouting “muzungu”. This is not the first time I had experienced something akin to this. In fact my very second post on this blog was about me biking in Liberia and having kids run behind calling me Whymann (Whiteman) so I knew that muzungu probably meant white person. I had picked up the word “Muraho” which meant hello in Kinyarwanda and every time I used it the locals got a kick hearing me say that.

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Plucking the coffee

Coffee fruit

Evening across Lake Kivu

Porter & Silvia

Washing the coffee fruit

Sorting the coffee

The first day was supposed to have the steepest climbs and it certainly was challenging. Silvia and the porter meanwhile were pretty much kicking my butt as I occasionally struggled to keep up trying to fiddle with the gears. Towards the top of the mountains where the slope got steeper I just got down and preferred to walk rather than pedal. Seeing the porter do the steep sections easily with all the weight brought a bit of realism to my thought of being fit. To make myself feel better I kept on telling myself that I was in Rwanda for vacation and not an Ironman challenge.

Six hours of riding through the beautiful countryside which including a stopover at one of the villages for lunch and we reached Kinunu, a pleasant lakeside town where we would be spending the night. We were put up at the Kinunu Guesthouse with a scenic view of the lake and surrounded by a garden full of fruiting guavas, oranges, pineapples, papaya and mango which felt like a bit of utopia. Hungry after the long ride, I could not wait to climb the guava tree to get my hands on some its fresh fruit.

After getting a quick shower, we walked to the nearby coffee plantation where we met the owner of the guest house /coffee plantation watching diligently as the workers washed the coffee fruit. He could speak in English but preferred French so I had to rely on Silvia to translate the most important details of coffee processing.

Sun drying the coffee seeds

Coffee peeling machine

Owner of the plantation at Dinner

Draging myself us the hill

Over the excellent home cooked country style dinner he shared some fascinating details of his life in Rwanda before the civil war; his flight during the genocide and how he returned back to resuscitate his coffee plantation. It was the most amazing dinner I have had in a long time.

The second day of biking was supposed to be longer and more challenging so we got an early start. While the first day had us biking through dirt roads which were also used by the occasional truck and motorbikes, the second day we were on real biking trails for most of it. Although we had several long climbs, the gradient was gradual compared to the previous day as we constantly ascended and descended between 1400 and 1750 meters. Biking the second day was comfortable perhaps due to me having a better handle of the gears and a better pedaling technique…at least that is what I think. Next time I go biking with Lionel I will try to validate the effectiveness of this new technique.

When we passed by it seemed as the kids rushed out from classes

Cleaning the bikes while
the villagers looked on. Each kid
for a few francs for helping us

3 to push the bikes & 1 to carry their footwear

Biking trail

Followed by the school kids as i go downhill

Biking Trail...we did the yellow

Vehicle breakdown causing a roadblock

The trail is interestingly called “Congo-Nile”, which is a bit of a misnomer because it does not hug either of the two iconic African rivers. The name is probably derived from the Congo Nile Divide Mountains which separates the drainage basins of the Nile and Congo rivers. To the west of the mountains lies the Congo basin and the rains to the east end up in the Nile after passing through several of East Africa’s rift valley lakes.

After another long but spectacular day of biking the remaining 60 odd kilometers we finally made it to Kibuye and thankfully the rain stayed away for most of the two days. The only time we had some problems was when we traversed through a swampy pass in the mountains where we had to negotiate sticky and slippery mud.

The actually Congo Nile trails goes much longer all the way to the town of Cyangugu at the southern tip of the lake taking a further three days but the most beautiful section was from Gisenyi to Kibuye and two days of biking was good enough for me.

There are a lot of tourists who visit Rwanda each year but my guess is that there are not a lot of them who make their way to this wonderful biking trail which is not surprising since the trail was just recently started with the help of Rwanda Development Board (RDB), the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and a couple more foundations promoting a sustainable, community-based tourism opportunities. Bit of a pity in my eyes because the scenery along the trail is simply outstanding.

As had been the case for the nights during the biking trip, the hotel to rest my weary legs was beside Lake Kivu which was good because it would be the last few views I would have of stunning Lake Kivu. The next morning I had to get back to Kigali. My journey in Rwanda was winding down and India beckoned and I was quite surprisingly keyed up for it.