The Gray Crowned Crane, national bird of Uganda
Lake Bunyonyi is the second deepest lake in Africa, at 900 meters... Which is crazy to me! There are a number of islands in the lake, one is a wildlife reserve with zebras and waterbok, and one is big enough to have its own school, church, and hospital. The terrace farming around the lake is super impressive, and steep, with mostly single women maintaining the crops. In the middle of the lake is Punishment Island, which has a crazy story. Until the 1940s, families would bring their daughter here if she got pregnant before she was married, because that meant they would not get a good dowry for her. The island is barely more than a clump of marshy grass. Most girls died within a day or 2, but some would get scooped up by a fisherman who could not afford a dowry. There is one living survivor of Punishment Island alive today, and there's a cool story on her here.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-39576510
So we finished the boat ride and headed back towards Rwanda. The border was again, a complete zoo, and we waited quite some time at the Uganda side, but Rwanda was free and clear. We picked up a friend of Augustine who had been turned away at the border even though her son was Ugandan... And I heavily napped (jet lag style) on the way back to Kigali. Almost slept through Gus getting pulled over and everything.
Our first stop was the Hotel del Mille Collins, aka Hotel Rwanda from the movie, as recommended from the Australian couple. The movie was actually filmed in South Africa, so the building was totally different, but it was amazing to see an absolute luxury hotel that was less than 25 years ago under attack and in the middle of the Rwandan genocide. I had lunch on the terrace and listened to the live music, and of course the singer was singing all American songs but he mixed in one of my faves from here, African Queen.
After lunch we headed to the Rwandan Genocide museum, which I had been really looking forward to. For those who don't know, because I didn't either, here is the short story of what happened. When the Belgians occupied Rwanda they separated the Natives into 3 categories. Hutu (moreso) and Tutsi were the vast majority. The Tutsis were seen as higher class because they had more white features (they did tests like measuring noses) and were given special treatment. Then when Rwanda became independent the Hutus started developing a plan for taking their country back from the Tutsis, as the Hutus saw themselves as the more native people. So the country was in a lot of tension and then in April of 1994 The Hutu president was assassinated by Tutsis. This put all of the Hutu plans in motion. There was a super corrupt radio station and other avenues for the government and Hutu leaders to convince their people to get rid of the Tutsis. The craziest things I learned about this... Neighbors who were friends ended up killing their Tutsi neighbors. Hutus that married Tutsis were targeted because they were not keeping true to their Hutu race. Women and children were targeted because they were the future of the Tutsis. Whole families were killed, but the Hutu wanted to torture the Tutsis first, so parents would be forced to watch their children die and vice versa. This went on for months and the UN did little to help. France was actually supplying arms to the Hutus. At the end, millions of Rwandans died, there were thousands of orphans, and Rwanda had to start to rebuild. The museum was great in explaining this and sending their message. I can't believe it happened in my lifetime. There was also an exhibit about other genocides throughout history, including in Germany, Bosnia, Armenia (which the US fails to recognize as a genocide), among others.
Gus came into the museum with me which was pretty cool of him, and waited as I walked around the site, where 250,000 people are buried. They are still finding the remains of victims even now, 20 years later.
After the museum we chatted on the way to the airport, where I took my first class flight to Dar (I "bid" $50 and it was accepted!) which was a nice comfortable treat. I gave Gus a volleyball t-shirt and bid him wawele (thank you in Ugandan). I was super excited to see my girl in Dar and start the part of my trip where I was with RAFIKI!
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