Itinerary
We arrive in Kigali and settle in to our comfortable and cosmopolitan accommodation in the heart of the city before our adventure begins tomorrow. If we arrive in good time, we may be able to head out into town to explore independently before dinner in the hotel restaurant this evening. We'll retire early to get a good night's sleep ahead of tomorrow's UCI Road World Championships loop ride.
After a hearty breakfast, we'll get set up on our bikes for the next two weeks and head out into the city. Our guide will take us on a lap of the UCI Road World Championships course. This is a hilly route with some testing climbs, so we'll be thankful of our MTB gearing as we complete the lap, recounting the drama that will have recently unfolded just a month or so before we take on our challenge. On Sunday mornings, twice a month, here in Kigali, the roads are closed for leisure use only, so where possible, and with care, we will be able to enjoy our ride on closed roads without any motorised vehicles to worry about. This forward thinking initiative has proven very popular, and whilst this is a great thing for our group to be a part of, we must also be careful and mindful of other users, which will likely consist of lots of runners, walkers, and other cyclists. Enjoy the atmosphere and soak into life in the heart of Africa. After we've completed our morning ride and enjoyed a buffet lunch at a local restaurant, we'll turn our attentions to the Kigali Genocide Memorial for an afternoon of reflection and some grounding in what makes Rwanda the place that it is today, in light of the suffering and difficult times that had gone before. A sobering but important visit and a vital way to begin our explorations of this beautiful country. We'll retire once more to our hotel for a second night in the city before starting our journey around Rwanda in earnest.
We will leave Kigali after breakfast at the hotel this morning and travel south towards the Kitabi Eco Centre, located at the southern edge of Nyungwe National Park. Along the way, we'll enjoy a coffee break at the Stafford Coffee Shop, one of many emerging fine coffee shops in a country that has produced and exported beans for generations but only recently developed the coffee culture to accompany its excellent production. We'll also have an opportunity to interact with local artisan craft makers at the non-profit Azizi Life, picking up a souvenir or two, or perhaps learning how their wares are created from the producers themselves.
After we've fuelled up and paid for our souvenirs, it's back on the road to the King's Palace Museum for an insightful afternoon learning all about the history of the Kingdom of Rwanda and how royalty lived both in the days of the Kingdom, as well as under the more recent Belgian rule. We'll then travel on to hopefully reach the Kitabi Eco Centre before dusk, to soak in the incredible views afforded from its lofty position amongst the steep sided tea farmed hills, and the rising mists from the cloud forest of Nyungwe beyond. Dinner will be here before retiring to our basic but quirky rooms built in the style of the grass hut king's chambers we toured around earlier in the day.
Breakfast on the terrace this morning will be one to remember, as the white necked ravens catch the breeze overhead and the trees of Nyungwe breathe out the warm mists into the hills, completing a view that makes your African tea taste even sweeter. We will have a short but atmospheric ride this morning, into the heart of the forest to eventually find the visitor centre at Uwinka. We will start out through the last of the tea fields on asphalt, before rising into the edge of the national park, the sights and sounds changing all around us, from wide open farmed hillsides to thick air and impenetrable forest. We eventually finding our turn off onto a newly installed dirt track for bikes, and you'll be one of the first tour groups to use it, designed by African Parks, the National Parks management company of Nyungwe, to encourage users into this beautiful and unique landscape. This rainforest is believed to be one of the oldest in all of Africa, and provides the watershed for both the Congo and Nile rivers. Look out for black-fronted duiker, a tiny forest antelope, and L'Hoest's and Colobus monkeys that often hang out on the road verges, as you wend your way through this ancient Afromontane forest.
Today's ride ends at the National Park headquarters at Uwinka, where we'll be treated to lunch and more great coffee. This afternoon, hopefully dodging the heaviest downpours, we'll head into the park on the Igishigishigi trail to the 200m long canopy walkway bridge keeping our eyes and ears open, hoping to spot some of the 13 primate species and over 300 species of bird that call this forest home. This evening we stay at the campsite near the national park headquarters, deep within the rainforest on a stilted platform among the canopy. You'll drift off to sleep enveloped in the sound safari of the rainforest at night.
This morning we will wake at dawn as the soundtrack shifts from cicadas and frogs, to birdsong, and have a breakfast among the trees of this magical reserve. After breakfast we meet our guides and collect our sticks, vital support for our off-trail walk through the forest on a path cut out by machete by our guide, to seek out the troop of some 300 strong colobus monkeys, the largest troop of this species known to exist. This wonderful group of characters are arboreal by nature, and it will be possible to spot them leaping from branch to branch above our heads, whilst mothers nurse white furred babies and others preen each other on open branches, their tails hanging down like bell ringers ropes from the boughs above.
After a captivating morning surrounded by these photogenic primates we jump back on our bikes to commence the next leg of our gravel biking journey around Rwanda. Today we'll head down through the rainforest and back out onto the open farmed slopes to the magnificent Lake Kivu. Our route takes us on dirt roads, predominantly downhill passing through the edges of the forest, through villages lined with smiling and happy faces, eventually finding views of the lake. We skirt the shores heading to a promontory on the lake and our campsite for the evening, a world away from last night's camp, surrounded by the peace of the lake, save perhaps for a few singing fisherman.
Waking up to beautiful views of Lake Kivu and the rainforest clad hills of the Congo beyond, we'll take breakfast at the hotel before our ride for the day begins. After a mini prologue into nearby Rugabano village, we will stop for a coffee or perhaps an African tea (delicious milky tea steeped with lots of ginger) with a difference at the Sangira Restobar and academy. We'll have a tour of the facilities here, and learn all about how the benefactors of this trust have set up a catering and hospitality college for underprivileged locals and particularly women, of the community.
After our educational drinks stop it's on with the ride, and although short in distance, there are three significant climbs as we make our way inland, away from Lake Kivu and then track North to our next destination further along the shores of this great lake. We'll pass through predominantly arable farmland today, surrounded by the villages that are fed and financed by these slopes, common crops including coffee, tea, eucalyptus, and cassava. This evening we reach our next accommodation before dinner, an eco-lodge on the shores of Lake Kivu, with beautiful views north across this seemingly unending waterscape.
The next couple of days provide a tougher challenge than those that have gone before, but hopefully by now, we have settled into a rhythm and cycling on the dirt roads of Rwanda is beginning to feel like second nature. There are again three main climbs, predominantly on dirt roads, with the largest being 7km long and with some sections of over 15% gradient, which will feel like a tough day out on the bike.
Our route will again come away from the lake into the interior, with smiley happy faces and giggling school children lining the roads all the way along the route. Look out for cyclist traders carrying their goods to and from market, sometimes with loads of over 300 kilos, including sugar palms, banana beer, and coal. Our last climb and descent down to the lakeshore includes a short section on busier asphalt roads through Mugonero, before a final 10 km to the lodge on the lakeshore. We'll take dinner here and retire to our rooms after another wonderful ride in the thousand hills of Rwanda.
Accommodation
Lodge with swimming pool
From our excellently positioned lodge this morning, we will enjoy another great breakfast, being mindful to stock up on energy reserves before heading back out onto the dirt roads for a challenging but rewarding day on our bikes. Unlike the last couple of undulating days, this day consists of one almost continuous climb, starting out initially on the dirt road we used to reach last night's lodge to get back out towards the hills. After a short stretch on asphalt, our climb into the hills intensifies. Most sections are between 4 and 8% but there are a few short sections of steeper rise, the steepest being around 15%. We reach our highpoint for the day at 36 kilometres in, at nearly 2,500m, and we're already heading north back towards the lakeshore. From here there is an almost completely uninterrupted, but nonetheless winding descent all the way back down through countryside, villages and eventually through the bustling streets of Karongi to the lake edge and our hotel for tonight.
Once off the bikes, we should have some time to relax for a short while in the afternoon, before our paddle at sunset on the lake. The waters are refreshing but warm, and usually millpond still, perfect for this evening's activity. Whether new to the discipline or a returning kayaker, we are confident of a great time on the sea kayaks cruising around the multifaceted bays of the lake. Hammerkop nest in the trees around here, and we can often see pied kingfishers hovering close to the shore, before diving down into the water after small fish. We'll explore the bays and islands in our craft and learn the basics of paddling with our expert guides, enjoying the peace and picture perfect views over the water at sunset, before paddling back to the hotel to freshen up for our well-earned dinner.
Accommodation
Hotel with swimming pool
This morning, breakfast at the hotel precedes a motor boat transfer from our peaceful bay opposite the hotel, to a promontory a little further up the coast. Our bikes will be loaded onto one boat, whilst we travel in the second, around the islands and bays of this corner of Lake Kivu. Napoleon Island, is shaped like the general's hat, and is home to a sizeable colony of fruit bats, you may be able to see them roosting in the boughs of the trees as you pass. Other smaller islands are occasionally inhabited by swimming cows, venturing out across the water to find fresh grass to graze.
Once back on land, we point our backs to the lake and ride away into the hills bound for Gishwati National Park. Our route although shorter than the last few days, contains a very steady but almost constant climb from the lake edge up into the hills. We will need plenty of sustenance and water to keep us going today as the route traverses up, first along the infamous Congo Nile Mountain Bike Trail, on occasionally steep and unrelenting terrain. The views then open up as we roll through tea plantations and mixed use farmland with dotted villages over more undulating and less steep terrain for a time, before the air thins and the hill sides steepen once more as we climb into the higher reaches of today's stage, and the edge of the Gishwati Forest. Tonight we stay in functional lodge accommodation outside the old forest boundary, in a beautiful hillside location with great views at 2,700m above sea level.
Although once a thriving forest rich with native flora and fauna of many varieties, this landscape is now a shadow of its former self. During and immediately after the genocide that ripped through the country in the early 1990's, this area was quickly populated by fleeing peoples of the Tutsi ethnic group, who established subsistence farming practices, eventually ridding the hillsides of their ancient forest. Since then, subsistence farming has partly given way to tea plantations, of which we will see many today. There are still however, some remnants of the forest, and where it does exist, it thrives with birdlife and some primates, including chimpanzees. Where possible, this forest is once again expanding, thanks to some heroic conservation efforts from the local community.
We'll ride end to end through this burgeoning conservation success story on undulating, graded dirt roads that wind their way north through pockets of forest and open plantation eventually descending to reach Mukamira, and a small but perfectly formed coffee shop which has our local agents doing backflips of excitement over the quality of their wares! A just reward after a great day on the bike, enjoying the patchwork contrasts of the open tea fields, and the occasional envelopes of shade and gentle bird and bug thrum of the fragmented forest network. A short transfer after the coffee shop takes us on to the Ellen DeGeneres Gorilla Fund (optional visit: price $15), a perfect introduction to tomorrow's gorilla trekking experience. We finally catch another short transfer onto our accommodation for the next two nights in Musanze, near to the boundary of the Volcanoes National Park.
We wake this morning in our lodge in Musanze in the far north west of Rwanda, in Volcano country. The buildings, pavement and earth have all darkened to a deep hummus rich colour, sometimes red and sometimes black, remnants of the lava fields that have gone before. From the west to the north, five perfectly conical volcanoes, forming the heart of the Virunga Transfrontier Park, punctuate the skyline. Within the lush green rainforest that surrounds these geological giants is the largest concentration of mountain gorillas left anywhere on earth. There are more than ten mountain gorilla families in the Rwandan portion of the park, and we will visit them (this visit requires a permit that needs to be paid for in advance - see 'Park Fees and Permits' page in essential information tab) and spend an hour in their beautiful, boisterous, and powerful presence. An experienced gorilla guide will join us, take us to the edge of their territory, and brief us on how to behave around these magnificent animals to ensure minimal impact on their daily habits, before we go forth to meet them. This is arguably one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on earth. After an hour we return back to base, our cameras bursting with pictures and memories that will stay with us for a lifetime.
This afternoon, if time allows, we will make a visit to the Africa Rising Cycling Centre, and learn how the national cycling team was founded and how it attempts to support current and future talents and catapult them from their humble beginnings onto the world stage. A fascinating visit, the particular highlight being a bike workshop that would likely be the envy of every garage based bike mechanic in Europe and beyond!
For a potted history of this incredible movement, watch the film: Rising From Ashes.
After a brilliant rest day, we'll fuel up in the hotel restaurant ahead of the final two days riding through the Twin Lakes region.
After a day of wonders in the North West reaches of Rwanda, we head out today to the next geographic wonder, Twin Lakes. Once one large lake, now split in two after a tectonic shift thrust a ridge up through the centre of the water mass many thousands of years ago. We will head out after breakfast and before the heat of the day, on dirt roads climbing first to Kinigi, where we may have met our gorilla guides the day before, skirting the lava laden field networks that border the Volcanoes National Park rainforest boundary, and then heading east and generally downhill towards the Twin Lakes region. Our accommodation for the night is perched in the heart of this tectonic ridge, and our days riding will conclude with a climb up to it's lofty position, affording magnificent views of both Lake Ruhondo and Lake Burera.
This shorter day will give us chance to reach our lodge in good time, allowing us some space to relax and take in the views before freshening up for dinner. A laid-back ride after a no doubt fantastic rest day in and around the Volcanoes National Park the day before.
After drinking in the views and all the fresh Rwandan coffee and tea we can get our hands on this morning, we head back out onto the dirt roads for our final undulating day, which is never flat, but gifts us with three lovely descents. The first descent is offered straight out of the lodge door, along the ridge between the lakes heading south, then after a short climb, a second descent gathers us into the south-eastern corner of Lake Burera. A second gentler climb carries us out of the valley and away from the Twin Lakes on a path heading straight back towards the capital city. Once we reach the top of the rise we are left with a roughly 25km ride out to our finish point along a track which skirts the hills and follows a river plain. This is on gentle gradients through villages and farmland, and generally underneath the hills that gather all around us, a wonderful finish to riding through Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills.
We reach the end of our ride at the bottom of the last descent, and after loading the bikes onto the trailer for the last time, remembering to remove any of our own belongings, and bidding fairwell to our cycling guides, we are transferred the remainder of the journey to our hotel back in the metropolitan capital, Kigali. We will have an hour or two before dinner to either relax in the confines of the hotel, or venture out to explore around the city. This evening will be our last one together as a group. We'll enjoy our time together and toast to an epic gravel ride around Rwanda.
Our final day in Rwanda begins after breakfast and check out, with a cultural exploration of Kigali. In the morning we will visit the Nyamirambo Women's Centre and learn about this locally run NGO which was established back in 2007 by 18 women from the Nyamirambo area of Kigali. Their intention was to address and combat gender based violence and inequalities in the community by establishing an artisanal centre where women can come to learn and hone skills in clothing and accessories fabrication helping them to secure jobs and earn a fair wage selling these items to the wider community and tourists in the city. To this day the centre has trained over 6000 women, and the number is rising by the day! We say goodbye to the ladies at Nyamirambo and head out across the city on a walking tour, surrounded by the city lights and sounds, a world away from the rainforests and small rural communities that have been our home for the past two weeks. This afternoon we'll say goodbye to our guides and be transferred to the airport to begin our onward journeys.
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[title] => Arrival Day, overnight in Kigali.
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[title] => Riding into the Nyungwe National Park on roads and forest tracks, with an afternoon canopy walk in the rainforest.
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[description] => Breakfast on the terrace this morning will be one to remember, as the white necked ravens catch the breeze overhead and the trees of Nyungwe breathe out the warm mists into the hills, completing a view that makes your African tea taste even sweeter. We will have a short but atmospheric ride this morning, into the heart of the forest to eventually find the visitor centre at Uwinka. We will start out through the last of the tea fields on asphalt, before rising into the edge of the national park, the sights and sounds changing all around us, from wide open farmed hillsides to thick air and impenetrable forest. We eventually finding our turn off onto a newly installed dirt track for bikes, and you'll be one of the first tour groups to use it, designed by African Parks, the National Parks management company of Nyungwe, to encourage users into this beautiful and unique landscape. This rainforest is believed to be one of the oldest in all of Africa, and provides the watershed for both the Congo and Nile rivers. Look out for black-fronted duiker, a tiny forest antelope, and L'Hoest's and Colobus monkeys that often hang out on the road verges, as you wend your way through this ancient Afromontane forest.
Today's ride ends at the National Park headquarters at Uwinka, where we'll be treated to lunch and more great coffee. This afternoon, hopefully dodging the heaviest downpours, we'll head into the park on the Igishigishigi trail to the 200m long canopy walkway bridge keeping our eyes and ears open, hoping to spot some of the 13 primate species and over 300 species of bird that call this forest home. This evening we stay at the campsite near the national park headquarters, deep within the rainforest on a stilted platform among the canopy. You'll drift off to sleep enveloped in the sound safari of the rainforest at night.
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[title] => A morning off the bike, rainforest trekking to find colobus monkeys, and then a ride down, down and down again to the shores of Lake Kivu.
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[description] => This morning we will wake at dawn as the soundtrack shifts from cicadas and frogs, to birdsong, and have a breakfast among the trees of this magical reserve. After breakfast we meet our guides and collect our sticks, vital support for our off-trail walk through the forest on a path cut out by machete by our guide, to seek out the troop of some 300 strong colobus monkeys, the largest troop of this species known to exist. This wonderful group of characters are arboreal by nature, and it will be possible to spot them leaping from branch to branch above our heads, whilst mothers nurse white furred babies and others preen each other on open branches, their tails hanging down like bell ringers ropes from the boughs above.
After a captivating morning surrounded by these photogenic primates we jump back on our bikes to commence the next leg of our gravel biking journey around Rwanda. Today we'll head down through the rainforest and back out onto the open farmed slopes to the magnificent Lake Kivu. Our route takes us on dirt roads, predominantly downhill passing through the edges of the forest, through villages lined with smiling and happy faces, eventually finding views of the lake. We skirt the shores heading to a promontory on the lake and our campsite for the evening, a world away from last night's camp, surrounded by the peace of the lake, save perhaps for a few singing fisherman.
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[title] => To the Sangira Restobar for coffee and a tour of the academy, and then up into the hills before heading north and back down to the Lake at Kumbya.
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[description] => Waking up to beautiful views of Lake Kivu and the rainforest clad hills of the Congo beyond, we'll take breakfast at the hotel before our ride for the day begins. After a mini prologue into nearby Rugabano village, we will stop for a coffee or perhaps an African tea (delicious milky tea steeped with lots of ginger) with a difference at the Sangira Restobar and academy. We'll have a tour of the facilities here, and learn all about how the benefactors of this trust have set up a catering and hospitality college for underprivileged locals and particularly women, of the community.
After our educational drinks stop it's on with the ride, and although short in distance, there are three significant climbs as we make our way inland, away from Lake Kivu and then track North to our next destination further along the shores of this great lake. We'll pass through predominantly arable farmland today, surrounded by the villages that are fed and financed by these slopes, common crops including coffee, tea, eucalyptus, and cassava. This evening we reach our next accommodation before dinner, an eco-lodge on the shores of Lake Kivu, with beautiful views north across this seemingly unending waterscape.
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[title] => A longer day of cycling North among the tea farm lined hills that border Lake Kivu, with three considerable climbs.
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[description] => The next couple of days provide a tougher challenge than those that have gone before, but hopefully by now, we have settled into a rhythm and cycling on the dirt roads of Rwanda is beginning to feel like second nature. There are again three main climbs, predominantly on dirt roads, with the largest being 7km long and with some sections of over 15% gradient, which will feel like a tough day out on the bike.
Our route will again come away from the lake into the interior, with smiley happy faces and giggling school children lining the roads all the way along the route. Look out for cyclist traders carrying their goods to and from market, sometimes with loads of over 300 kilos, including sugar palms, banana beer, and coal. Our last climb and descent down to the lakeshore includes a short section on busier asphalt roads through Mugonero, before a final 10 km to the lodge on the lakeshore. We'll take dinner here and retire to our rooms after another wonderful ride in the thousand hills of Rwanda.
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[title] => The final stretch of cycling north along the shores of the lake, and a tough day of climbing eventually reaching Karongi, before ending the day kayaking on the lake at sunset.
[introduction] =>
[description] => From our excellently positioned lodge this morning, we will enjoy another great breakfast, being mindful to stock up on energy reserves before heading back out onto the dirt roads for a challenging but rewarding day on our bikes. Unlike the last couple of undulating days, this day consists of one almost continuous climb, starting out initially on the dirt road we used to reach last night's lodge to get back out towards the hills. After a short stretch on asphalt, our climb into the hills intensifies. Most sections are between 4 and 8% but there are a few short sections of steeper rise, the steepest being around 15%. We reach our highpoint for the day at 36 kilometres in, at nearly 2,500m, and we're already heading north back towards the lakeshore. From here there is an almost completely uninterrupted, but nonetheless winding descent all the way back down through countryside, villages and eventually through the bustling streets of Karongi to the lake edge and our hotel for tonight.
Once off the bikes, we should have some time to relax for a short while in the afternoon, before our paddle at sunset on the lake. The waters are refreshing but warm, and usually millpond still, perfect for this evening's activity. Whether new to the discipline or a returning kayaker, we are confident of a great time on the sea kayaks cruising around the multifaceted bays of the lake. Hammerkop nest in the trees around here, and we can often see pied kingfishers hovering close to the shore, before diving down into the water after small fish. We'll explore the bays and islands in our craft and learn the basics of paddling with our expert guides, enjoying the peace and picture perfect views over the water at sunset, before paddling back to the hotel to freshen up for our well-earned dinner.
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[title] => A motor boat across our last stretch of Lake Kivu before heading away from the lake and further north to Gishwati National Park.
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[description] => This morning, breakfast at the hotel precedes a motor boat transfer from our peaceful bay opposite the hotel, to a promontory a little further up the coast. Our bikes will be loaded onto one boat, whilst we travel in the second, around the islands and bays of this corner of Lake Kivu. Napoleon Island, is shaped like the general's hat, and is home to a sizeable colony of fruit bats, you may be able to see them roosting in the boughs of the trees as you pass. Other smaller islands are occasionally inhabited by swimming cows, venturing out across the water to find fresh grass to graze.
Once back on land, we point our backs to the lake and ride away into the hills bound for Gishwati National Park. Our route although shorter than the last few days, contains a very steady but almost constant climb from the lake edge up into the hills. We will need plenty of sustenance and water to keep us going today as the route traverses up, first along the infamous Congo Nile Mountain Bike Trail, on occasionally steep and unrelenting terrain. The views then open up as we roll through tea plantations and mixed use farmland with dotted villages over more undulating and less steep terrain for a time, before the air thins and the hill sides steepen once more as we climb into the higher reaches of today's stage, and the edge of the Gishwati Forest. Tonight we stay in functional lodge accommodation outside the old forest boundary, in a beautiful hillside location with great views at 2,700m above sea level.
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[title] => Gorilla Trekking in the Volcanoes National Park, and an afternoon visit to the Africa Rising Cycling Centre.
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[description] => We wake this morning in our lodge in Musanze in the far north west of Rwanda, in Volcano country. The buildings, pavement and earth have all darkened to a deep hummus rich colour, sometimes red and sometimes black, remnants of the lava fields that have gone before. From the west to the north, five perfectly conical volcanoes, forming the heart of the Virunga Transfrontier Park, punctuate the skyline. Within the lush green rainforest that surrounds these geological giants is the largest concentration of mountain gorillas left anywhere on earth. There are more than ten mountain gorilla families in the Rwandan portion of the park, and we will visit them (this visit requires a permit that needs to be paid for in advance - see 'Park Fees and Permits' page in essential information tab) and spend an hour in their beautiful, boisterous, and powerful presence. An experienced gorilla guide will join us, take us to the edge of their territory, and brief us on how to behave around these magnificent animals to ensure minimal impact on their daily habits, before we go forth to meet them. This is arguably one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on earth. After an hour we return back to base, our cameras bursting with pictures and memories that will stay with us for a lifetime.
This afternoon, if time allows, we will make a visit to the Africa Rising Cycling Centre, and learn how the national cycling team was founded and how it attempts to support current and future talents and catapult them from their humble beginnings onto the world stage. A fascinating visit, the particular highlight being a bike workshop that would likely be the envy of every garage based bike mechanic in Europe and beyond!
For a potted history of this incredible movement, watch the film: Rising From Ashes.
After a brilliant rest day, we'll fuel up in the hotel restaurant ahead of the final two days riding through the Twin Lakes region.
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[title] => Back on the bikes today on an undulating gravel route leaving Musanze and heading for Twin Lakes.
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[description] => After a day of wonders in the North West reaches of Rwanda, we head out today to the next geographic wonder, Twin Lakes. Once one large lake, now split in two after a tectonic shift thrust a ridge up through the centre of the water mass many thousands of years ago. We will head out after breakfast and before the heat of the day, on dirt roads climbing first to Kinigi, where we may have met our gorilla guides the day before, skirting the lava laden field networks that border the Volcanoes National Park rainforest boundary, and then heading east and generally downhill towards the Twin Lakes region. Our accommodation for the night is perched in the heart of this tectonic ridge, and our days riding will conclude with a climb up to it's lofty position, affording magnificent views of both Lake Ruhondo and Lake Burera.
This shorter day will give us chance to reach our lodge in good time, allowing us some space to relax and take in the views before freshening up for dinner. A laid-back ride after a no doubt fantastic rest day in and around the Volcanoes National Park the day before.
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[title] => A fascinating ride through the remnants of a once great forest reserve, now tea farm, the Gishwati Forest Reserve with a short transfer to Musanze.
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[description] => Although once a thriving forest rich with native flora and fauna of many varieties, this landscape is now a shadow of its former self. During and immediately after the genocide that ripped through the country in the early 1990's, this area was quickly populated by fleeing peoples of the Tutsi ethnic group, who established subsistence farming practices, eventually ridding the hillsides of their ancient forest. Since then, subsistence farming has partly given way to tea plantations, of which we will see many today. There are still however, some remnants of the forest, and where it does exist, it thrives with birdlife and some primates, including chimpanzees. Where possible, this forest is once again expanding, thanks to some heroic conservation efforts from the local community.
We'll ride end to end through this burgeoning conservation success story on undulating, graded dirt roads that wind their way north through pockets of forest and open plantation eventually descending to reach Mukamira, and a small but perfectly formed coffee shop which has our local agents doing backflips of excitement over the quality of their wares! A just reward after a great day on the bike, enjoying the patchwork contrasts of the open tea fields, and the occasional envelopes of shade and gentle bird and bug thrum of the fragmented forest network. A short transfer after the coffee shop takes us on to the Ellen DeGeneres Gorilla Fund (optional visit: price $15), a perfect introduction to tomorrow's gorilla trekking experience. We finally catch another short transfer onto our accommodation for the next two nights in Musanze, near to the boundary of the Volcanoes National Park.
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[title] => Kigali city tour including a morning visit to the Nyamirambo Women's Center, before departure on evening flights.
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[description] => Our final day in Rwanda begins after breakfast and check out, with a cultural exploration of Kigali. In the morning we will visit the Nyamirambo Women's Centre and learn about this locally run NGO which was established back in 2007 by 18 women from the Nyamirambo area of Kigali. Their intention was to address and combat gender based violence and inequalities in the community by establishing an artisanal centre where women can come to learn and hone skills in clothing and accessories fabrication helping them to secure jobs and earn a fair wage selling these items to the wider community and tourists in the city. To this day the centre has trained over 6000 women, and the number is rising by the day! We say goodbye to the ladies at Nyamirambo and head out across the city on a walking tour, surrounded by the city lights and sounds, a world away from the rainforests and small rural communities that have been our home for the past two weeks. This afternoon we'll say goodbye to our guides and be transferred to the airport to begin our onward journeys.
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[title] => Our first day of riding, around Kigali on the UCI World Championships course on partially closed roads.
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[description] => After a hearty breakfast, we'll get set up on our bikes for the next two weeks and head out into the city. Our guide will take us on a lap of the UCI Road World Championships course. This is a hilly route with some testing climbs, so we'll be thankful of our MTB gearing as we complete the lap, recounting the drama that will have recently unfolded just a month or so before we take on our challenge. On Sunday mornings, twice a month, here in Kigali, the roads are closed for leisure use only, so where possible, and with care, we will be able to enjoy our ride on closed roads without any motorised vehicles to worry about. This forward thinking initiative has proven very popular, and whilst this is a great thing for our group to be a part of, we must also be careful and mindful of other users, which will likely consist of lots of runners, walkers, and other cyclists. Enjoy the atmosphere and soak into life in the heart of Africa. After we've completed our morning ride and enjoyed a buffet lunch at a local restaurant, we'll turn our attentions to the Kigali Genocide Memorial for an afternoon of reflection and some grounding in what makes Rwanda the place that it is today, in light of the suffering and difficult times that had gone before. A sobering but important visit and a vital way to begin our explorations of this beautiful country. We'll retire once more to our hotel for a second night in the city before starting our journey around Rwanda in earnest.
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[title] => Transfer day to Kitabi Eco Centre via King's Palace and Azizi Life cultural centre.
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[description] => We will leave Kigali after breakfast at the hotel this morning and travel south towards the Kitabi Eco Centre, located at the southern edge of Nyungwe National Park. Along the way, we'll enjoy a coffee break at the Stafford Coffee Shop, one of many emerging fine coffee shops in a country that has produced and exported beans for generations but only recently developed the coffee culture to accompany its excellent production. We'll also have an opportunity to interact with local artisan craft makers at the non-profit Azizi Life, picking up a souvenir or two, or perhaps learning how their wares are created from the producers themselves.
After we've fuelled up and paid for our souvenirs, it's back on the road to the King's Palace Museum for an insightful afternoon learning all about the history of the Kingdom of Rwanda and how royalty lived both in the days of the Kingdom, as well as under the more recent Belgian rule. We'll then travel on to hopefully reach the Kitabi Eco Centre before dusk, to soak in the incredible views afforded from its lofty position amongst the steep sided tea farmed hills, and the rising mists from the cloud forest of Nyungwe beyond. Dinner will be here before retiring to our basic but quirky rooms built in the style of the grass hut king's chambers we toured around earlier in the day.
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[title] => Our final cycling day of our adventure around Rwanda leaves the Twin Lakes heading south through picturesque river valleys and tea plantations to Base.
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[description] => After drinking in the views and all the fresh Rwandan coffee and tea we can get our hands on this morning, we head back out onto the dirt roads for our final undulating day, which is never flat, but gifts us with three lovely descents. The first descent is offered straight out of the lodge door, along the ridge between the lakes heading south, then after a short climb, a second descent gathers us into the south-eastern corner of Lake Burera. A second gentler climb carries us out of the valley and away from the Twin Lakes on a path heading straight back towards the capital city. Once we reach the top of the rise we are left with a roughly 25km ride out to our finish point along a track which skirts the hills and follows a river plain. This is on gentle gradients through villages and farmland, and generally underneath the hills that gather all around us, a wonderful finish to riding through Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills.
We reach the end of our ride at the bottom of the last descent, and after loading the bikes onto the trailer for the last time, remembering to remove any of our own belongings, and bidding fairwell to our cycling guides, we are transferred the remainder of the journey to our hotel back in the metropolitan capital, Kigali. We will have an hour or two before dinner to either relax in the confines of the hotel, or venture out to explore around the city. This evening will be our last one together as a group. We'll enjoy our time together and toast to an epic gravel ride around Rwanda.
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