The Lesser Known Rwanda: on Islands, Hot Springs and Glittering Crater Lakes

“Go to the Rubona Hot Springs.” We are told this by a local vegetable seller in the south of Rwanda when we ask about his favourite hang-out.

We have been traveling through Rwanda for one month, continuously surprised by the resilience and beauty of this post-genocide country. Our next destination: Rubona.

We tell a moto driver the name and climb on board, reassured by his short, assertive nod. We snake through villages alongside the lake, past avocados, pineapples and waving children.

When the moto finally stops, we are met with a grumpy looking old man, leaning on a stick and spying us suspiciously. Behind him are small, scattered groups of children and adults that sit gathered in circles around the steaming springs. We soon learn that the old man is the self-acclaimed Guardian of the Springs, like a type of Rwandan Lord of the Rings character. He takes his work very seriously, but eventually allows us to pass under his observant eye.

I excitedly plunge my foot into a shallow pool, only to pull it back within seconds, yelping from the scorching heat. Of course, the crowd finds this hilarious, and soon we are all laughing at my red foot, growing incrementally redder by the minute. I walk towards the lake to ice my foot and my ego, and then fully observe where we are.

Lake Kivu stretches out before me, the edges framing the horizon. Papyrus lines the shore and small mud houses dot the rolling hills. We are the only tourists here.

The Guardian soon calls us over, where he is squatting over the same, streaming pool into which I had naively plunged not long before. With a long stick, he points out a cluster of brown, round objects that bounce gently against one another as bubbles rise to the surface. Potatoes. The heat from the springs is so high that it can be used as a makeshift pot. He scrapes one out and scoops it into his calloused hand, scratching off some dirt with his nail before handing over the steaming vegetable.

We find a slightly colder, shallower spring where we sit like overgrown children in a splash pool, munching on our soily gift. Bliss. Not in the conventional sense of the word, but the sheer novelty, unexpected company and charming landscape creates a brew of something perfect in that steaming, sandy moment.

Some Rwanda sites are expensive yet easy to find: gorilla tracking and luxury resorts. But then, there are the hidden gems, which might only cost you a motorbike ride and a smile in exchange for a potato.