HI everyone,
Arrived safely in kigali this morning after successfully sleeping through my 2 flights last night from before take off to after landing both times :-) Still wrecked though,only got a bout 4 hours sleep which is a big change after Antelope park!!Got collected by Rosette and her brother which was fantastic and got a few hours sleep so feeling much better but a bit starving!
It is totally different here,for a start it is much more humid so all of my warm clothes I think will be useless.It is also much busier,lots of scooters and cars on the roads ,petrol stations look like they have petrol! and the shops are full and not ridiculous prices!There are also lots of charity jeeps,oxfam,Save The Children and other 4 x 4's which I am sure belong to other agencies.But strangely Rwanda does not have a deal with O2 so no mobile coverage ... strange when even Zim did!
It is very strange having only myself for company,and having to find my own way around for the first time in a month!Luckily there are things very close to the hotel so when I have had something to eat I will probably head back,hopefully find a film on my one TV station and read my Rwanda book etc!
Leaving Antelope Park was awful,I had to wear sunglasses on my last lion walk especially because it was with the one lion that listened to me when I called her and I always had to coax her out of her enclosure and back in. Had to lag behind and sob!! Of course the significance of the moment was lost on the lions! The tradition there is that everyone comes and waves you off which was really lovely but a bit embarrassing when you start blubbing!Poor Shelton who was driving me ... they must hate bringing volunteers to the airports!
Ended up having a great time in Bulawayo though at Maureen's B and B. She had her Mum in law and a friend of hers over for a delicious dinner and it was a great opportunity to talk to Zimbabweans about the country and they were very interesting. It is very exciting because the unofficial word on Thursday from the talks in Harare is that Mugabe is stepping aside and becoming ceremonial President for 1 year and will have little power and Morgan Tsvangarai will be executive prime minister. Was not being reported on internation al news at that stage. If that happens it will be what the Zimbabweans did not dare hope for!They were all hoping that it is true and Maureen's housekeeper was cheering in the kitchen when she heard the news!Fingers crossed he agrees and they get a chance. I would love to be there if /when offical word comes through,which might be tomorrow.Especially when it is their big bank holiday weekend!I don't think people will believe it :-)
I meet my tour group tomorrow at lunch time. There will be 4 of us. I am a bit nervous about what they might be like, please,please, please let them be fun!A bit nervous that they might be OAPs or loud or really boring!Ideally they will be close to my age,not GAP year students,be interesting and enjoy drinking beers!!
That is all my news,gorillas on Monday ... can't wait!Although being seriously unfit and not used to altitude at all right now I think it is going to be a struggle, fingers crossed the gorillas are hanging around the lower slopes and not 4 hours away!!
Not sure how often I will get to the internet,but less than 2 weeks until I'm home (depressing!) so will see you all soon (which is not depressing!) xxx
