Chris and I canoeed on Lake Bunyonyi for a couple of hours. He was so serene…until the storm clouds rolled in. Plans for an afternoon walk disappeared when the rain fell.

Luckily we woke up to clear (although still dark) skies the next morning as we set off before dawn for the gorilla trekking rendezvous point. We climb Ruhija, through the mist, watching the sun rise over the mountains. Tom and Chris toured the Bitukura family of mountain gorillas, although to say “toured” might be a bit of an exaggeration. The gorillas were only a few hundred meters from the road! However, regardless of the length of the walk, it is still an amazing experience to sit so close to these animals and watch their interactions with each other. You can really see how we are related to gorillas and there is something profound about sitting in the woods with such close relatives.

From Lake Bunyonyi we made our way through the mountains to Rwanda, Ruhengeri (or Musanze, as it is also called). We spent half a day with John, a local guide who showed us the twin lakes of Burera and Ruhondo from the magnificent viewpoint of Virunga Lodge. We enjoyed lunch by the lakeside, dreaming of buying land and owning a vacation home in this stunning corner of the world.

Early the next morning, Chris and I headed to the Parc National des Volcans to hike the Golden Monkeys. Like Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Volcanoes National Park is dense forest. And just like the mountain gorillas in Bwindi, the golden monkeys don’t like roads to make it easier for us to reach them. But there is a real sense of adventure as you make your way through what seems like uncharted territory to find these rare creatures.

We decided to change our itinerary a bit and head to Lake Kivu instead of spending an extra night in Ruhengeri. The main tourist town on the lake is called Gisenyi and is highly recommended. However, it is right on the Congolese border with Goma, just a few kilometers away, and on the same day, the M23 rebels entered Goma and took it over. Learning that the rebels were almost at Goma, we decided to avoid Gisenyi (it was too close for comfort) and went to Kibuye instead. To get to Kibuye, the most direct route would again be to go to Gisenyi and head south along the lake shore. But we felt safer taking a different route and ended up traveling through some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable, well worth the detour. Our guest house, the Hotel de Sainte Bethanie, was located right on the lake shore and our rooms faced the water.

We took a boat ride on the lake in the morning, landing on Napoleon Island for what we were told would be a bird watching tour. You don’t see a bird, but thousands and thousands of bats circling overhead. The island was actually a fairly tall mountain jutting out of the lake, and we hiked to the top. From the top we could look across the lake to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in one direction and (closer) Rwanda in the other, as well as all the small islands that dot Lake Kivu.

Kigali was our last stop, where we visited the Genocide Monument. It’s a powerful exposition, but challenging to comment on further without sounding trite or losing pages. Our final dinner was at the Hotel des Mille Collines, with pre-dinner cocktails poolside before heading upstairs to the fine-dining restaurant Panorama. What a way to end a fantastic trip. Thank you Tom and Chris for being such amazing travel companions and great first customers!