Rwanda: Looking Forward, Not Back

* Note: this post is a serious one! It might be a good one to read with your parents so you can talk about it

My experience in Rwanda has been very positive. The country is extremely clean compared to Canada and otherparts of Africa that I've visited. Plastic bags are banned throughout the entire country, so you don't see garbage littering the streets. The roads are well paved and often lined with tall trees. The people are soft-spoken and friendly.

But if you mention Rwanda to your parents, they probably have a different image that springs to mind. For many years the people of Rwanda lived in harmony. Then they were taken over by Germany, then Belguim, and during that time the people from Belguim decided that there were two types of Rwandan people: Hutus and Tutsis. They described the two groups as looking different. One was taller, lankier, they had different shaped faces. And the people from Belguim decided that the Tutsis were the superior group of people. They put them in higher government positions and treated them better. The Belgians encouraged the Hutus to feel resentful towards the Tutsis.

In 1956, the white people left and went back to Belguim, leaving the Rwandans divided. Campaigns started where some Hutu people wanted to hurt the Tutsis, blaming them for their problems. They started spreading the message that Tutsis couldn't be trusted and were lesser people. They created a feeling of fear by telling the Hutus that they couldn't be friends with Tutsi people.

In 1994, the Hutu leaders said it was time to fight and they launched an attack on all Tutsi people or Hutu people who helped Tutsis. In the three months that followed, over 1 million people were killed. This is called a genocide. It's where one group of people wants to eliminate another group of people. Not a war where both sides are fighting about something and mainly soldiers get killed, but a planned attack on all men, women, and children of that group.

Eventually the Rwandan Patriotic Front army was able to push back the groups trying to commit genocide. They did so with little help from other countries.

Nowadays, the people of Rwanda stand together. They are not divided anymore into Hutu and Tutsi groups and it is very rude to ask someone which they are. There is peace in Rwanda and it is one of the safest countries in Africa.

So, one of the things I've been doing in Rwanda is visiting museums and memorials to learn about the genocide and pay my respects to the mass graves of people who were killed. I feel there is a lot to learn from a society where they are able to forgive and move forward and be happy together. It is also important to learn about the history of all the countries in the world so we can learn from our mistakes and not let things happen again.

Since the Rwandan genocide, the United Nations has made a plan for how to better act in the future if a group tries a similar crime. I hope we can all work to treat each other equally and respectfully.

Rwanda: Another Ape Experience

  

Angolan Colobus Monkey
(like the other Colobus I saw,
but these ones have less white on the sides
of their bodies and more around the face)

Seeing gorillas in the wild was so incredible that it made me want to do it again! But $500 is a lot of money, and I was heading to Rwanda, so it would've been $750 there. So instead I enjoyed looking for monkeys and seeing all different kinds.

                    

Blue Monkey

Blue Monkey

L'Hoest Monkey

Vervet Monkeys
(they were moving a lot so it's a little blurry)

Then an opportunity came my way. I was heading to the Nyungwe Forest in the south-west of Rwanda. It has been rated the highest priority for forest conservation in all of Africa. It is home to over 1 000 plant species, 13 types of primates, 75 species of monkeys, 275 species of birds and 120 different types of butterflies! It, like Bwindi, has been deforested so locals can farm to make money. There are some banana plantations here, and lots of tea plantations.

Tea Plantation

One of the main attractions of Nyungwe forest is chimpanzee tracking. After all the work we did two years ago with the Jane Goodall Institute and Roots and Shoots, I was really excited about the idea of seeing them in the wild. Plus, Jane Goodall herself had just been to the forest in July! So I decided it would be worth it, and I paid the $90 to go.

I was warned that it could be as difficult as gorilla tracking, but it wasn't as bad. The forest was drier than Bwindi so the ground was more stable, there weren't as many thorny vines, and there was a bit of an actual path through the brush. Plus, I started at 5 am instead of 9 am, so it was much cooler out.

It was again a group of 8 tourists, plus the guide, and a few trackers. They head into the forest at 4 am to find the chimps where they left them sleeping, and followed them for the day. We were lucky: the chimpanzees were actually heading towards where we were starting to hike! So we only had to walk for 20 minutes or so before we were told to be very quiet.

Chimpanzees are much shier than gorillas (or more easily disturbed). Like gorillas there are habituated and non-habituated groups, but even the ones used to seeing people often run away, climb high in the trees, and turn their backs on people.

We came across a family of five first. We were able to watch them swing on branches and eat fruit. The coolest part was watching them walk on the thin branches mainly on two feet. They used their hands to steady themselves, but they looked so much like humans!

They turned away from us a lot and moved quickly, so it was hard to get a good picture.

You could hear other families of chimpanzees from the same group calling to each other with the famous "pant-hoot" call that we heard Jane Goodall do in the documentary. They would get excited and start shrieking back and forth and jumping up and down on the branches.

That family moved on after about a half-hour and we followed. We found another two chimpanzees in a tree, but they were hard to see. It was interesting watching them climb to the fruit (figs), stuff their mouths full of as many as they could, then climb back up to the top. At the top of the tree they would chew and swallow what they had taken in that load.

A special treat came when we were all watching these two chimps and the guide suddenly whispered "Behind! Behind!" We turned to look and a huge chimpanzee was walking on the forest floor right by us, barely making a sound! It happened so fast that we couldn't take a picture, but it will always be a vivid image in my mind.

All in all, it was well worth it to see our closest relatives in the wild and watch them acting so much like humans. I'm glad so many people are working together to keep them protected!

Uganda: Gorillas in the Mist

The endangered mountain gorillas live in steep areas of the rainforest that cover a large area in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Mountain gorillas have long since been hunted (as babies) for pets or to go in zoos, and (as adults) as prizes. People would keep the hands, feet, and heads of large silverbacks to have on display (like how places will have the head of a deer or moose on their walls).

Nowadays, people protect the forest and the gorillas from poachers. Even though it's illegal to hunt them, it still happens. To increase security for them, the countries rely on tourism to bring in extra cash. It is very expensive to visit gorillas in the wild ($400 in the DRC, $500 in Uganda, and $750 in Rwanda per person). The hike into the forest is very difficult because it is steep, slippery, hot, and the forest is full of thorny plants and fire ants. You are allowed to hike and get close to a group of gorillas only when they're settled and eating, not when they're moving. So you may have to hike for hours to reach them, or wait for them to stay in one place. Once you see them, you are only allowed to see them for one hour, then you have to leave so they aren't disturbed any more by humans for that day. The group sizes are kept small so they aren't as threatening (8 people plus a guide, 2 guards, and a couple of trackers who find the gorillas).

Uganda, and more specifically, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (where I saw them), is home to about half of the world's mountain gorilla population. Only some groups of gorillas have been habituated (meaning they are used to having people around). You are only allowed to visit habituated groups because other groups wouldn't be safe. They still see humans as hunters, and would either run away or charge.

I was assigned to the Mubare gorilla group which lives close to the Buhoma community just outside the National Park. It is the smallest group of gorillas - only nine - and at this time, disappointingly, it does not have any baby gorillas. It does have a cool story, though.

This is the oldest group of gorillas to be habituated in Bwindi's forest. The current silverback (dominant male gorilla) was a baby when the group became used to people. So he is called "the Gentle Man" because he is very calm around humans and you can get closer to him than any other silverback in the forest. Before starting to hike, we were told to stay 8m away (think 8 meter sticks) from the gorillas, but we were much, much closer. The other interesting thing is that his father (the old silverback) passed away in June, only two months ago. Because the father had been old and weak before he died, he lost many battles between him and other silverbacks of other groups in the forest. When a silverback loses a fight, female gorillas often join the group of the winner because he was seen as stronger and a better leader. So by the time the old silverback died, there were only three gorillas left in the group.

 "Gentle Man" knew he had to do something to increase the size of his group, so he started fighting other silverbacks in the forest. He won many battles, and each time would encourage a female or two to come into his group. The really cool thing is that he tried this and won with the two other gorilla groups that you can visit from Buhoma AND he won battles against gorilla groups that are wild (not habituated to people). So in the short time since his father had died, he had increased the size of the group from 3 to 9! Our guide said that once a wild gorilla joins a habituated group, he or she follows the lead of the other gorillas around him and is not afraid of humans.

So even though the hike was tough, our group was small, and we didn't have babies, it was still a very rewarding experience and I felt good that some of the $500 I spent was going to protecting the forest and the gorillas.

"Gentle Man" showing his strength to his family members

Having a snack gorilla style!

For those of you who were in my class two years ago, you'll remember all the work we did with chimpanzees. We learned that the chimps' habitat was being destroyed because of deforestation (people cut down the forest to use the wood as lumber, and to create farms). I noticed that same thing outside the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. You can see in this picture where the forest stops, and the farmland begins. There's almost a straight line down the hill where the trees stop. To the left of the line are banana plantations.

I hope the communities continue to learn how to make a living without interfering with the gorillas' habitat!

Uganda: Crossing the Equator

One of the cool things that I've loved about my trip so far is crossing the Equator. I have only done that once before (last summer when I flew to Bolivia), and this was the first time I got to do it by land.

The Earth is divided into imaginary lines to help people locate things. Imagine if you were lost at sea or on land and you couldn't see anything in any direction. It could be pretty hard to tell where you were! The lines help you know locations of things.

Longitude lines connect the North Pole and the South Pole. They look like you've divided the Earth into segments like an orange.

Latitude lines divide the Earth the other way.

The line of latitude that divides the Earth into two equal halves is called the Equator. If you picture a globe, it's the part that is the widest. It's a consistent distance from the sun, so places close to the Equator don't change very much in terms of temperature throughout the year. They have seasons, but they're related to the amount of rain that falls (the rainy season and the dry season).

Other famous lines of latitude include the Tropic of Cancer, which is 23.5 degrees North of the Equator (between the Equator and the North Pole), the Tropic of Capricorn, which is 23.5 degrees South of the Equator (between the Equator and the South Pole),

and the Arctic Circle, which is 60 degrees North of the Equator.

The most famous line of longitude is the Prime Meridian, which goes through Greenwich, England. When I was a kid, we took a family trip there and I remember standing with one foot on one side and one foot on the other.

The International Date Line is not actually a line of longitude, but it kind of acts like one. It's on the opposite side of the globe from the Prime Meridian, out in the Pacific Ocean. That is where we start the day from. Countries close to the west of it would be the first to start the day (like New Zealand and Japan). As the Earth rotates, the sun starts to hit Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. This is why you can watch Sydney, Australia ring in the New Year when it's still the day for us.

For me, I crossed the Equator on the plane flying from Ethiopia to Kenya, then again on the bus from Kenya to Uganda, then one more time on the bus from Entebbe, Uganda to Mbarara, Uganda. So I'm now back on the south side of the Equator. I'll be in the Southern Hemisphere for the next two months!

One last cool thing...you know how the moon goes through stages, sometimes it's full, sometimes it's a crescent, and so on? Well at home, the crescent shape looks kind of like this:

but when you're close to the Equator, the crescent moon looks like this:

Now I'll be honest, I can't explain to you why. I'm guessing it has to do with the angle at which you're seeing the moon, but I'm not sure. You're welcome to look that up and let me know! :)

Uganda: Politeness

I noticed a difference right away upon entering Uganda. The people are very friendly here and aren't pushy when selling you things. They are very polite, so it is important to have good manners. Conversations usually begin with, "Hello, welcome! How are you? How is your day going?" and it is expected that you ask the same questions back. Even if you are walking down the street, strangers will say hello and ask you how you are, and they genuinely care to know. You have to take your time instead of rushing the conversation to ask your question.

It's interesting to learn the differences between what's considered rude in different countries. In Ethiopia, it's actually a bad thing to eat everything on your plate. They believe that it invites famine (when people don't have enough to eat). They have a history of terrible famines where many people lost their lives from starvation. If you eat all of your food, it says that they didn't give you enough, so they think they weren't good enough hosts.

In Kenya and Uganda, however, it is impolite to leave food on your plate. It offends the cook, making it seem like you didn't like their food. In Rwanda, it's impolite to eat or drink in public. They have also seen some very bad days of famine in their past, so they see it as rude to eat in front of someone without sharing. I've made sure to ask when entering a new country, so I know what is expected in each culture. I don't want to offend anyone!

Uganda: Feel Like a Millionaire

When you go to a different country, you usually have to change your money because they use their own currency. Money from different countries is worth different amounts, so you don't get exactly the same amount back. For example, you can change your Canadian money to American at the bank and you get a little bit less because their money is worth more. The money in both Canada and the States is called dollars. In Ethiopia, we used birr. In Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the money is called shillings.

Here in Uganda, they use very large amounts to represent very little. The smallest bill they have is 1 000 shillings. The exchange rate between Canada and Uganda (for today)  is 2576.  It's important to know the exact amount when you go to the bank so you get the right amount. But when I'm looking at the prices of things I usually round so I have an estimate. This helps me understand how much in spending. If the exchange rate is 2576, that means  $1.00 Canadian is about 2500 shillings.

So, to change your Canadian money to Ugandan shillings, you would multiply by 2500 (the number will get bigger). If you are looking at a menu and want to know what your meal is roughly equal to, you would divide by 2500.

That's a big number to divide by! I know that if I divide a number by 10, I can move the decimal point one place to the left (or take off a zero if it ends in a zero).

For example, 100 divided by 10 is 10. Or, 340 divided by 10 is 34.

To change from shillings to dollars we have to divide by 2 500!

So the bus ride I took today, for example, cost 20 000 shillings. Sounds like a lot, right?

Well, first I divide by 100 because that's easier than dividing by twenty-five hundred. So, I take off two zeroes. 20 000 -> 200

Now I have 200. I need to divide 200 by 25. I know that 100 divided by 25 is 4, so 200 divided by 25 would be eight. Make sense?   200/25 = 4

                                                       400/25 = 8

In total, my four-hour bus ride was only $8.00 Canadian. That's pretty cheap!

This is what $300 Canadian looks like in Rwandan Francs
(using the biggest bills they have)!

Kenya

My short time in Kenya was spent mainly on safari exploring Kenya's beautiful landscapes. There are so many exciting animals to see and the Kenyan people are very proud of their huge National Reserve, the Masai Mara (Disney's film, African Cats, was filmed there). The Mara is 1510 square kilometres large; that's twice the size of Calgary's city limits. Plus, it extends south to Tanzania, where it is called the Serengeti. The animals move back and forth freely between the two countries.

I spent four days on safari drives through the park, and saw three of the five "Big Five" animals. In the past, the "Big Five" were the five most dangerous animals to hunt: lions, elephants, rhinos, water buffalo, and leopards. People nowadays sometimes take water buffalo off the list and put cheetah on and say that they're the most interesting to see. Either way, I saw 3 out of 5.

African Elephants

Water Buffalo and Zebra

Spotted Hyena

Hippos

Lioness and Cub

Lioness Yawning

Cheetah surveying the plains

Masai Giraffes

The words 'Masai Mara' mean 'spotted land of the Masai' in Swahili, the language most commonly spoken in Kenya. It got its name because the Mara has trees spread across it, so from the air it looks like a yellow blanket spotted in green.  The Masai people are native to Kenya and still live off of the land. I got the opportunity to visit a small Masai village. They performed three dances for me: one that represented the way the lions move across the land, a jumping dance to show how strong the men are, and a dance for the women. They make their houses out of sticks and mud. Each house is made up of one room that has a kitchen in the centre, and two platforms on either side (a bed for the parents and a bed for the kids to share). There is a small hole in the wall for the smoke from the kitchen fire to get out. That is the only light in the house. There is no bathroom in the house, you just go in the bushes. The Masai herd cows and work as a village to raise the cows. I was pleased to see there is a Masai school close to their village.

The Jumping Dance

In other parts of Kenya that I saw, people usually lived in houses made of concrete. Many people had stands where they sold clothing, goods, or food. The towns lined the main roads so it was easy for people to sell things.

This shoe stand is put up and taken down EVERY day.
Think of how much work it would take to arrange all the shoes like this!

Because I didn't spend as much time in towns, it was harder for me to see what life was like for children. I did see kids going to and from school, or playing in school fields wearing their school uniforms. Each school seemed to have a different coloured uniform. Most of the schools I saw were long concrete buildings with one or two rooms. There were tiny buildings at the end of the school fields that had squat toilets in them (just a hole in the ground with no seat or toilet bowl). I saw many children playing SOCCER. :)

The other place I went on safari was Nakuru, which is close to the centre of Kenya. It was much greener and lusher here than the Masai Mara. There had been flooding there recently, just like Calgary. In the Nakuru National Park, I saw more lions, but these lions are special because they climb trees, which is rare. I also saw endangered black rhinos, white rhinos, and a different kind of giraffe: the endangered Rothschild giraffe.

Water Buffalo at Sunrise...notice the flooding!

Endangered Black Rhionceros 

Olive Baboon with Baby

Zebras

White Rhino

Endangered Rothschild Giraffes

Vervet Monkey

I had a great time in Kenya learning about the animals that are here and what the country is doing to try to protect them. Animals like elephants and rhinos are still hunted illegally for their tusks/horns, so it is good that the country is taking action to keep these animals safe!

At the David Sheldrick Elephant Sanctuary in Nairobi

In Nairobi, for example, there are many sanctuaries dedicated to rescuing and taking care of animals affected by poaching. I visited two, the David Sheldrick Elephant Sanctuary and the Karen Blixen Giraffe Centre. they let people visit the sanctuaries so they learn about the animals and help support the Centres so they stay open.

The first provides a home and medical care for baby elephants who are orphans because their mothers have been poached. Elephants are like humans because they need their mother's care for the first few years of their lives. They gave excellent memories and elephants live in herds made up of female elephants, babies and adolescents. There might be a bull, a male elephant, but it's the oldest female who leads the herd.

At the sanctuary, the keepers take very good care of the elephants. They feed them milk from bottles and even sleep with them to provide companionship.

When the elephants are three or for years old, and healthy, they are returned to the wild. They only let people see them for thirty minutes a day so they aren't too disturbed or habituated by people.

I got very lucky because one elephant choose to walk close to where I was standing and I was allowed to pet it. it's hair is very thick and coarse so it felt prickly!

At the Giraffe Centre, I learned that there are the type of giraffes in Kenya: the Masai, the Reticulated, and the Rothschild. The Rothschild are endangered. At this Centre, they breed the Rothschild giraffes then introduce them to a herd in the wild in pairs, so they aren't lonely. The giraffe have a large area for roaming and they can choose to go to a tower if they'd like, where the humans can view them. I got to hand-feed a giraffe here! 

I also learned that giraffes only have seven vertebrae but they are all huge! Mother giraffes look for a soft spot to give birth because the baby has to fall from such a high height when its born. Pregnant mothers ready to give birth can wait for two weeks in labour until they find soft enough ground!

These sanctuaries reminded me a lot of our animal enclosures project and I was pleased to see that they had lots of space and privacy.

I'll now be taking a bus from Western Kenya across the border and into Uganda. the home of the mountain gorilla!