Golden Monkeys

Good morning and thank you for all of your comments!

Sunday morning we were up at 5:30am and had a great b-fast at the lodge. Every table in the dining room has a little chimney'a to keep us warm. Keep in mind that we are 9,000 feet above sea level so its cool and damp.

We went for our orientation and drove to the foot of another volcano. This time we had to hike our way through the dense boosh to find the group of monkeys. This particular group has 80 of them. They only live in the tree tops and 80% of their diet is bamboo shoots. The other 20% is blackberries and the only time they will go to the ground.

Our hike kicked off in a little village where we began walking through the farmers fields. A little boy came up to us and was carrying a bucket of mud on his head. He had to be at least 7 years old. He was standing the shaking, the bucket was so heavy and all I could make out was "do you have a pen??"... I did, and Dan gave him some money too. He dropped the bucket and ran home yelling to his family! It was so cute!

Once we got to the stone wall, the hike got really interesting! We are sure glad we had our waterproof hiking boots as the mud was a serious glaze and had the consistency of chocolate pudding. At some point, Dan was sure his boots stayed behind him! We had walking sticks, 2 guides and a ranger with (again) an AK-47.

After an hour or so we found the monkeys. They were very subdued as they are not big fans of rain. We spent close to 45 minutes with them and got some great pics. We made our way back to the Land Cruiser and Charles covered in mud! We had some water and went down to the river to rinse off (with all the locals watching). I gave a little girl my empty water bottle and so took off showing it to everyone! It was like she won the lottery.

We went back to the lodge to shower and get ready for our drive back to Kigali. On our way, we stopped in the village where they make the Banana wine and beer (I got a buzz from half a glass). There at the store I bought some mountain tea, chili oil and a bag of cake which we call muffins....Rwandans are not big on sweets so the cake was bland.

It was lunch time and you know me, I have a nose for BBQ! Yup, I found a small stand that was selling Sheep Shiskabobs, Samboosa (samosa) and fried/grilled whole potatoes! What a snack! Jas snapped a few pics, it was great. I forgot to mention or maybe I already did, that there was a pic of Tony Blair on the wall with the locals. Seemingly this is his favorite place to stop when travels to the Musanze region.

We continued on our way with ears popping as we descended. We stopped for a photo-opp overlooking a valley and yup, 3 children popped out of the wood-work asking for Pens. We didn't have any but I had 2 carbeners and I showed them how to use them. But they were distracted by my tattoo that they wanted to touch....funny!

We made it to the Serena Kigali early enough for a nap and shower just before dinner. We took a cab to a restaurant called Heaven. Literally it was. It overlooked the city lights and was built (100%) Rwandans. Even the tables, chairs and place mats. We bought t-shits to support the locals. Food was amazing too. Again, more great pics.

Its now Monday morning 8:00am local (2:00am for you) and enjoying a coffee by the pool. This morning we are going to the Rwnada Genocide Museum then to the airport for our return to Nairobi. Jas and I have made arrangements for another trip. We will fly out tomorrow morning to the Amboselli region for two nights. This is another Safari but at the base of Mount Killimanjero. Hopefully the mountain will be clear to see!

We'll keep you posted!

Bye for now....