Wanderings: Sea Kayaking on Lake Kivu: Gisenyi to Cyimbili

May 25, 2018

There were rumbles of thunder as I awoke, but they moved off to the northeast in time for my paddle. Upon arrival at the hotel from which the kayak tour leaves, I was greeted like an old friend by the security guard. Apparently, he remembered that I had dinner there the night before.

My guide (Francois) and I paddled south along the east shore of Lake Kivu (1), helped along by a north wind. We saw the tri-hull fishing boats returning to port after fishing overnight and the largest vessel on the lake, a freighter that delivers beer and sodas from the largest brewery in Rwanda (located on the lake south of Gisenyi) to towns along the lake (2).

Francois asked how long I had been in Rwanda. "Just 3 days," I said. He assumed because I was driving around in a 4×4 pick up truck that I was ex-pat living in Kigali (3). Apparently, the Toyota Hi-Lux is the preferred vehicle in Rwanda.

After a short while paddling, Francois signalled me to stop. A screw was protruding from the kayak, and my boat was taking on water. I recommended we bring the boats ashore, as there appeared to be a missing nut. We did not find the nut, but we jury-rigged a patch for the hole. However, the foot rest was not functional (4), so Francois suggested I take his yellow kayak (5). After paddling in his boat for a short while, I turned to him with a scolding finger and said "I know why you wanted the yellow kayak: it is much faster!" He assured me the extra speed was only needed in case he needed to rescue someon.

The lakeside towns in this part of Rwanda are not well connected by road (6), so there were frequent boats plying the shore picking up and dropping off passengers, each of whom donned a brightly colored life vest (7). I passed a boat carrying bananas and paddled by two kids; they were the first to ever call me a "mzungu."

We stopped at a small island, and I got my first look at the Volcano looming over the north end of the lake behind Goma, D.R.C. The clear conical shape was visible above the low clouds, with steam rising from the volcanic crater. The last eruption was in 2002, and my guide remembers sleeping outside in case the house fell in during the earthquakes accompanying the eruption.

After a few hours paddling, we arrived at the guest house at Cyimbili. I was surprised to notice the North-American style electrical outlets and switches (8). The guest house is a development project associated with a Baptist Church in New Jersey (9).

After lunch, we headed out on the water again. With my usual grace and agility, I slipped, flipped the boat over and fell in the water when I tried to get back into the boat from the beach. At least I provided some entertainment for the school boys next door, who laughed heartily as they watched over the wall during their lunch break.

We paddled to Nkora, the next village south, where there is a Friday market. We saw the cattle market on the hillside, and watched porters carrying bags of river sand on their heads to an old iron vessel moored at the Nkora river's mouth (10). Some colorful vessels had come over from the D.R.C. to trade at the market. As we were leaving, the muzzein sang out the call for Friday prayer from a mosque in the village and the call echoed across the hills surrounding the town (11). A quick paddle around an island with many kingfishers' nests brought us back to Cyimbili.

I as I was enjoying the sunset later, the school boys popped their heads over the wall again, this time to practice their English. The normal things you first learn in a new language: What is your name? Where are you from?, How old are you? One boy was aghast when I told him I had two girls: "you need a boy" he said.

(1) Lake Kivu is one of African Great Lakes spanning the great rift valley. The lake is about 50 miles long and 30 miles wide. Lake Kivu's outflow reaches the Atlantic via Lake Tanganyika and the Congo River. Unlike most other bodies of water in this part of the world, there are no crocodiles or hippopotami in the lake. The theory is that they are more sensitive to the methane deposits below the lake.

(2) The brewery is called Brasserie et Limonaderie de Rwanda, more commonly known as Bralirwa. I later drove to a town halfway down the lake and can see why delivery by lake would be much easier..

(3) Every tourist I came across in Rwanda was being driven about by a guide on a pre-packaged tour. There is not even a car rental place at the airport. At many lodges, I thought I was the only one staying as mine was the only vehicle. There were other guests; they had been dropped off and would be picked up in the morning.

(4) You use your legs more than you might think while kayaking. The legs steady the rest of the body and help transfer the power of the stroke from the paddles to the kayak.

(5) I was curious how the kayaks got to the lake. Francois told me most of them were shipped by sea to Mombassa, then overland through Kenya and Uganda to the lake. The yellow kayak had more recently come from the UK by air to Kigali.

(6) Although there is a trail along the lake called the Nile-Congo trail. The watersheds of these two rivers meet in Rwanda

(7) Wearing a life jacket is mandatory in Rwanda. My guide told me that, while the bright orange life vests look good from a distance and keep the police from stopping the boat, they probably would not actually keep someone afloat.

(8) Rwanda uses the European, two-round-pin style plugs, a legacy of the Belgian colonial era. More recently-constructed hotels seem to use a one-size-fits-all plug that seems able to deal with many different plug styles.

(9) No, the explanation does not make sense to me either. Even if a church in NJ provided funding, it makes sense to me to purchase plugs, etc in Rwanda.

(10) Francois surmised that the sand was to be used for beach replenishment on the south end if the lake. I was a bit skeptical of his explanation, but I had no other guess, unless perhaps there was a cement plant somewhere on the lake.

(11) Most Rwandans are Christians, mainly Catholic.