Distance: 94.1 km
Ride time: 6:09:19
Average: 15.3 km/h
Max speed: 60.5 km/h
Total: 49907 km
Today the plan was to cross into Rwanda – the country of a thousand hills. Well, as I have mentioned before, the is certainly a few thousand hills in Tanzania as well. In fact I think today’s 1800 m of vertical climbing is a new record for the trip – at least as long as I have had a GPS to count.
It was up and down through the the final western part of Tanzania before I reached the border town of Rusumo. Rusumo is where the two rivers Kagera and Ruvubu meets. From here the rivers flows into Lake Victoria which again empties into the Nile that runs all the way up to Egypt and the Mediterranean! That is the very same way I am going… so, as long as I follow the water I should be on the right way 🙂
Well, actually I didn’t really follow the water. As soon as I had crossed the border I started to climb one of the thousand green hills.
Quite a few things changed dramatically at this border crossing. You could say that Rwanda has more in common with French speaking West Africa than the English speaking East that I have been riding through so far. First of all they are driving on the right side of the road here, and the power plugs are the continental European ones I’m used to from home. French is an official language in Rwanda even though it seems like the young people prefer English.
The price level also got a notch upwards but as long as you eat at local restaurants and stay in the the cheap guesthouses it is still very affordable.
After a dusty ride I checked into such a cheap guesthouse and paid 8000 Francs for the night. I’m pretty excited to be in Rwanda. A country that has a very good reputation among cycle tourers. Now I will get a chance to experience for myself.
Absolutely stunning scenery, yet again! As for not following the river, I guess you can’t complain much with views like that. 🙂