Day 245 / 10

Date: 13 December 2022
Sleeping location: Nyungwe Nziza Ecolodge (camping), Kitabi, Rwanda

Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 75 / 15432 / 595

Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 2200* / 130000 / 12000
New climbing record: 2200m
Day in three words: Don Poncho prevails

*A new record for the trip

I wanted to get a jump on the big day ahead after waking up at 7am, but I had forgotten about both Africa Time and my own faffing skills and ended up waiting around for my breakfast and my water to filter until after 9. After an hour of undulating riding I began the 1000m climb up to the top of Nyungwe Forest, which announced itself with a really tough few km up to the last village before the forest began. Here I tried to buy a few sugary drinks but couldn’t get the woman to understand what I wanted** so she gave me a wooden spoon to point at my drink of choice, then, after this proved insufficiently accurate, an umbrella, which did the job.

I could have used the umbrella’s usual function as immediately after I set off there was a torrential downpour which I had to hide from in a coffee shop. Here I checked my phone and saw that Dan from two days ago had texted that he and Colm were just ahead of me, also sheltering from the rain. Thankfully it cleared quickly and I set off, almost immediately hitting a flat section with wonderful views of steaming forest and tea plantations. After about fifteen minutes I managed to catch up with Dan and Colm and we rode together up into the forest proper, which was beautiful. We climbed together for a couple of hours and had a series of good chats; they are my kind of people and it was enough distraction to make the difficult climb easier. The terrain was wonderful, rugged hills covered in forest stretching off as far as the eye could see, shrouded in pockets of cloud. Colm said that he liked places that made him feel small and this was exactly that. The forest was alive with interesting stuff and we saw loads of monkeys, a little squirrel thing and the occasional fun bird, and Colm claimed to have seen some kind of "mega rodent" but nobody else could verify this. There were also loads of heavily armed soldiers, which was a bit weird and seemed unnecessary. Maybe they make them go and stand in the wet forest all day to toughen them up.

Up at 2400m we reached the park’s visitor centre where Dan and Colm planned to camp before heading back the other way the next day. I opted to carry on to the other side of the park as it was only lunchtime and I didn’t fancy a big day to Butare the next day. I did stop for a brief lunch here and ordered the local delicacy of “carrot maphini”, which turned out just to be (very tasty) carrot muffins. A few crows immediately started eyeing them up and when I turned my back one pinched the wrappers, but was presumably disappointed to learn that muffin paper isn’t actually food. All the while monkeys were frolicking around in the trees. It was a lovely place.

We said our goodbyes, hopefully to meet again in Kigali, and I set off on my own. Almost immediately the rain came down in a big way and Maggie and I tried to hide under a tree, which proved as ineffective as the last time with Guillaume. An army truck then pulled up next to me and I thought I was going to be told off for “unauthorised bike leaning” but instead the driver opened the door and beckoned me to shelter in the passenger seat. This was a nice gesture even though two of the more junior soldiers had to wait outside in the rain; maybe they really are being toughened up. 

During the next dry spell I saw a mega worm (this time even more mega than the one in Bwindi) and a funny little deer thing, but I couldn’t stop to appreciate the latter because it started belting it down again. I briefly tried the tree technique before remembering that I actually had a military poncho with me and deciding to give it a go. It was a revelation; I immediately became a human tent and the rain just ran off me. It didn’t stop so I decided to try and cycle in the poncho, which was also a revelation and extremely effective as long as I didn’t care too much about aerodynamics or going above 25kph. 

From here the last 20km was a slog, albeit a very atmospheric and beautiful slog. The rain didn't really let up, apart from brief windows where I optimistically de-ponchoed and then had to don poncho*** again almost immediately. The animals apparently didn't like the rain either so I didn't see much, apart from another little deer, which hid from me when I got close before ruining its stealthiness by popping its head up and down every two seconds to see if I was still there. Towards the end the 4000m of climb over two days started to bite, but I dug in and arrived at the other side of the park an hour ahead of sunset. At the first place I visited was a fancy eco lodge where an actual room was $120 (!!!) but they allowed camping with own tent for $7, including access to a hot shower that was worth $7 on its own at my coldness/wetness levels, so I went for it. A tough day, but a really fun and memorable day as well.

**Seriously though, how many ways are there to say “Malti”? 

***Also the name of an infamous Mexican cartel leader in the 70s, and now my nickname whenever I wear the poncho.