Chimp trekking a success!

In addition to being the cleanest African country I've seen, Rwanda must also get the award for the most nimble farmers. These people can grow crops on the steepest terrain I've ever seen. Bananas, cassava, beans, peas, maize and more are planted, tended and harvested seemingly at a 70 degree angle with little if any terracing.

They call Rwanda the land of a thousand hills but really it's more like 100,000. It’s difficult to describe their beauty and seemingly even harder to capture it on film. Suffice to say that if you tried to design a more perfect mosaic of green hues, you could not.

My trip has been greatly enhanced by my guide, Alex. Born in a Tutsi refugee camp in Uganda in 1960, he was one of the first to return to Kigali after the genocide ended in 1994. He's been a postal worker, hotel work, and pineapple exporter, and is now an enthusiastic and entertaining ambassador for the new Rwanda.

Today’s chimp trekking was very nice. It was steep and slippery and I did get an unplanned foot wash when I fell into a stream, but overall it was beautiful and fun to see and hear the chimps. It was also very relaxing-like meditation-to be in the forest.

This afternoon we had a bumpy ride north along the shores of Lake Kivu…which is really stunning. In one town it was market day and we saw large canoe style boats ferrying Congolese back to their country after unofficial trade visits. Now I'm enjoying a Primus beer as a lightning show is beginning across the lake in Congo.