On Our Way to Nyungwe National Forest

Last weekend we decided to get away Friday afternoon through Monday so we headed southwest to an area we had not been to.  The drive was 4 1/2 hours of mostly good road

until we got closer to the park...but this drive took us to Nyungwe National Forest. 

Apparently this is the largest "mid range" rain forest in Africa and it is in Rwanda!
 The ride there was pretty beautiful.

Just driving along the roadside.

 Everyone has something on their head, it seems.

Ok.. not these guys... That's probably why they are smiling!

About an hour or so Southwest of Kigali

 These kids were cooling off in a little pond.

I like these straight "columns" against the rolling hills! 

A little closer.


We kept seeing all these little white tent like buildings and
when we stopped to take a picture all the kids came running.


We later learned that this is another refugee camp for folks coming from the Congo.

And then we reached the park.

This road is so great here... but in just a few minutes... it turned into 

a rutted --potholed drive.  

Looks like we're looking down on the canopy here in the late afternoon.

 The sky was beautiful!

The Forest is Beautiful! 

The cows are beautiful!

Getting deeper into the Park and Forest.

After driving for hours we were getting weary.  

Stopped here to check out the view... Turns out this is the trail head for several of the hikes.

Looking just behind the sign.

It was quite steep... BUT then we saw our first... little ones alongside of the road. 

At this writing we aren't sure if these are Colobus monkeys or L'Hoest monkeys.
Pretty sure they are L'Hoest, though.

Finally after we'd driven ALL the way through the park we came out on the other side
and smack dab into acres and acres of tea fields.
And there in the middle sat the Lodge we were going to stay at!
( lodge on the left--cabins on the right)

Once in the lobby we were greeted with our own personal
hostess... We were treated to a nice cold drink, too!
The other thing that greeted us was several
 walls --full of Cow Dung pictures...
Yes... these ornate pictures are all made out of you know what!
This is a small portion of the lobby.  The lodge had 6 huge fireplaces.  

This was our best Wi-Fi spot!

Cool ceiling light--that looked like a tree from the shadows. 

Got there just a little before the sun was setting....   and this is what the mountains looked like
as we walked to our "room"/ cabin! 

Our sunken room.. 

The bath room above the bedroom/ living room part.
THIS was a very nice place. 

Prince charming was clinging to the wall right
outside the door.  He was about an 1 1/2 inches
long but boy could he stretch.

So, by the time we get settled it wass dark outside so we couldn't see anything else today!
But we are looking forward to seeing all this area has to offer, in the morning.
So far we are really glad we came here.
Time to Relax!

love,
margie

Students,Storms, Short Cuts and Fishing Success!

Around Halloween we were studying outside and Kofi caught me checking messages. 

As we were working.. this storm came up!
and up and up until we had torrents of rain and wind. Rain came pouring "down"  sideways that revealed all the leaks in the house!

But before we were forced inside, Philip showed up his great "hoodie".

 Just a skeleton of himself.

Great jacket, huh?

Boo!

The next day we were driving down this new road that will soon
be a shortcut for Bruce to get to work.  There is a lot more large machinery
moving into the city but still most of the work is done by hand. 

The road is so level and no pot holes. Tons of people worked for days

and put in all the pretty brick sidewalks along the street, too. 

The Bricks! 

The Bricks put in place.

We came onto this scene and we thought people were washing clothes...
(See the sidewalk?  All done by hand.)

But due to the rain the day before..  they were just all out fishing!
I took the pictures home and copied them and then took them
back to the boys.  Their smiles were even bigger when they saw themselves
and their fish in pictures. It brought them such joy!
They were so proud of their fish. 
 

They had some pretty serious fishing nets!

 

But back at the ranch the storm had done some damage. 

  We tried pulling the plant back together but most of it
had to be removed. 

Along with the rain came mud pouring down into our driveway. We've had trouble getting this under control.  It keeps raining and the mud just keeps pouring in. 

Might have to take this plant out and if we do.. it will really open up our house.
We'd sure miss the privacy.

But after the storm ended... it left us with this....

Just a normal day here.

Lots of rain and beautiful skies...
 the shortcut is done giving Bruce a 5 min. drive to work.....
and the kids are still fishing!

love,
margie