The Sorwathe Tea Plantation

Along while back in February, one of the girls that used to be in our Bible Study had a baby 

and her parents came to visit.  She wanted someone to 

take her son and parents to visit and stay a few days at the 

Sorwathe Tea Plantation.  I offered to help her out.. not because I was so kind

but because I really wanted to see the place myself.  So... we took off

from Kigali and headed up the hill. By the way, Becky's little boy and her

parents were just delightful passengers!  

Looking back on the city.

Getting further away 

Mudslide on the way up.

Little children along the road with no adult supervision...  Traffic going about 60 mph.  

Kids excited to get to school.

So we got about 1/2 way and stopped to have lunch at a
sort of "truck stop" area called  Nyrangarama.
At this place they made these delicious grilled potatoes and
goat brochettes ( that i didn't eat).  There is also a juice
factory here that a man started from nothing
and it has become very successful...  

Cute place to stop in the beautiful hills.

The swan pond. 

And just a couple kms down the road we
found what we were looking for.

Then the prettiest part of the trip started.....
but so did the rain...  the heavy rain! 

Road on the left... Water on the right!

You can see the muddy waters flowing!  If the sun had been out..

this scenery would have been

spectacular.   Not half bad as it was!

Here you see the beginning of the tea plantations in the forefront.
The round little bushes are the tea plants
on the side of the bank of the river. 

Just takin' a door home!

The rain kept getting worse and worse.

The bridge was at least strong.

Of course,  it isn't always easy getting where you want to go....

Some things just slow you down so you can get
some fun pics! 

Finally, they all scooted over so we could pass.

The fields started getting bigger.

This bridge was a little less strong but we made it across.

A little village in the middle of the fields.

They spread across the valley... acres and acres of tea bushes.

Also regular farming up on the sides of the hills, too.  I just read that 85% of the country farms--
just to feed their families.  When you see all of these plots of cultivated land you know it must be true. 

Looking down from a little higher viewpoint.

Gorgeous, huh?  Hard to describe unless you see it live! 

And now... zooming in... 

 More children, little children, fetching water for their families.

The higher we go the more lush the fields get. 

We are almost at the factory.  Huge eucalyptus trees line the road.
You can tell just how big they are .... by the size of the person
on the road.  See her?

We are there!  Too bad we can't tour the plant.  Now it is time for me
to tell you that one of the more senior members of AIC group, Amithy,
and her husband started this plant over 20 some years ago.
They have retired this last year and returned to Sri Lanka.
But the beauty of this place reflects their life and spirit.


I just realized that I didn't take any pictures of the guest house...
where Becky's son and her parents stayed.  It had a beautiful view over the
valley.  They had a great 3 day stay here... but after we unloaded
the car we drove back to Kigali.

Back down through the fields... no rain now, though.

Oops!  The tea leaf trucks cut us off for awhile as they
backed into the plant.

Still cloudy but just enough clearing to see the highest point of the largest Volcano in Rwanda...
way off in the distance.  (very light blue above the fields and hills)

Going back-- the bridge is dry.

The river is still running high and muddy!

Shortly thereafter we hit the main road and headed back to city life.

There is nothing like being out in the country here
so I hope you have enjoyed seeing a little bit more of it.

Rwanda is beautiful!

love,
margie