The Canopy Walk in Nyungwe National Park

(I'm only about 2 weeks behind right now... but this actually happened on Nov. 17th)

After a great night's sleep we made our way to the lodge for breakfast. 

This is what greeted us.... a great buffet, plus a hot breakfast, if you wanted it. 

This little lily pad was right outside the door of the lodge.

In the afternoon we headed for the Canopy Walk...  a relatively new thing here in Rwanda--since 2010.

NYUNGWE FOREST NATIONAL PARK now has its own canopy walk.The Canopy Walkway is 40 meters  above the ground level, and 90 meters long, above a steep, deep valley, that affords the clients the dizzying  platform from which to be at the " eye-to-eye level " with different primate species, and many bird species,  all of which are fond of inhabiting the upper scales of the forest.       Facts about the park and the walkway: Its a high altitude montane rain forest the biggest in East Africa it is a 200m walkway with three towers it was finished in the middle of 2010 Getting tickets..... with a group from Spain-This  took about an hour... We were supposed to leave at 1 but ended up leaving at 2. This is the skull of the last elephant that lived in the Marsh area right next to the rainforest, according to the little museum plaque.  Many were killed by poachers, but others simply sunk into the marsh. Sort of hard to tell here just how big this actually is.  Finally, our hike begins.  So we started down into the forest. and down.  The guide stopped to show us this tree.  The leaves were so soft. In fact, incredibly soft!  Squeezably soft!!  It is used for toilet paper!!! Still going down! Cool mushrooms!

After we walked about 1 1/2 kilometers down                                     to the floor of the forest... we started up the                                    canopy walk.  There are 3 sections.  One short                            walk up.. to the piece that connects to the large canopy                                   and then another one down.... on the other side. It was long and narrow and extremely shaky!  I couldn't even look down-- just held my camera over the rope.  The camera... looking down.

This is before we left to walk over just in
case we didn't make it.

This is looking straight out across the top of the forest--
The Canopy!

 Bruce took this with his phone.  We were almost to
the other side and i didn't want to turn around.

Another shot down.

My turn to shoot back at Bruce hanging on.
You can't begin to see the bottom from here.

Coming down the last section from the big walk.

Then the guide told us the most amazing thing about this canopy walk. 

Everything that was needed to build this incredible thing was carried down the hill

by "head" and made by "hand".   And then people had to walk back UP

the hill to bring the next load. Our walk down took us 1 1/2 hours--

without carrying anything on our heads or in our hands.  They must have even

had to carry the concrete on their heads like they do in Kigali to build the buildings.

A cement truck certainly couldn't have gotten down there.  No vehicle could.

And now walking back among HUGE ferns.  Bruce and another guy
saw the big Turaco birds here, but i missed them.

The picture really can't capture the magnitude.

The ferns were as large as trees.

This one is a tree.

 This was our last "flat spot".  From here we started back
up  1 1/2 kilometers and i began to find out what
exercise-induced asthma is all about.

Our guide stopped us to show us this huge "bed".
The chimpanzees make these to sleep in every night.
They sleep in them once and never again.
And I thought making our bed was a lot of work.  Ha!

No Monkeying around to get these bed made every night! 

 Our guide telling Bruce about the chimps!

 These massive trees are what we call mahogany....
They are used to make some beautiful furniture.  

Slowly making our way back up.  

And I mean slowly.  I could only get about 20 feet and
then have to stop to breath. I had used my inhaler before
we left.  But by now.... and due to our late departure.. it was
about 4 hours after i had used it.  Rule #1-  Always carry the inhaler. 
(And it is about here that i even try to imagine how this place was built.)
The Rwandans are VERY strong people.   

From this spot we can see the forest, way off in the distance you can begin
to see Lake Kivu and then the Congo beyond that. 

 Another look.  Every time i stopped to breathe i got another angle.

Here you can clearly see the forest, then the Lake and the land mass of Congo

and the little rift of clouds about that.

 Here is Lake Kivu between the last two ridges.

It started raining in the rain forest on our way back.. Just

lightly but the coolness felt great. The rest of our group

probably got back 1/2 hour before we did because i was so slow. 

But at least we enjoyed the views.... It was so beautiful and lush. 

This was the guides favorite spot for a picture.

Finally, we made it back to the center that we had started
from and i was dead.  Can't believe i've been
doing all these aerobics and walking and
couldn't breathe..  Of course, the elevation
is over a mile and a 1/2 according to my meter
to miles converter.

But on the way home we had this fun little encounter with a
L'Hoest Monkey on the road. 

A curious little fellow! 

And so sad we were leaving!  There are lots of
these guys along the roads but few that allow
you to get this close.


This is another along the road.. They all really look alike.

Contemplation!!!

This is the Kamiranzovu Marsh....where the elephants used to be.
The little white patches are water spots.  Again.. this is expansive but hard to capture
in pictures.

Back at the driveway (road) that takes us to the Lodge. 

This is a landing pad for the helicopters.  You can

take a 25 min. ride from Kigali to here for a lot of money! 

The tea plants..... They harvest them twice a month and just take off the best leaves.
Every once in a while you will see the old plants that have been discarded but most are
just a rich emerald green covering acres and acres and acres.

These women had just finished picking their leaves for the day! 

The lodge sets right in the middle of all these tea fields. 

Then after a hot, hot shower to get the chill off from the rain..
we settled out here on the patio to read and write before dinner.
This is indeed a wonderful place to relax!

And so after catching my breath, once again, we did--
RELAX!  In fact... took a nap, too and didn't wake up until nearly
8pm... to go have dinner.  Now, this is vacation----exhertion, relaxtion
great food, time to read and totally surrounded with natural beauty
that only God himself could have created!

love,
margie