The Rain Forest---Rains on Barb!

   Monday morning bright and early we took off for Nyungwe National Forest… The Rain Forest of Rwanda. 

The ecolyptus groves along the way and the children going for water with their jerry cans!

This mama is walking up hill with tea leaves on top of her head and baby on her back!

These are typical baskets for holding and transporting the tea leave to the washing stations.
In the background you can see the tea fields--how steep they are. 
I have no idea how they work these fields… 

AH.. we have arrived… You can see the top of the
canopy of the forest. 

And you get a ticket if you don't wear a seat belt?????

Miles and miles of forest.

Finally.. 5 hours later we arrive at the overlook
where all the hikes start from.  Barb ready to take on the canopy walk! 

 Barb's group ready to descend to the floor of the forest and to take the canopy walk.  

Others on their trek and our driver Sylvere and Innocent went along, too!    I didn't go since I've done
this twice already.  The guide is prepping the group! 

Off they go down the stairs… that will soon end
and give way to the trail.

The guide describing the length and depth of the hike!

This is where they are headed! 

Meanwhile… back at headquarters…  Checkers become the game of the day.  Yes… with pop/soda caps.

Some beer caps, too!
They hadn't been gone very long when the rain just started pouring…Oh..no… the trails can be pretty messy when covered with water!



After about 2 hours Innocent was the first one back… arriving soaked but still smiling.



Barb and Sylvere endured and made the whole trip in the rain..  Not much to say… except.. this IS the RAIN FOREST!  




 Every time you arrive at the Lodge they greet you with some fabulous drink.  Today was no different… fresh Passion Fruit!  Barb loved it.. even though she was still pretty damp from the hike.

  Nyungwe Lodge was virtually invisible as we arrived. A heavy fog was totally covering the entire place and all the fields.

But as we sat and enjoyed our drinks… the scenery changed
 from nothing to a little something…

to a lot more….  There were the tea fields and the

 cabins!!!

 No, I'm not really sitting on Barb but it looks like it.. We were sitting close to the fire that Richard had made for us.  

 Barb---- I don't know why but my photo select is giving me grief and won't let me download our dinner picture…  
So it is missing here.  We had a GREAT dinner, GREAT dinner conversation and a GREAT night's sleep! 

After that great night's sleep we woke up to a clear day 
and a great view. 


After breakfast and on our way to the tea plantation i took a picture of these Leaves!  Yes..  They are just leaves but they are red and they are poisonous to the animals.  The Red alerts them to not eat from this plant. This is something Barb and the boys learned yesterday from the guides!  Interesting. 


The tea pickers were already in the fields as we were on our way.



We arrived and were told we couldn't take pictures inside the tea plant.  So we didn't but we did take some outside. 



Innocent had his chance to throw some wood on the fire.  This reminded me of Shadrack, Meshack and Abindigo's fire that was made for them….These are the furnaces that burn the wood and supply all the energy for drying the tea leaves. 



Lots of work and very hot! 


This "woodshed" is about 1/2 empty.  I have seen it FULL. 


They are proud of this! 

 A HUGE Avocado tree!  (the trucks are plentiful but the tractors, 
not so much)

The brown part of the tea fields are the plants that have been cut down and waiting for regrowth..  which only takes a couple months!

I can't remember if we did this before or after… but at some point we were treated with the TEA TIME---
"The Teaching of the Tea"… by Richard!

He  made different kinds of tea and had us taste the difference! 
I think Lipton must be made of the lowest quality tea leaves. 

Note the walls … made of Imigongo pictures… These are unique to Rwanda and are created from baby cow dung!  Yes, really.. and they are beautiful.. and No, they don't smell! 

Richard took us out to the tea field to show us how it is picked. 

He told us that they only pick the top 3 leaves from every stem… 
I LOVE Barb's picture of the top three! 

And here we have all three with their top three! 

Richard made us several qualities of tea along with green, white and regular black tea.

Here you can See the Difference and we could Taste the difference!
I like this picture.

 
This was Innocent's first trip to Nyungwe
and he loved it. 


The fountain right outside of the door of the lodge on our way out. 
We loaded up the car and started on our way home. 

This little guy was sitting along the road so we stopped to say hi and take his picture, of course!

Top of the canopy still looking beautiful. 

Barb is too, as we stopped at a lookout to see the end of the rain forest.. 

                            It didn't take very long to get back to civilization…. 
And today was obviously market day!  

From this point on we had a few more hours to drive but we had lots to talk about.  It had been a great visit to 

Nyungwe National Forest!  

For Barb's last outing before she heads back to be with Kate in Nairobi…  we headed
to Milles Colline…. or Hotel Rwanda for lunch! 

This is a pretty place now.. compared to its history…This is not the hotel where the movie was filmed, but it is the hotel where the actual history was made---where many were protected from the genocide that took place here.  

I never like this part of any one's visit to Rwanda… Oh sure…  you can't live like you're on vacation all the time
but it is the time when friends and family do depart (or have departed)  and I always wish they could have stay longer!
This was no exception for Barb!  We had a great time together but I'm still sad to see her leave. 

Taking a last shot at the airport.   Folks usually leave after dark and I rarely see the beauty of the
new mosaics at the airport.  This night they were shimmering as the sun was setting.

Barb, I'm so glad you and the girls had a chance to come
to Rwanda and that we've had time to spend together. Always enjoy your company and it was even better to have it morning, noon and night!

Now looking forward to seeing you back in Pittsburgh!

love,
margie