Dance on the volcano

On the route from Kigali to Gisenyi
- Unterwegs von Kigali nach Gisenyi -

I had quite an exciting week with lots of travelling and actually right now I would just love to loll on the sofa and be lazy but I thought I could just as well use our new wireless connection at home and provide you with stories on my latest adventure.
It took me to Goma in the Democratic Republic Congo. Goma is the twin city of Gisenyi on the Rwandan side on the northern tip of lake Kivu and probably - if at all - mostly known for its volcano eruption in 2002. There are loads of volcanos in the area but Nyiragongo (3800 m) is the only one still active, so whats more obvious than climbing it and spending a night at the top? Specially since the timing was incredible as on Friday about 4 hours before we left I finally released my remaing personal belongs out of Rwandan customs. Properly equipped this should be a piece of cake!

I was positively surprised by public transport or rather by my stomach coping with it but I was in good company of my flatmate Andrea, her friend Sara and Bruno - a friend of a friend... well, you know. We arrived safely, spent a night in Gisenyi where Joseph and Mailan joined us. The next morning I first set eye on lake Kivu of which I had already heard so much and which earns Rwanda the name of the African Switzerland ( does this work in English - Ruandische Schweiz?).

...for those of you who don't believe it...

Das Hotel Kivu Sun mit Blick auf den See

At the border we met up with Maneza and Mareile who completed our group and we crossed it without any hassle. Rwandan order can be a real bliss but even on the congolese side it was real smooth. First it continued that way after the border with nice villas and wide roads but the real change came downtown Goma and with it the realisation how clean and organised Kigali is. The whole atmosphere was more rough, street kids roaming around and generally a bit more of the chaos one expects from this continent. The only picture I took was from this boy with his fabulous wooden bike. In Rwanda they are not allowed and if you had seen any of them speeding down the hill you would understand why. But here they seemed to be quite popular.

After sorting out water, food and our permits we started just before midday, praying it would not rain although our taximan was indicating otherwise. After hooking up with three other people we were quite a large congregation, 11 bazungus with 6 porters and 2 armed guards. If we could believe their judgement it would take us about 5 hours to reach the crater and as we were all in good spirit so we did. The first bit lead us trough thick jungle like forest, birds were chatting away happily and it was easy to walk.



We warmed up with our congolese escort quickly and even got the guards to smile during our first break. Every now and then the clouds gave way to impressive views to the top.




But the sun faded soon and the vegetation changed. We were now walking on lava which was quite difficult - like on Brightons pebble just uphill.

Turning around and looking at the opening plateau with the Rwandan hills on the horizon I had to pinch myself a number of times. What was lying before me was part of the mysterous Congo, the heart of darkness. But in fact it didn't feel like it all, I was just on yet another hike.


It was about half way into our trip that our taxi driver's forecast became reality and it started to rain. Hastily we prepared for the rather hopeless undertaking to keep our stuff dry. It was only a matter of time that everything would be wet. Unpleasant memories of hours walking, putting up tents in the rain and having to get into wet clothes in the morning came up. But for the moment the only thing that counted was moving on and automatically putting one foot in front of the other.
And if you think a volcano in the Congo was the last place on earth where you could use your Hindi then think again. Lulled in my thoughts I suddenly heard noise erupting in front of me. A hord of Indian Blue Helmets from the Congos MONUC mission returned from their expedition to the top in full military gear (although it crossed my mind briefly that this could have also been some kind of punishment). As they set eye on us they got their cameras out immediately and went absolutely crazy: ek foto, ek foto. I stood there thunderstruck already feeling two pairs of arms flung around me - nevermind the rain or the luggage we were carrying - the scene was so absurd. Finally their boss had enough and shouted at them properly and so they let go of us.

Not long after that we arrived at some huts where the porters usually spend the night. The summit only another 30 minutes away. Sheltered from wind and rain but not from the cold we gathered round to make a little fire. Slowly slowly the sky cleared up and finally it stopped raining. We went out, inhaled the fresh air and the most fantastic view. We saw the lake, most of the other volcanos and the valley underneath.

Here is the proof, I was up there. Behind me is Karisimbi, the

highest volcano (4500 m) in the area.
- kurz vor dem Gipfel mit Ruandas hoechstem Vulkan im Hintergrund -

By now temperatures had dropped significantly and everybody was wet to the bones. Afraid that it could rain again we went on to the summit, the path now requiring real climbing skills. Finally arriving at the crater was fantastic, the wind blew hard in my face and I looked about 600 m down into a bubbling red lava lake.

© Bruno Versailles (thats his real name, no joke)

As you can see thick white smoke came up and sulfur stung our eyes. We set up the tents on the windier side of the summit and came back just to sit and look at the lava as you would sit on the beach, listening to the soothing sound of waves. If it just hadn't been so cold and windy.

© thanks to Bruno again

The night was freezing and no one slept much. The wind kept penetrating the side of the tent and so we cuddled up in there, unfortunately that was less romantic than it might sound. Luckily it didn't rain!

We got up early, unfortunately the crater was full of smoke and we didn't see the lava again. We went downhill in about half the time it took us to come up and we all agreed that it had been worthwile. Back in Kigali I was absolutely shattered, might have suffered a sunstroke or something and still am in need for sleep.